I have to agree with you, Microsoft did a great job in 2.0 and a lot of things can be done now, with not one line of code. Some things that still bug me a little though is, that you have great documentation support with custom webparts, but if you just want to use your ascx as a webpart, there is little customization (global) that you can do. Though this is just a little pitfall, most new controls are just great.
Some month ago I did not really know what to make of generics, but now that I read up on it, did not know how you could ever have been without it.