The .NET Platform

The .NET Platform is Microsoft’s planned family of software products for Windows application development. The most important new element of the platform is the .NET Framework, which consists of a set of libraries of software components that essentially replace the Windows APIs, and a service layer called the Common Language Runtime that controls the installation, loading, and execution of applications. The .NET Enterprise Servers is the latest name for the server products (such as Exchange and SQL Server) previously called the BackOffice or DNA 2000 servers. The .NET building-block services are Microsoft-hosted Web services (for functions such as user authentication, file storage, mail, instant messaging) that will work as components in applications built on the platform. Windows.NET is simply the Windows 2000 operating system, initially unchanged but eventually incorporating some of the .NET Framework technology and hooks to the building-block services. Finally, Microsoft plans to deliver an Orchestration environment for rapid development of Web services and collaboration applications, and an updated version of Visual Studio that enables programmers to build applications on top of the .NET Framework and provides many new graphical tools and wizards for creating server-based Web applications and Web services.