What .NET Means for Users

What is Microsoft .NET?
.NET is the Microsoft platform for XML Web services, the next generation of software that connects our world of information, devices, and people in a unified, personalized way.
The .NET platform enables the creation and use of XML-based applications, processes, and Web sites as services that share and combine information and functionality with each other by design, on any platform or smart device, to provide tailored solutions for organizations and individual people.
.NET is a comprehensive family of products, built on industry and Internet standards, that provide for each aspect of developing (tools), managing (servers), using (building block services and smart clients) and experiencing (rich user experiences) XML Web services. .NET will become part of the Microsoft applications, tools, and servers you already use today—as well as new products that extend XML Web service capabilities to all of your business needs. Learn more about:
 Smart devices
 XML Web services


What is a .NET experience?
The Microsoft .NET experience is a dramatically more personal, integrated computing experience using connected XML Web services delivered through smart devices.
 Personal and integrated experience. In contrast to silos of information divided by provider, .NET experiences are centered around the user, integrating their data and preferences into a single application.

 Connected XML Web services. Through the use of XML and SOAP (Simple Object Access Protocol), a range of services tailored to the needs of the user can be fed into a single, integrated experience.

 Interactions delivered through smart devices. Users experience .NET through their interactions with smart devices. Smart devices are Web enabled appliances, such as personal computers, handheld computers, and smart phones, with software that makes them more intelligent in their interactions with users, the network, information, other devices, and services.


What is an example of a .NET experience?
A .NET experience is analogous to a user's interaction with a current standalone application, with three important differences, described through this example:
Imagine you wanted to turn up the heat in your house while you were away from home. You could use a .NET experience that controls your household utilities through a smart device. The device you use could be your desktop computer while you were at the office, your smart phone while you were driving to the grocery store, or a kiosk while you were shopping for dinner ingredients.
The uniqueness of the .NET experience in this example is:
 Each of these devices generates a different interface for the .NET experience. The desktop computer might present a graphical map and accept mouse input. The smart phone could give you verbal options and ask you to push a button to specify your choice. The kiosk may have a touch screen and a small set of temperature options. You're using the same .NET experience to perform the same task, but you see a distinct interface, which is appropriate to the device.

 .NET experiences are location-independent. Taking advantage of the strengths of both locally-installed and Web-based applications, .NET experiences can be accessed both online and offline. In the previous example, you could use a .NET experience no matter where you are: at work, in the car, or at the store.

 .NET experiences are personalized. .NET experiences read a user's preferences and profile information, stored in building block services, and automatically incorporate the user's information and preferences into what's being presented. In the previous example, when you're turning on the heat, the .NET experience already knows where you live, based on your log-in ID. You don't need to enter an address.


What solutions does .NET offer?
Microsoft .NET solves several core problems underlying software development today:
Software Development Concern .NET Solution
Interoperability, integration, and application extensibility are difficult and expensive. The use of XML—an open standard managed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C)—removes barriers to data sharing and software integration.
Competing proprietary software technologies make integration difficult. Microsoft .NET is built on open standards and embraces all programming languages.
The end user experience isn't simple or compelling. End users can't easily share data among their applications or act on that information. XML makes it easy to exchange data, and .NET software gives users the ability to work with the data once it's received.
End users don't control their personal information and data when working on the Web, leading to privacy and security concerns that cripple the acceptance of Web-based software. Microsoft .NET provides a set of central services that let users manage their personal information and control access to that information.



What .NET Means for Developers and IT


How manageable is .NET?
Microsoft has many tools and technologies designed to make the .NET platform manageable—now and as applications evolve. The reliance of XML and SOAP as underlying technologies for the .NET platform ensures greater system interoperability between systems, improving the management of applications and services.

