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If I'm having success searching that way, others will figure it out, too.
vb.net vs C#
So if I am searching for C++ I am most likely not searching for anything .NET.
Google.
chris_f - connecting to a database using ".net"
This probably has more to do with word proximity than the marks. However, it does lead to another point. Searching for vb.net or asp.net will ask if you want to go to those web addresses, but searching for "vb.net" or "asp.net" will take you directly to the regular results.
Searching for .NET stuff is interesting in that, except for the above examples, word proximity is not a factor, it is the factor. It gets to the essence of targeting keyword combinations with the question, "if my main keyword were an invisible word, how would I get found?"