Blogging Roller

So now it's April 2003 and I'm hearing that .NET is dead--that Microsoft will continue downplaying both the name .NET and the technologies behind it. You can find hints all around that this ".NOT" strategy might be happening right now.

Sounds like something Carlos would say, and that is where I picked up this story, but the quote is from Paul Thurott, a windows advocate and news editor for Windows and .NET Magazine. Sounds ominous, but I think there is really nothing to worry about here for .NET developers. Microsoft might be ditching the .NET brand and marketing campaign, so what? Microsoft goes through branding campaigns like they go through database access technologies.

Maybe Microsoft realizes that spending money on marketing development tools does not drive sales in operating systems, office applications, gaming, wireless, or other markets where customers don't know a compiler from a Throbmaster 9000. Maybe they'll replace their whole developer relations department and marketing division with a Robert Scoble-edited dev-blog. Wouldn't that be fun? Or, maybe Microsoft believes that they've already won the marketing battle against the fractured Java/J2EE community and vendors. I mean, look at the push-back Werner is getting from his clients.

De-emphasizing the .NET brand and marketing campaign does not change the fact that the .NET framework, the CLR, and C# are the future for Windows developers.