Current technologies and products include:
 Microsoft Windows® 2000 Server to manage directory, events, and distributed clients.
 Windows 2000 Datacenter Server for guaranteed reliability.
 Microsoft SQL Server® 2000 to manage XML data.
 Microsoft BizTalk™ Server to manage events, processes, and contracts across diverse systems.
 Microsoft Application Center Server to manage clusters.
 Digital Rights Management (DRM) for managing authorization of content.
 Universal Description, Discovery, and Integration (UDDI) to promote XML Web services to third parties.


How scalable is .NET?
Through the use of .NET server technology—the ability to reuse and update XML Web services on the fly as well as distributing computing power across multiple devices—.NET offers a highly scalable platform.
 Scale out with Windows 2000 Server, SQL Server 2000, and Application Center 2000.

 Scale up with Windows 2000 Server and SQL Server 2000.

 Use smart devices and XML Web services to break the linear scaling dynamic. By distributing computing to the edge of the network (where there is an abundance of computing power), the bottleneck of server processing power can be removed. By making it simple for the services which are the building blocks of applications to be distributed anywhere on the network, other bottlenecks can be eliminated or minimized, as well.


How does .NET address security and privacy concerns?
.NET will provide strong privacy protection by placing users in control of their own data. Users will dictate which people and applications can access or alter particular pieces of their personal data. These permissions are associated with binding privacy policies which outlive specific transactions.
Effective security requires a combination of secure software and good operational practices, physical security, and license agreements. Some of the current and upcoming software security programs and technologies that are part of the .NET platform include:
 Windows 2000 for Kerberos, the Microsoft Active Directory® service, PKI, EFS, and IP Sec.

 Building block services for simple, private, and secure experiences with full user control of the data they own.

 XML messaging interfaces on the building block services, which enable auditing and accountability.

 Digital Rights Management (DRM) for authorization of content.


Why should developers choose .NET instead of other XML platforms?
The Microsoft .NET platform delivers the following unique benefits to developers:
 It's easier, faster, and less expensive to build and integrate XML Web services through the tools of the .NET platform (.NET Framework and Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET).

 The user experience is richer and more compelling because of smart devices and information agents.

 The .NET experience is personal and manageable because of identity-centric building block services, such as .NET My Services.

 It's built from the ground-up for the next generation of software with XML at the core.


What are the benefits of the .NET programming model and tools?
.NET Framework offer the following benefits to developers:
 Best, fastest and least expensive way to build XML Web services
 Programming model designed from the ground up for XML Web services
 High productivity, multi-language environment for building and running XML Web services
 Secure, scalable, high-performance execution
 Multi-device support. Through Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Compact Framework, developers can use existing skills to create solutions for a wide range of devices.


How .NET Works


What is the .NET product offering?
Microsoft .NET consists of the .NET platform, and .NET experiences.
 The .NET platform—provides for each aspect of developing (tools), managing (servers), and using (building block services and smart clients) XML Web services.
 Smart Clients: Software
 Smart Clients: Devices
 Web service building blocks: .NET MyServices
 .NET Servers
 Developer Tools
 .NET experiences—the means for end users to interact with XML Web services.
End users interact with their software through .NET experiences, which deliver a new type of interaction — a dramatically more personal, integrated experience derived from connected XML Web services, and delivered through the new breed of smart devices.
On a technical level, .NET experiences are a combination of XML Web services (including, but not limited to the .NET My Services set of XML Web services) and, when appropriate, local application code.
Microsoft is transitioning four popular products into .NET experiences:
Microsoft Product Enhancement Through .NET Experiences

Microsoft Office Microsoft Office XP, the new version of the world's leading office software, will begin to deliver on the .NET vision enabling users to be more productive, improving team communication and collaboration while expanding solution opportunities for organizations. Future versions of Office will also expose key functions as XML Web services, enabling partners and third parties to use them in other .NET experiences and applications.
MSN® A complete experience for consumers, including access to services from a wide variety of companies.
Microsoft bCentral™ Small Business Portal A rich experience for small business, including the ability to manage small business finances and inventory and automatically use services such as eBay as selling mechanisms.
Microsoft Visual Studio® Development System A richer environment for developers by integrating access to live MSDN data and services for corporate coding standards.



