.NET UPDATE, February 6, 2003

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.NET UPDATE--brought to you by the Windows & .NET Magazine Network http://www.winnetmag.com

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February 6, 2003--In this issue:

1. COMMENTARY - .NET: What's in a Name?

2. DOT-TECH PERSPECTIVES - Basics of the .NET Framework: The Base Framework

3. ANNOUNCEMENTS - Don't Miss Our 2 New Security Web Seminars in March! - Join the HP & Microsoft Network Storage Solutions Road Show!

4. NEW AND IMPROVED - Add Enhanced Email Functionality to ASP.NET Applications

5. CONTACT US - See this section for a list of ways to contact us.

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1.

COMMENTARY

(contributed by Paul Thurrott, news editor, [email protected])

* .NET: WHAT'S IN A NAME? Microsoft's strategy for promoting XML-based Web services through its .NET initiative was once again called into question when the company abruptly announced last month that it would rename its next server OS, Windows .NET Server 2003, calling it Windows Server 2003 instead. Dropping .NET from the name is momentous for many reasons. Microsoft has led the industry to believe that all its enterprise products would carry the .NET moniker. But the company now says that it has revisited how to best promote the .NET technologies. Windows Server was the first product to get a name change based on the new philosophy, although it certainly won't be the last.

In meetings at the Redmond campus 2 weeks ago, I discussed the name change and overall .NET branding strategy with various Microsoft representatives. "After we came up with .NET, everyone at Microsoft thought the next release should be called something .NET," said Adam Sohn, who works in the .NET Platform Strategy Group. "But that was the marketing side. The tech guys asked what it meant to have .NET in the name. Those guys had the message: They knew they had to move to managed code and expose XML Web services. Across the company, this technology is now in place, and you'll see it spread across all of the appropriate products."

But that doesn't change the fundamental problem with promoting the .NET name, Sohn said. What the heck is it, and how can Microsoft promote it to customers? "We had to get the message consistent," he said, "and consistency is part of what it takes to be an enterprise company. We're still relatively new to the enterprise space, and it's a long road. We must learn the trust. So one thing we're focused on is predictability."

To that end, Microsoft evaluated how customers understood its current message about .NET, and thought about how the company could make the message clearer going forward. The company also wanted a method that would allow its partners to affiliate their products with .NET technologies. The Windows OS compatibility logos have done well: Microsoft partners seek to get the logo for their products to show that they're taking advantage of the latest Windows advances. Microsoft decided to take a similar approach with .NET, creating the .NET Connected Logo Program.

"First, of course, we had to be consistent internally," Sohn told me. So the decision was made at "the highest levels of the company" to drop the .NET moniker from most of Microsoft's products. Visual Studio .NET 2003 is a high-profile exception to the name change, Sohn said, because Visual Studio .NET is used to create .NET applications and services, and no customer confusion existed about Visual Studio .NET. "We can’t put .NET on everything," he said. "So we put a stake in the ground and made it consistent. The technology didn't change; just the branding changed. And it will change in other places. For Windows Server 2003 and other .NET-compliant products, we're going to put a .NET Connected Logo on the box. Best of all, third parties can get \[the logo\], too."

The main requirement for the new .NET Connected Logo is simple: The product must produce consumer-exposed Web services. By consumer, Microsoft isn't referring to home users, however. Here, consumer refers to a service or application that can interact with, or consume, services exposed as XML. For more information about this new logo program, visit the URL below.

In addition to the new branding challenges, Sohn also briefly addressed .NET My Services (formerly code-named HailStorm), the company's failed strategy to supply basic and subscription services to consumers and businesses. Because of a lack of support from its enterprise partners, .NET My Services was recast as a standard server product, which will ship later this year. "Our partners asked us to simply build the infrastructure, and certainly this is something we understand," Sohn noted. "The per-month fee system is still untested. We believe in the dream, but we're still unsure how the business model will work out. So this year, we will have updated news on that. The functionality will show up as a standalone .NET My Services server, or perhaps as an add-on to existing servers--we're still not sure. But the work continues, and the scenarios are interesting. We'll bring them to market in a way that's compelling to the enterprise. And of course, MSN can deliver them to consumers."

