Well, to sum it up, .NET is a lot of different things all working together to deliver a seamless software solution. There are a few pieces that make up the .NET solution, and this article will touch briefly on the majority of the important ones.
Windows.NET is the technology upon which all of the other .NET services builds upon. It provides access for the developer to the key functionality and abilities of the windows operating system. It integrates with other .NET services such as digital media and building blocks. Initially designed for Windows XP and 2000, it now also works with Vista and the latest version of Windows 7.
Microsoft recognizes that apart from their Windows operating systems, their office productivity suite is one of their most used services. Office.NET is the service that allows the framework to work will with those tools including Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint and Outlook. XML is a key part of this offering, and .NET works with that standard to allow for more interchange and interoperability between these existing Microsoft Office tools.
Probably the most exciting and anticipated components of .NET has to be ASP.NET. ASP.NET is the tool that allows the whole framework to communicate with WWW as a whole. It talks with HTTP, XML, SOAP, HTML, as well as a number of other languages. It’s the one piece that opens up the potential for truly dynamic, interactive and robust web based applications. It’s fairly easy for developers to work with, and provides essential features like authentication, scalability, XML, and event based software.
A reliable and easy to use IDE is what ties this altogether for the developer. It puts all building blocks, services, and standards at the fingertips of the people charged with bringing web based software services to life. As usual, Microsoft has built on the already hugely successful Visual Studio environment to include support for .NET. That IDE is now called Visual Studio.NET, and incorporates all the web services, forms, languages, ASP and ADO services together. Visual Basic.NET has also seen major upgrading to offer full access to the framework of .NET.
Throw in access to SQL Server and IIS, and you have all you need to build robust and dynamic web software solutions that are limited only by the designers, developers, and users that dream up the software of the future.