Is .NET the End of DNA?

.NET is Microsoft’s first foray into a new architecture model, designed around the
increasing role of the Internet, since it announced DNA in the late 1990s. With the
exception of some quick-to-guess assessments of early .NET information, no one
is arguing that .NET will be the end of the popular and proven DNA Architecture
Model. DNA’s fundamental features, such as COM and multiple-tier environments,
will continue to be invaluable in .NET solutions—but with a new twist: more efficient
and rapid development and delivery. The fundamental principle behind .NET
is a more productive development and runtime environment, an essential ingredient
to meeting market demands and the increasingly rapid business shifts that
the Internet has fueled.
.NET offers next-generation releases of popular technologies such as ASP+
and ADO+ in response to developer feedback and to support delivering powerful
Web applications and services in record time. Unprecedented features such as
mixed-language programming and a common-language runtime will allow organizations
to leverage existing programming skills. Rich architecture services in the
.NET Frameworks eliminate the need to repeatedly program and deal with tedious
“plumbing” tasks such as memory or thread management and security. Support
for nearly every popular language and richer architecture services are important
features as organizations suffer from a documented and continued shortage of
programmers.
.NET also offers a look into Microsoft’s vision of software services. Although
it will be some time before we see broad existence and acceptance of subscription-
based software, the Web services model in .NET is the 1.0 release of this principle.
The real benefit comes from the integration capabilities of services by
allowing different groups to develop and manage features in which they are
entrenched. By “subscribing” to these services, you can integrate them into your
application and deliver a complete solution in record time.
If your organization has invested countless amounts of resources toward
building DNA solutions, there is no need to begin sweating over .NET. Your experience
with DNA and the ability to migrate existing applications and integrate .NET
services into your DNA solutions will make the process bearable and rewarding.
What .NET brings to the table is that it enables your organization to deliver nextgeneration
solutions with less time and money than was previously possible.
You can expect the .NET technologies to solidify in the coming months and
become available for broad use in the first half of 2001. For more information, visit
Microsoft’s .NET Web site at www.microsoft.com/net.