I've used ASP.NET only for one project, for about 8 months, 4 years ago, and I remember pretty clearly that you can configure your View State to be stored serve

I've used ASP.NET only for one project, for about 8 months, 4 years ago, and I remember pretty clearly that you can configure your View State to be stored server-side [even in the database], and not being passed around as a hidden form input. That way it's no different than Rails' session hash. ASP.NET is huge and very powerful. It takes a lot of time and hands-on experience to become proficient in it. I would have googled around or dropped into an IRC channel before lamenting anything of significance in my blog based solely on my lack of knowledge in a very specific corner of this framework.