• Illustration: The .NET Development Platform
• Sidebar: Web Services: What and Why

The .NET development platform is the first major upgrade of Microsoft’s software development platform since the Win32 API appeared with Windows NT 3.0 in July 1993. Unlike Win32, which offered more powerful APIs than Win16 but did not dramatically change tools or techniques, the .NET development platform changes fundamental tools and techniques that developers use to create applications.

These platform changes make it easier for developers to create Web applications that run on Microsoft's Internet Information Services (IIS) Web server, and to create stable, reliable, and secure desktop applications for Windows.

The .NET development platform consists of the following components:

The .NET Framework includes the Common Language Runtime (CLR), a software component for running and loading applications, and new class libraries, hierarchically organized collections of code that developers can use in their applications to present graphical user interfaces, access databases and files, and communicate over the Web. In addition, the .NET development platform includes the .NET Compact Framework—a version of the .NET Framework specifically designed for devices that use Microsoft’s Windows CE OS, such as the Pocket PC and Smartphone platforms.

The .NET developer tools include the Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment (IDE) for developing and testing applications, and the .NET programming languages (such as Visual Basic .NET and Visual C#) for creating applications that run under the CLR and use the class libraries.

ASP.NET is a specialized class library that replaces the Active Server Pages (ASP) technology. It is used to create both dynamic Web content and Web server applications that use Internet protocols and data formats, such as HTML, XML, and the Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP).

(For an overview of the platform's components, see the illustration "The .NET Development Platform".)

Why Microsoft Needs a New Development Platform

Microsoft hopes that the .NET development platform will preserve Microsoft’s enormous base of Windows developers, who might otherwise drift to other platforms, attracted by Java’s promise of developer independence from hardware and OSs. Although they represent a tiny portion of overall users and do not generate much direct revenue for Microsoft, Windows developers are important advocates of Microsoft products (such as Windows itself) inside companies, and commercial software developers form an important channel for delivering Microsoft products to customers. If these developers build successful products and applications using the .NET development platform, it should help drive sales of Windows Server 2003 and applications that run on it, such as SQL Server, Exchange, SharePoint, Commerce Server, and BizTalk.

Microsoft particularly promotes the .NET development platform for a new class of applications: Web services, or server applications that exchange XML-formatted data with other applications over the Web. (For an overview of Web services, see the sidebar "Web Services: What and Why".) Microsoft sees Web services as a cost-effective way for companies to integrate existing, standalone applications into larger business (and business-to-business) systems. It hopes that Web services will be the new "must-have" application type that draws developers to build on its new platform and products, just as desktop applications with graphical user interfaces drew developers to build on early versions of Windows.

However, successful, large-scale deployment of Web services will depend on Web services’ ability to support higher-level functions, such as reliable messaging, database transactions, and security—capabilities which the current Web service technologies do not provide and for which specifications are only now being developed.

Opportunities and Risks

The new .NET development platform presents new opportunities and risks for partners and customers.

For partners, the platform means an opportunity to create or strengthen a relationship with Microsoft. The company needs early wins to create momentum for the platform, and partners who can deliver such wins have an opportunity to create and nurture a strong ongoing relationship with Microsoft. For example, Monster.com will begin using various .NET technologies, such as Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework, to deliver four of its leading Web services: Job Seeker Notification, Job Posting, Job Searching, and Resume Posting. This is similar to the way Visio's adoption of Object Linking and Embedding (OLE) and COM cemented a strong partnership that resulted in Microsoft’s acquisition of Visio.

However, a new platform can also be a threat for existing partners, as it has a tendency to reset the playing field, forcing formerly strong or favored partners to start over on the new platform and giving other companies a chance to move in. Most important, the partner opportunities the platform creates could come at a cost, because Microsoft typically saves its largest rewards for partners who adopt its platform totally, forsaking all others. Visio targeted Windows exclusively, and might have missed opportunities to establish relationships with other vendors and to sell their products to customers who prefer another OS.

The new platform could benefit corporate IT departments by enabling their developers to create more reliable, secure, and scalable applications in a timelier manner. In particular, it will provide a single, carefully designed platform for Windows applications, Web-based applications, and Web services—a watershed event for corporate developers.

But because Microsoft has shipped the .NET Framework only with its most recent OSs—Windows XP Service Pack 1 and Windows 2003 Server—IT departments might have to distribute the Framework themselves to many of the PCs in their organization.

In addition, the .NET development platform is unlikely to change the development of low-level code, such as device drivers, applications targeting multiple OSs, or games for either PCs or game consoles, so its impact on commercial software developers could be limited.

Another risk for companies is that adopting the .NET development platform will lock them into the Windows OS or Microsoft’s associated server products. Lock-in, however, is a hazard with any platform. Even IT planners who standardize on the Java platform often find that significant differences in application servers (such as BEA’s WebSphere and IBM’s WebLogic) prevent them from easily moving from one platform to another.

Finally, although Microsoft has begun to use .NET to expose new developer technologies and APIs, it has yet to use the Framework to build any of its own high-volume products. For example, the next release of SQL Server (code-named Yukon) allows custom database procedures to be written with the .NET Framework, and both Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server (expected to ship in the second half of 2003) are built upon ASP.NET, yet the products themselves are built using traditional software development tools.

This report delves into the .NET development platform and examines its key components, including the .NET Framework with its CLR and class libraries, the new tools and languages, and ASP.NET. The report analyzes the issues that the .NET platform will raise and the benefits that it will provide.