The long and winding road to ".net"

At first glance, Microsoft’s new operating system plans might seem confusing, but the approach is a compelling one, and part of an overall ".net" concept which Microsoft adopted last year as its next big baby.Microsoft developers are currently working simultaneously on two successors to the Windows 2000 operating system. "Windows XP", codenamed "Whistler", is being beta-tested all over the globe. For some time now, Whistler has been referred to internally as "Windows.NET 1.0". Meanwhile, work has also been in progress for many months now on "Windows.NET 2.0", (codenamed "Blackcomb"), which is designed to cope with a very different set of tasks. Both operating systems are seen as milestones en route to a new "dot net" era. The overall objective is obvious. Windows XP has been primarily designed to lure Microsoft customers away from its consumer-based, Windows 9x operating systems. Upgrade options will be offered for Windows 98 and Windows Me (Millennium Edition), but not for Windows 95. Windows XP will be the long-awaited successor to both Windows 9x and Windows NT. The "home" version will be the first consumer-focused Windows to work without any DOS code. Windows XP is essentially Windows 2000 with numerous XML elements and a touch of Windows Me thrown in. Future applications that Microsoft is still working on will also be based on the Extended Markup Language, XML — notably "Office XP" and "Visual Studio.NET". Once XML has established itself as the standard format through upgrades of all Microsoft products, the market will then be hit with a new "Windows.NET 2.0", where XML no longer features as a mere component, but is the essential core of the whole system. Windows XP will act as an interim step along the road to a new "dot.net" era, which won’t come into being until "Blackcomb" or Windows.NET 2.0 becomes a reality.