Frans has updated his original post about VS.NET 2003 and added some less antagonistic comments to the top. This comment caught my attention, and I think is the most important thing said in the whole thing:

...A developer has to make two choices: which .NET version to target and which IDE version to choose. With Visual Studio.NET I have one choice: the .NET target is also implying the IDE version. I can't force my customers to shell out money to upgrade to VS.NET 2003, just because I think it's nice to target .NET 1.1. These two things: platform and IDE, should be separated. I can still develop software for Windows98 in VS.NET 2003, and I can also develop win32 software for Windows2003 in VS.NET 2002. Let that kind of freedom also be a choice for .NET developers.

I couldn't agree more. It is very frustrating to have to keep two different IDEs installed to support two different, but closely related platforms. I think this is the single biggest mistake MS made with VS.NET 2003. It is something they could easily remedy by releasing a service pack.