IP: .Net initiative is close to all Microsoft, all the time

[Dave Farber <farber@cis.upenn.edu>]

.Net initiative is close to all Microsoft, all the time

BY DAN GILLMOR

Mercury News Technology Columnist

TALK about integration. The Microsoft.Net (pronounced dot-net) initiative 
is the ultimate merger of the Windows operating system, Microsoft's other 
core products and just about everything else -- including the Internet itself.

It's monumentally Microsoft-centric, far more than necessary. It's also a 
move in the right direction, if you have accepted that the Internet has 
become the most important computing platform of all and that software is 
morphing into Net-based services.
But despite the temptation to think so, it's probably not another thumb in 
the eye of U.S. District Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson -- though some at 
Microsoft might have considered that a beneficial side effect.

Much about .Net is impressive -- notably Microsoft's well-telegraphed 
embrace of the Internet as the principal technology platform of the future, 
and its welcome nod to open standards in certain respects. Some of the 
demo-ware shown during the unveiling, such as several nifty software 
development tools, showed that the company's engineers haven't suffered 
from any apparent depression during the recent legal troubles.

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http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/columns/gillmor/docs/dg062300.htm