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Patrick Chinn
pchinn@oregon.uoregon.edu
For several years much has been written about Microsoft .NET, previously known
by its development code name Hailstorm.
Microsoft .NET is difficult to describe because it is not a single product
or service. Rather, it is a shift in technology that will occur behind the scenes
and, if Microsoft is successful, will be implemented in future versions of Microsoft's
desktop and handheld operating systems as well as its server software and Microsoft
Office.
In a very basic sense, Microsoft .NET allows programmers to make applications
more modular. To use software today I install it and run it: all the code the
program needs has been installed on, and runs from, my computer.
In contrast, Microsoft .NET allows programmers to make parts of programs available
over the Internet. Let's say Microsoft adds an English-to-Spanish language translation
feature to its word processor, Word. Using .NET technology, your word processor
would take the sentence to be translated, pass it to another computer on the
Internet, where it gets translated into Spanish and returned to your Microsoft
Word document on your computer.
Many of these functions are similar to those we access every day using a web
browser. Microsoft .NET brings that same functionality directly into Windows
applications.
A key component of Microsoft .NET is the development environment. By defining
how .NET works (.NET standards), developers can use Microsoft's developer tools
(Visual Studio.NET) to write software that will consume or offer .NET services.
Visual Studio .NET introduces a multitude of changes that are too numerous to
list here. (I should note, however, that Visual Studio .NET is not required
to produce .NET services.)
Although Microsoft is still two years away from full implementation of .NET,
it already has its first service available. Known as Passport, this service
is an end-user username/password authentication system employed on Microsoft
websites and, to a lesser extent, on Windows XP.
Hotmail users have Passport accounts by default, since Microsoft uses Passport
to authenticate Hotmail customers. Microsoft has already made Passport logins
available via .NET so that online merchants can use it as a single source of
user authentication.
According to Microsoft's website, current Passport customers include such major
retailers as buy.com, Campmor, Crutchfield, and OfficeMax. (For a cautionary
note about the pitfalls of Passport, see the References section
at the end of this article.)
As Microsoft builds .NET services, it is also building support for these services
into Microsoft Office and future versions of Windows. In Windows XP the most
commonly integrated .NET feature is Passport user authentication.
The technology underlying Microsoft .NET is referred to as the .NET Framework.
This framework employs a variety of technologies, some of which are current
core standards, such as:
The CLR is a key component to .NET's flexibility because any operating system
that can run the CLR (and its companion component, Common Language Interpreter,
or CLI) can execute .NET code. (An open-source, Linux-based version of the .NET
Framework components is under development in the Mono project. See http://www.go-mono.net
for more information.)
Software developers should seek in-depth details on the .NET Framework at http://www.gotdotnet.com
Microsoft's original plan was to offer a suite of consumer-oriented .NET services
under the name My Services. A sample of My Services offerings include Contacts,
Calendar, Documents, and Wallet, among others.
My Services aims to become a "private, secure, digital safe deposit box."
Users can store contact, calendar, and financial data using .NET's underlying
transport and authentication technology, allowing the data to "follow"
users from one electronic device to another.
Some industry analysts have speculated that companies will want to license
Microsoft's My Services and offer it under other brand names.
During testimony at the Microsoft antitrust case in May, Microsoft Vice President
Jim Allchin described .NET My Services as being "in the middle of a fairly
significant analysis and review." He went on to say, "We got feedback
both from the business model as well as the technology that we needed to go
back to the drawing board on it."
Microsoft's .NET business model may be in question, but it is clear that the
company is forging ahead with the core technology. Microsoft will need more
developers to adopt the underlying technology and produce some compelling .NET
services, and it will need to make wise business decisions on how to offer My
Services.
Passport, Microsoft's first .NET services release, has already drawn criticism
for its potential security vulnerabilities. To learn more, see the following
articles: