Microsoft campaigns hard to attract developers to .Net. But will the confusing array of products leave developers and consumers scratching their heads?

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LOS ANGELES -- Microsoft's dominance of desktop operating systems may be its strongest suit, but overextension may be its Achilles heel. As the company tries to embrace the Internet in an even bigger way than mere browsers and Internet portals, its ambitious plans may perplex even avid supporters.

The .Net strategy -- a variety of development tools, platforms, and Web services -- is a big bet on the future of how consumers will access their information and how developers will help them do so. But try to get a simple answer about what .Net is, and you will most likely to get a long pause followed by an even longer explanation of the products and services involved in this far-reaching strategy.

At the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference 2001 in Los Angeles, the company pulled out all the stops to persuade developers of the quality of its tools and services. In addition to presentations by many of the software company's high-level managers, including a keynote by the chief software architect himself, Bill Gates, the company is also holding rock concerts and joining the rest of the nationwide launch parties for Windows XP on October 25. Many announcements regarding new software development kits (SDKs) and new release candidates of .Net development tools and servers will also follow this big push. But the initiative encompasses a wide set of products and services that are trickling out of Redmond, Washington.

Windows XP, for example will be a major platform for these .Net services, but they are not yet available in a truly useful way. Representatives admit that there are some ".Net-like" services already available, but insists that dozens of companies have already deployed or are quickly developing Web services that will take advantage of the .Net platform. Here's a short primer that attempts to piece this behemoth of an initiative together.

What is .Net?

At its most basic, .Net is a set of Internet tools and services that allows disparate and remote systems to talk to each other, swap data, and let consumers move (at least in theory) seamlessly to different sites and devices. This means, for example, that a user can go to an auction site like eBay, register once using an authentication system like Microsoft's Passport, and receive auction alerts on a messaging system like MSN Messenger or on a mobile device like a cellphone. The same user can also go to different sites and use the same registration information to access a website's services. Users can even go to Passport-enabled brick-and-mortar stores and use the same authentication system to upload information whenever they buy products.

A company called FYE, which owns a chain of music and video stores across the country, is already deploying a .Net system of kiosks and listening stations.

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