What is .NET?

Why?
  I created this page because a great many people have been asking me that question. So for what it is worth here is my 2 cents on what .NET means in "the big picture". This is a general overview intended for none technical people.

So what is it?
  .NET is Microsoft's development framework that provides a platform/architecture and common set of libraries for communicating with the OS. The older platform was called COM. So think of .NET as the new platform that replaces COM. It solves many of the problems that were inherent with the older platform and supports web services, which is a new way of sharing data. The spin says something like "its a way of viewing software as a service" Here is Microsoft's take on it.

From an architecture and programmers perspective it is in many ways similar to Sun's Java(J2EE), but in most ways it is very different. From my perspective, in an academic sense what Microsoft did is take some of the key architecture patterns in Java(J2EE) , retooled the ideas and created an incredible Integrated Development Environment(IDE) and threw  ~$1 billion dollar war chest of of funding and support into the marketing of a brand new architecture. The point as I see it was to create an environment where software developers can do what they do best, develop software and remain productive at delivering services.

Please bear in mind that a .NET J2EE comparison is a little problematic since J2EE is a specification while .NET is more like a set of prepackaged products.

So MS has created a innovative way to develop software. They have guaranteed its success with the support they have given it, and by creating an environment which capitalizes on flexibility and Rapid-Application-Development , they have leveraged the power of an object-oriented development platform to create a powerful architecture for the development of small, mid and large-scale enterprise level custom applications.

Booyah!!!

So what's the big deal?
  The big deal is that Sun and IBM have dominated the large scale custom application arena while Microsoft has dominated the small to mid-sized application development market.

Now with .NET, Microsoft is pretty much guaranteed its dominance in the small to mid-size application development market and will likely be stealing market share from Sun. Its all part of Microsoft's plan to rule the world.

So really what is the big deal?
  The big deal is that Microsoft has made it easier and cheaper to built custom applications and web applications. Period.

While the complexities of .NET are numerous I think the ideas and the implementation of the ideas solve many more problems than it creates. Basically .NET rocks.