.NET Branding Changed, Logo Program Launched

In an effort to refine its positioning of the .NET brand, applied to a broad range of Microsoft products over the last two and a half years, Microsoft has removed “.NET” from the name of the next Windows server. Although the change suggests to some that Microsoft is moving away from .NET, the change really only affects the brand, which is likely to be removed from most product names, and the company remains fully committed to the .NET Framework as a development platform for Web services. The .NET brand will survive, for now, in the form of a new logo program for ISVs who build Web services and who use the .NET Framework.

Renaming the Server

The next version of Windows server began life with the Whistler Server code name and has had four names since then: Windows 2002 Server, Windows .NET Server, Windows .NET Server 2003, and now Windows Server 2003.

Removing .NET from the server’s name has led some to speculate that Microsoft is moving away from .NET. The reality is less dramatic. In fact, many products that bear the .NET brand make little use of the .NET platform—which currently consists of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET. The .NET Enterprise Server product line, for example, got the name before Microsoft had shipped any significant .NET tools, and few of those server products make extensive use of the .NET platform’s features.