ASP.NET has been around in beta form for over four years now, long enough that I have been taking the power and productivity gains ASP.NET made possible for granted. Couple that with the fact that I only did classic ASP development for two years, and have been doing ASP.NET for four, and it is understandable how I could stop spending hours each day thanking the ASP.NET team for making my life easier.
You'll be happy to know I no longer take ASP.NET for granted, thanks to teaching a three-day course on classic ASP.
The differences between these two technologies is very stark. It's interesting (in a theoretical sort of way, not really in practice) to return to classic ASP after spending years with ASP.NET. Even though the two technologies are fundamentally the same, the approach one takes when reading classic ASP code, or preparing to create a solution in classic ASP, differs radically when compared to ASP.NET. Furthermore, it was neat to see how these students were using classic ASP to accomplish tasks that their companies had come to rely on. These tasks would not floor anyone, but they were useful and thanks to the straightforward, cut-and-pastability of classic ASP, these were tasks that my students were able to accomplish, and likely would have had considerably more trouble trying to do the same in ASP.NET.
I don't plan on making a habit out of teaching classic ASP courses - it's 2004, after all. But it was still and interesting experience, and a nice trip back down memory lane. It makes me wonder if four years from now I'll be looking back at ASP.NET 1.x and having similar sentiments.