What Is .NET?

Since its June 2000 announcement, Microsoft’s .NET initiative has created confusion among partners, analysts, and even Microsoft employees. The confusion arises in part because Microsoft has stuck the .NET label on three distinct but related things: a vision for how information technology will evolve, a software platform that Microsoft intends to deliver to support the vision, and an application-hosting business designed to support the vision and market the platform. Microsoft partners and competitors need to understand all three prongs of .NET if they want to spot opportunities and threats that Microsoft will create from now through 2002, and customers need to understand the platform to evaluate the new products that Microsoft will ship throughout 2001.

Introduction

Microsoft has said that the .NET initiative is the most important thing it is doing, a “bet-the-company” three-year plan for its own business and the Internet in general. The trouble is, the company hasn’t always been clear about what “.NET” really means. Signs of trouble appeared at the initiative’s June 22 launch when Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer felt compelled to wrap up a day’s worth of presentations by saying: