What Happened to GET?

I'm going to phrase this question entirely in the context of the .Net
implementation of Web services.  You might ask, I suppose, "Well, why
don't you just ask your friendly Microsoft contact this question"?
Well, I might, but I have a hunch that this has something to do with
what has happened in the W3C as a result of various discussions about
REST, GET, POST and SOAP -- and it seems to me that somehow as a result
we have managed to take a step backwards.  See what you think ...

It used to be (in .Net 1.0) that one could invoke a Web service via a
simple GET, typing the parameter values into the URL.  For example, if
the method is AddNums, I think that the URL looked something like
http://mysite/MyService/AddNums?I=2&J=3.  The WS would then just send
the XML back to the browser.

This function was very useful for testing and demonstration, and it was
carefully described in the .Net documentation.

NOW, in .Net 1.1, it appears that this no longer works.  The new .Net
documentation no longer says anything about doing this and the URL that
used to work doesn't do anything any more.

Now, I realize that this is very parochial of me to look at this
entirely in terms of a specific implementation (that I happen to use)
and not the specs (which I don't really use on a day-to-day basis) --
but assuming that MS has followed the specs (which they usually seem to
do pretty closely), what has happened here?  It seems to me that a
harmless and reasonably useful function has been eliminated.  Did this
happen in the name of implementing a SOAP version of GET?  Am I
absolutely required to use SOAP now?  Does that mean I have to put <'s
into the URL (basically a very rude thing to do unless you escape them,
which is a pain) in order to get the <soap> that must now begin the
whole exercize?  If so, I must say I'm a bit disappointed.