Provides an overview of the .NET vision, platform, and hosted-services; and how .NET will affect customers, partners, and competitors

This report is an invaluable guide for understanding what .NET actually is, for evaluating the opportunities and threats .NET may pose to your business, and for interpreting Microsoft's future technical and strategic moves

Explains the three tenets--the "Web services" programming model will fuel Internet-based application-to-application integration; "Foundation" Web services will provide a consistent way to handle key issues such as user authentication; and PCs will continue to play a prominent role

A summary of the service offerings targeted at developers, consumers, and small business that Microsoft plans to built and run on top of the .NET platform

A primer on Web services acronyms and terms including XML; Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP); Web Services Description Language (WSDL), Universal Discovery, Description and Integration (UDDI) registry service; and Discovery Of Web Services (DISCO) protocol

Gates relates how Foundation Services will make a user’s personal information available across multiple devices and stresses the importance of allowing users to control who can access their personal information and send them messages

Gates relates the reasons why PCs will continue to play a prominent role, even as new devices such as Internet-enabled mobile phones and handheld devices proliferate

Gates relates how small-screen devices such as cell phones will complement, rather than replace, PCs

A detailed overview of the .NET Framework, Visual Studio.NET development tools, HailStorm Foundation Services, operating systems, and server applications

Illustrates the inter-relationships between the .NET Platform elements--the .NET Framework, Visual Studio.NET development tools, HailStorm Foundation Services, operating systems, and server applications