.NET Generation Internet

The computer industry always teems with activity. There is a continuous process of innovations, improvement and advancement taking place here. Before the 80's only the mainframe existed. Computers were then transformed to mass-market products, thanks to the arrival of PC and GUI (graphical user interface). The whole concept of business changed with the network of PCs and PC-based servers. The whole idea of home entertainment reached new heights. With the arrival of the Internet our approach to communication, information and entertainment changed, so has commerce with the advent of e-commerce. If the IDC (International Data Corporation) is to be believed, almost 300 million people use the Web worldwide and over a quarter of a trillion dollars worth of business will be transacted over the Internet this year!

In this path of constant advancement, some areas still call for improvements. The internet, with all the strides being made still remains fashioned on the old mainframe. It can do nothing more than dish out individual pages to individual users. The browser in actual terms is a glorified read-only dumb terminal. Attempts to access online data with more devices lead you to encounter manifold problems. The vision of that customised "personal information space" seems a very far one.

There is a pressing need for that device which addresses the entire software life cycle: from design through to development, deployment and maintenance, consistently and efficiently. Microsoft's .NET may prove to be an answer for this. It envisages total distribution of Web services and intergration of complementary services beyond the possibilities and imagination of today's capabilities.

.NET endeavours to give away with individual websites and bring in a scenario where a constellation of computers, devices and services work effectively towards broader, richer solutions. Once implemented it will enable people to control the how, when and what of the information delivered to them. It will be an extension of the vision of personal empowerment,that the PC's of the 80's promised.

.NET will effect a transformation of the Internet by augmenting HTML-based presentation with programmable XML-based information. XML facilitates separation of actual data and presentational view of that data. The actual manifestation of this vision calls for larger cooperation among partners and software developers worldwide. It will also require the same 'cooperation of many minds' that Alexander Graham Bell called for.

.NET will serve as a platform where advanced software may be launched. Built on the standard integration fabric of XML and Internet protocols it allows intergration and orchestration of any group of resources on the Internet into a single solution. Today this attempt may prove very costly. Microsoft .NET, however will usher in the age of low-cost, high-volume, high-performance software.

The .NET platform is fully provided with the entire needed infrastructure to build and operate a new generation of services. A User Experience helps rich clients to build block services. Along with the distribution of mega services will be a software that supports the new , smart Internet devices. Products and services includes Windows.NET with a core integrated set of building block services, MSN.NET for personal subscription services and Office.NET. An outsourced .NET services will also be created to give corporate and vertical services on the .NET platform.

With advanced software, .NET endeavours to harness a constellation of applications, services and devices to create a personalised digital experience. It will mould itself into any situation with the available infrastructure to take control of your work and life.

This would mean total access and optimum coordination eschewing any need for management. An infinite experience will be created where powerful information-management and e-commerce tools transparently move between internal and Internet-based services.

New software developers may now look forward to bringing out advanced new services which automatically access and leverage information either locally or remotely, regardless of device or language, without having to rewrite code for each environment. To make this a reality, Microsoft .NET offers users the following:

Natural Interface: A type-in box, the innovation which would bring about a complete transformation of transactions between humans and computers-including speech, vision, handwriting and natural-language input.

Universal Canvas: XML compound information architecture, which unifies browsing, communications and document authoring, giving users a synthesised interaction with information.

Information Agent: Takes care of your identity and persona over the Internet and gives you greater control over Web sites and their services. Stores information on your history, context and preferences-on the Internet. Extends support to privacy-enabling technologies such as P3P.

SmartTags: Here Web content is instilled with IntelliSense allowing your PC and devices to deal with information from the Internet. Extensible architecture that enables everyone to create adaptive user experience and data handlers.

Microsoft .NET furthers the limits of the internet. Each aspect of the .NET forms a building block for the new generation of services. For us this means an ideal situation:the web metamorphoses into an "intercreative space", a space where the applications world melts into the world of websites. This will in turn effect an optimum blend of high functionality and the internets infinite ocean of information.