.NET

[EqualOpportunities]

Can one (or more) of you esteemed gentlemen please tell me WTF .NET actually is? I am a fairly technical sort (well, as technical as you need to be to work with the Oracle product set); but having no interest in Microsoft products, this one seems to have passed me by.

Either sensible answers or personal attacks for being so stupid will be fine...

[OrangeHopper]

What Microsoft came up with after Sun told them to keep their dirty mitts of Java.

[EqualOpportunities]

As concise as ever, OH - thank you.

[DimPrawn]

.NET is like a finger pointing to the moon.

[trajectory]

NET is the Microsoft Web services strategy to connect information, people, systems, and devices through software. Integrated across the Microsoft platform, .NET technology provides the ability to quickly build, deploy, manage, and use connected, security-enhanced solutions with Web services. .NET-connected solutions enable businesses to integrate their systems more rapidly and in a more agile manner and help them realize the promise of information anytime, anywhere, on any device.

HTH.

[Tony Blair]

.Net is new and shiny and a bit like New Labour.

[FrancoLondinium]

.NET is the future.

[OwlHoot]

.NET is DCOM with a false beard

[EqualOpportunities]

Cheers Traj, it does help

[OrangeHopper]

All of Microsoft's languages compiled to .net byte code and run using a run time engine. Something like that anyway.

Of course, it is .not because it doesn't run on anything other then Intel boxes.

Oh, does that mean I will be able to run it on the Mac I'm going to buy next year?

Oh, does that mean Bill had paid Steve an backhander so Microsoft can claim it runs on multiple platforms.

Very sneaky!