This is going to be a technology post but I will try my best to write as "funny" / "hilarious" as I can... So I won't bore the I.T. illiterate readers

First of all, what inspires me to write this... Often, we heard people talk about how great is .NET and what it can do and etc... It is overwhelming. Simply overwhelming. In many situations, people start to mis-understand what is .NET.

Let's start with a little history lesson, short but brief!

.NET derives its name from a well-known Microsoft Software Component called .NET Framework. What is this? .NET Framework is a large pool of pre-coded libraries or objects for Microsoft Visual Studio.NET to use. If you don't know what is libraries or objects. No worry. Just make is as a TOOL! :) A handy tool for programmers. 

.NET started its journey since year 2002 with the first release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (often we refer it as Microsoft VS .NET 2002). .NET framework has a few versions and use by different version of Visual Studio. See table below.

*** I am not sure which version of .NET framework that Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 will use. It is just a wild guess...

As you see table above... In past 5 years, Microsoft is putting a lot of effort to capture/expand the developer population. Well, forget about it. You don't need to know that :) For .NET Framework version 3.0, it is included in your brand new Microsoft Windows Vista  if you don't know... :) For most developers or programmers, we are definitely waiting for the version 3.5 because this version will include a new compiler that will support new features such as Language Integrated Query (LINQ), as well as new language features in C# and VB.NET.

Every one thinks that .NET must be Internet related. This is partially wrong, but I could not deny it fully. It is because .NET Framework has the capability to interoperable between web and windows/desktop interface. It is all depends on what kind of software solution you need!

I met some employers or bosses which thinks that if you don't have .NET experience then you knows nothing in web-development. Gosh! I wish I can slap them hard. Kick them far far away. Besides .NET, we still have JAVA or JAVA EE if you know what is that. Even without .NET or Java knowledge, you can still development a web site with plain HTML...

.NET is just a term for a group of tools. So, when somebody mention that they know .NET, you better ask them which .NET language that he/she knows :) For example, my blog is developed with C#.NET and uses XML as database, currently utilizing .NET Framework 2.0 :)

If a person says he has more than 7 years of .NET experiences. Just ignore him, it is because .NET was introduced at year 2002. Now is year 2007 only. Even you are a beta tester, I bet it is like 1 year earlier than the other to feel the beta version of .NET Framework 1.0. If you are interviewing people, ensure you have the right candidate with the right experiences :)

To summarize, .NET is not the owning the Internet. It is a lot of other tools to develop web-site or Internet application or system (e-commerce, CMS, BLOG and etc).

I hope I did not bore you with this. I wish you have better understanding on this topic. Feel free to ask me more questions too!