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From: Cameron Barrett
Date: Mon, 29 Jan 2001 00:35:52 -0500 (EST)
To: "www.webdesign-l.com"
Subject: Re: [WD]: Microsoft .NET

> Anybody able to explain what this technology is and what it means. in
> fairly simple terms.

In a few years, the majority of software you use will follow a basic
client-server architecture. The bulk of the software will reside on your
computer and you will receive updates to that software periodically
through a standard Internet connection. Microsoft's .NET initiative is
nothing more than them recognizing this trend (popularized by Sun's "the
network is the computer" tagline) and applying resources to it.

Expect to see a battle in this area unlike any you've seen before. The
major players will be those companies who have established a solid
foundation around the distributed application framework model. So far,
these players are Sun (via Java), Microsoft (via C# + IE), and AOL (via
Mozilla).

Each of the above companies are pouring resources into developing a set of
technologies that allows them to build software services around it, either
by renting the software, selling periodic updates to their software, or
even selling services around third-party software. The biggest push of
late has been to develop web applications that use the standard browser
technologies as the vehicle for delivery of these web apps. Extending this
concept further by developing an entire "distributed application
framework" that more robust applications can run on top of is the hope of
each of the three companies listed above, and also why we're hearing so
much about each initiative.

Microsoft understands that the future of computing isn't the desktop
computer anymore, it's the connection to it and the network supporting
that connection. Desktop computing, for the most part, has peaked. We have
fast chips, heaps of storage space, and loads of RAM -- there are very
few areas left in this market for companies to keep selling faster and
bigger hardware to consumers on a regular basis. People already have
computers fast enough that suit their needs and are increasingly reluctant
to upgrade their hardware. The obvious shift, then, is from  selling
faster/bigger computers to selling services. And Microsoft knows
this. They can't just continue adding useless feature after useless
feature to their software and operating systems, and then selling upgrades
to the people who just bought new hardware...

Microsoft .NET, from a technical standpoint is nothing more than them
employing their standard "embrace, extend, and extinguish" philosophy to
an already existing concept: the network computer. Microsoft is embracing
the concept that every computer sold is nothing more than a small node on
a massive network, all interconnected by a standard TCP/IP-based
connection to a larger node, etc. From this concept, they then extend it
by adding all kinds of proprietary code and development processes (C#, for
example) which effectively locks developers into Microsoft-only technology
solution with no easy path back out. This is sometimes called the "Roach
Motel" approach of Microsoft's developer antics: the (developers) roaches
can come in, but they can't leave. The final step is for Microsoft to
extinguish their competitors by either building non-standard versions of a
third-party technology (Java, for instance), acquire their competition and
then shut them down, or launch strange education campaigns that tout
Microsoft's software development philosophies as good while simultaneously
putting a negative spin on the competition.

Microsoft is a very smart and aggressive company. It pays to understand
their business model and to realize what harm (or good) it may bring to
the worlds of home and business computing.

Hope this helps. Perhaps tomorrow I'll try to answer your questions from a
web designer's point of view. There are some things that site developers
will need to be aware of...

Cameron Barrett
Design Technologist
http://www.collab.net (work)
http://www.camworld.com (play)


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