Introduction to Microsoft DotNet

DotNet is a Microsoft's Strategy of software that provides services to people any time, any place, on any device.

Microsoft .NET is Microsoft's new Internet strategy.

.NET was originally called NGWS.

 NGWS - Next Generation Windows Services

     Before the official announcement of .NET, the term NGWS was used for Microsoft's plans for producing an "Internet-based platform of Next Generation Windows Services".
Steve Ballmer quote January 2000:

"Delivering an Internet-based platform of Next Generation Windows Services is the top priority of our company. The breakthroughs we’re talking about here include changes to the programming model, to the user interface, to the application integration model, the file system, new XML schema....."

 

An Accurate Definition of .Net is,

It's an XML Web Services Platform,

• which allows us to build rich .Net applications.
• Which allows to interact with the internet using wide range of Smart Devices(Tablet Devices,Pocket  PC's, Web Phones, etc).
• Which allows to build and integrate Web services and which comes with many rich set of  tools like Visual Studio to fully develop and build those applications.
• .NET is based on the newest Web standards.  
• .NET is a server centric computing model.    
• .NET is a new Internet and Web based infrastructure.
• .NET is NOT a new operating system.
• .NET is a framework for universal services

        

.NET Internet Standards

.NET is built on the following Internet standards:

• HTTP, the communication protocol between Internet Applications.
• XML, the format for exchanging data between Internet Applications.
• SOAP, the standard format for requesting Web Services.
• UDDI, the standard to search and discover Web Services.

.NET Framework

The .NET Framework is the infrastructure for the new Microsoft .NET Platform. 

The .NET Framework is a common environment for building, deploying, and running Web Services and Web Applications.

The .NET Framework contains common class libraries - like ADO.NET, ASP.NET and Windows Forms - to provide advanced standard services that can be integrated into a variety of computer systems.

The .NET Framework is language neutral. Currently it supports C++, C#, Visual Basic, JScript (The Microsoft version of JavaScript) and COBOL. Third-party languages - like Eiffel, Perl, Python, Smalltalk, and others - will also be available for building future .NET Framework applications.

The new Visual Studio.NET is a common development environment for the new .NET Framework. It provides a feature-rich application execution environment, simplified development and easy integration between a number of different development languages.