Why does .NET employ XML?
XML is the common language of data exchange on the Internet. It provides a widely-embraced, open standard technology for data exchange and transformation, overcoming barriers to application and service interoperability and integration.


What's the difference between an XML Web service and a Web site?
Unlike Web sites, which are pictures of data designed to be viewed in a browser by a person, an XML Web service is designed to be accessed directly by another service or software application.



XML Web services are reusable pieces of software that interact programmatically over the network through industry recognized standards (XML and SOAP). XML Web services can be combined with each other and other applications to build intelligent interactive .NET experiences.


What are "smart devices"?
.NET uses software for smart devices to enable PCs, laptops, workstations, smart phones, handheld computers, Tablet PCs, game consoles, and other smart devices to operate in the .NET universe. A smart device is:
 Smart about you. A smart device uses your .NET identity, profile, and data to simplify your experience and is smart about your presence, allowing tailoring of notifications in response to your presence or absence.

 Smart about the network. A smart device is responsive to bandwidth constraints, provides support for both online and offline use of applications, and understands which services are available.

 Smart about information. A smart device allows you to access, analyze, and act on data anywhere anytime.

 Smart about other devices. A smart device discovers and announces PCs, other smart devices, servers, and the Internet; knows how to provide services to other devices; smart about accessing information from the PC.

 Smart about software and services. A smart device presents applications and data optimally for form factor; enables input methods and connectivity appropriate for great end-user interaction; consumes Web services using XML, SOAP, and UDDI; and programmable and extensible by developers.



How do servers fit into .NET?
Microsoft offers an integrated suite of servers that provide secure, scalable high-performance execution for the Enterprise and XML Web services. Because they are designed for deep level support of XML, they offer the best and least expensive way to run and manage XML Web services.


How does Microsoft .NET My Services fit into .NET?
They are identity-centric Microsoft-provided XML Web services that:
 Allow users to have access to their data regardless of device, platform or application.
 Are built using XML protocols
 Are private and secure
 And help deliver a simpler, more personal, integrated experience allowing for .NET experiences to exist
For more information:
 .NET My Services Overview
 .NET My Services: Building User-Centric Experiences


What is the role of Windows in .NET?
Microsoft Windows currently powers the ultimate smart device: the personal computer. Microsoft Windows XP will be able to consume XML Web services, such as photo services, as well as utilize XML Web services to publish to the Web. It will act as a hub for smart devices and interact in the next generation of peer-to-peer computing, real-time communications, and media services.
Microsoft Windows .NET Server will include built-in support for XML and SOAP and will ship with the .NET Framework.


How do you build a .NET experience today?
.NET experience represents the interaction of Microsoft .NET My Services (formerly code-named "Hailstorm"), probably other XML Web services, client software on a smart device, and potentially application code. With the release of .NET My Services later this year, developers will be able to create .NET experiences. Until that time, they can create XML Web services using the betas of Visual Studio .NET and the .NET Framework.
Download Visual Studio .NET and get started. Visual Studio .NET represents a complete development environment in the .NET Framework, allowing programmers to use the languages they know and are comfortable with to make exciting, reusable XML Web services. Using BizTalk Server, SQL Server, and Windows 2000 Server further supports your ability to host and run XML Web services by integrating XML on a deep level. And, by integrating Passport into existing Web applications, software architects can improve current users' experiences and prepare for future gains that .NET promises in ease of use through intelligent, secure identity recognition.


When will XML Web services be available on the .NET platform?
Thousands of developers have already begun building XML Web services using the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET Technology Previews, and XML Web services using SOAP and XML are being created every day. In addition, Microsoft will be providing a set of core building block services to facilitate development for the .NET platform. The first of these, Passport, is already available and will continue to be enhanced as the .NET platform evolves.