If you are in .NET, application speed isn't your primary concern. If speed is your concern, then C++ is a better language. After all, if that is your criteria, why settle for a half measure?

You initially asked why people prefer .NET or C# to Delphi, and that was what I was answering. I have written in C++, VB6, and .NET (along with a few strange, proprietary, languages). I haven't tried Delphi, and based on the price TG alluded to, I don't think I ever will. After all, my job is in .NET, so that's what I will be using for work, and it isn't up to me. Does that mean that I prefer .NET? No, it doesn't really mean anything, nor can I even compare to Delphi, but neither can I justify buying it, since it would have to come out of my own pocket and only be for hobby/personal use. That's probably what drives most people. Arguing about the merits of a language are pointless if you don't get to choose which language you use.

As for my hobby, which is robotics, what tools does Delphi have for interfacing with robots? MS has the Robotics Lab (which I haven't used), and there is an excellent robotics brain that has a robust library of .NET classes for interacting with it. Given that the tools are .NET, would it make any sense to use a different language?

However, let me mention, again, my reply to point #5: How are you testing performance? What test would you cite to show that a well coded Delphi app runs faster than a well coded .NET app? I can think of one obvious test, because I don't like the way that .NET performs integer addition, which Delphi may very well do better, but that's an extremely narrow test. Don't go on about JIT, either, because the compiled code is compiled. The cost is paid only once, not every time you run the program.