Microsoft .NET strategy

"Microsoft .NET" redirects here. Not to be confused with .NET Framework or .NET.

The Microsoft .NET strategy is a marketing plan that Microsoft followed in the early 2000s. Steve Ballmer described it as the company's "most ambitious undertaking since Internet Strategy Day in 1995". In support of this strategy, between 2000 and 2002, Microsoft released ".NET" branded updates to its works, including Visual Studio .NET, Visual Basic .NET, .NET Passport, .NET My Services, .NET Framework, ASP.NET and ADO.NET. A Windows .NET Server was also announced. Microsoft had plans to include Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange Server and MSN into this strategy.[1][2][3][4][5]

By 2003, however, the .NET strategy had dwindled into a failed branding campaign because the brand had failed to articulate what Microsoft had in mind in the first place. As such, Windows .NET Server was released under the title of Windows Server 2003.[6] Since then, Visual Studio and .NET Passport have been stripped of ".NET" in their brandings. However, Microsoft and the rest of the computing industry use ".NET" to indicate close association with .NET Framework, e.g. .NET Compiler Platform, .NET Foundation and .NET Reflector.

  1. ^ Deckmyn, Dominique (23 June 2000). "Update: Microsoft stakes future on .Net strategy". Computerworld. IDG.
  2. ^ "Advancing Microsoft's .NET strategy". ZDNet. CBS Interactive. 14 August 2000.
  3. ^ Serwin, Sebastian (19 July 2002). "The Microsoft's .NET strategy". TechGenix.
  4. ^ Thurrott, Paul (29 September 2002). "Windows .NET Server: A First Look". ITPro. Informa USA.
  5. ^ "Microsoft .NET My Services - Family Home Page". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 7 November 2001. Retrieved 11 January 2018.
  6. ^ "Windows Server's identity crisis". CNET. CBS Interactive. 9 January 2003.