Resources

.NET Connected Logo Program http://www.microsoft.com/net/logo/

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2.

DOT-TECH PERSPECTIVES

(contributed by Christa Anderson, [email protected])

* BASICS OF THE .NET FRAMEWORK: THE BASE FRAMEWORK In ".NET Framework Basics: The Common Language Runtime" (http://www.winnetmag.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=37657) and ".NET Framework Basics: The Relationship Between the CLS and CLR" (http://www.winnetmag.com/articles/index.cfm?articleid=37907), I looked at how the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Common Language Specification (CLS) function in the .NET Framework gives developers a consistent base on which to develop applications. Now I'll introduce the layer above the CLR--the Base Framework--and show you its role in the .NET architecture.

The Base Framework provides the fundamental classes that every .NET application uses, including the Object class, the String class, and the Type class. (These aren't the only classes, but they are the core ones.) Almost every aspect of developing applications with Visual Basic .NET involves objects, including some entities you might not think of as objects, such as strings and integers. All objects in Visual Basic .NET are derived from a base Object class called System.Object and inherit its methods. In the .NET Framework, even objects written in different languages can inherit from one another.

The String class represents Unicode data that applications written in different programming languages or for different cultures can share, thus avoiding the need to convert data between different string types. (In this case, "culture" refers to the format of data such as dates. For example, in the United States, today's date is formatted as February 6, 2003. In other cultures, the same date is 6 February 2003. Same information, different format.) Data in the String class can't be changed after a string is created--changing it creates a new string object.

The Type class represents type declarations--class types, interface types, array types, value types, and enumeration types. An object's Type class exposes metadata, or information about the object, during runtime to let the just-in-time (JIT) compiler generate machine code from the source code. (.NET applications are compiled twice. The first time, the language compiler converts the source code to an assembly made of executable code and metadata. During the second compiling--which is done when you install an application or the first time you call a method--the JIT compiler reads the metadata and converts the assembly to machine code.)

The Base Framework supports the next level of the .NET architecture that describes how data is organized and made accessible to the upper layers. I'll look at how data is stored in the .NET architecture next time.

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ANNOUNCEMENTS

(brought to you by Windows & .NET Magazine and its partners)

* DON'T MISS OUR 2 NEW SECURITY WEB SEMINARS IN MARCH! Windows & .NET Magazine has two new Web seminars to help you address your security concerns. There is no fee to attend "Selling the Importance of Security: 5 Ways to Get Your Manager's Attention" and "Building an Ultra Secure Extranet on a Shoe String," but space is limited, so register today! http://www.winnetmag.com/seminars

* JOIN THE HP & MICROSOFT NETWORK STORAGE SOLUTIONS ROAD SHOW! Now is the time to start thinking of storage as a strategic weapon in your IT arsenal. Come to our 10-city Network Storage Solutions Road Show, and learn how existing and future storage solutions can save your company money--and make your job easier! There is no fee for this event, but space is limited. Register now! http://www.winnetmag.com/roadshows/nas

4.

NEW AND IMPROVED

(contributed by Carolyn Mader, [email protected])

* ADD ENHANCED EMAIL FUNCTIONALITY TO ASP.NET APPLICATIONS ExclamationSoft released Smtp.NET 2.0 and emailQ.NET, software that lets .NET developers add email functionality to ASP.NET applications. Smtp.NET provides basic functionality for .NET email libraries. Features include authentication, the ability to specify multiple mail servers for failover and redundancy, and built-in database functionality. emailQ.NET, an email queuing component, integrates with Smtp.NET to schedule email delivery, offload email transmissions, and track sending progress. Both products let you add enhanced email functionality to ASP.NET applications. Pricing starts at $99.95 for Smtp.NET and $149.95 for emailQ.NET. Contact ExclamationSoft at 215-489-0111, 866-489-0111, or [email protected]. http://www.exclamationsoft.com 5.

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