.NET Overview

.Net by Microsoft is, by basic definition, a Microsoft’s new Internet Strategy. It was originally called as NGWS or Next Generation Windows Services. It is considered to be one of the most popular, powerful and useful Internet technology available today. Today, the term used in replacement of NGWS is .NET because NGWS was originally used to describe Microsoft’s plans for developing Internet Based Platform for the next generation windows services. It included various changes in the programming models being used before the introduction of .NET and it brought many changes in the user interfaces, xml schemas, file systems and application integration models.

Programming .NET Web Services Today

For the purpose of overview, following are some of the major facts about .Net:

• .NET, as mentioned before, is a new Internet and web technology / strategy by Microsoft.
• .NET should not be considered as a type of operating systems; it is a set of technologies that provides a completely new internet and web based infrastructure.
• Software delivered by .NET is called as Web Services or Web Applications and most of the services provided by .NET are also called as Universal Services.
• .NET is completely based on new www standards and it runs on any browser independent of the platform.