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No, look again at the numbers - asm.js gets much closer to native speed than normal JS, in many cases, especially large apps. In addition to the numbers in the article, you can see for example,

http://kripken.github.io/mloc_emscripten_talk/#/28

asm.js code makes it easier to get within reach of native performance.

> why would anyone write in a crippled C-like subset of javascript

Because asm.js is not meant for people, but for compilers.

For example the Unreal Engine has been recently compiled from C/C++ to asm.js and is running in the browser: http://www.unrealengine.com/html5/

... best viewed in ... netscape ?

“Best viewed in Netscape” still wins over “Download for Windows (x86)”.

you are not expected to write asm.js, it's to be considered a compiler target (for e.g. emscripten etc)