Why was .NET called .NET?

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by leelin on Sunday May 06, 2012 @03:36AM (#3934443)

I was Summer intern at Microsoft in 2001 and back then the interns went to Bill Gates's house for a bbq near the end of the Summer. One of the interns asked "what other names did you think of before coming up with .NET?"

To the best of my memory, Bill's answer was something like:

  I didn't actually like the name .NET.  It makes people 
  wonder if we are finally just starting to learn about the
  Internet.  Sadly, the other proposed name was even worse.
  Our mission statement at the time was 'work Anywhere,
  Anytime, on Any device,' so the proposal was AAAWare.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by rubyrescue on Sunday May 06, 2012 @04:39AM (#3934554)

i worked on .net before it was .net. we didn't have a name for the runtime, we (a very large we) just forked the J++ compiler and started hacking, calling the J++ language "COOL", for Common Object Oriented Language. For a long time the runtime was only usable by building executable files with the "jvc" compiler but compiled C#. We started a VB fork that compiled to the "clr". Yet still no name. At the end of the day it was purely a marketing decision.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by jroseattle on Sunday May 06, 2012 @12:57PM (#3935570)

Yep, I remember COOL as well. And yes, marketing strikes again. :-(

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by ConstantineXVI on Sunday May 06, 2012 @11:21AM (#3935306)

Curious, was the CLR also built off of the Microsoft JVM? And is any of the original code for either still rattling around inside modern .NET?

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by rubyrescue on Sunday May 06, 2012 @11:45AM (#3935380)

totally separate people who had never worked on the jvm for legal reasons

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by haakon on Sunday May 06, 2012 @08:58AM (#3935003)

How nice of Mr. Gates to invite interns to his home, though.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by furyofantares on Sunday May 06, 2012 @01:04PM (#3935585)

My understanding is that they did this every year, along with other intern events. The goal is to allow interns to become friends with each other, because friends follow each other through their careers, so the ones who decide to go back to microsoft will bring the others along.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by damian2000 on Sunday May 06, 2012 @04:20AM (#3934520)

Sounds almost as bad as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonderware ;-)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by thebluesky on Sunday May 06, 2012 @05:23AM (#3934618)

Works anywhere anytime on any device, hmmm think I've heard that before: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Write_once,_run_anywhere

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by baq on Sunday May 06, 2012 @09:41AM (#3935094)

yeah... write once, debug everywhere

edit: oh it's even in the article, how nice :)

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Why was .NET called .NET? by DavidAbrams on Sunday May 06, 2012 @03:08PM (#3935981)

Microsoft's naming has generally ranged from clueless to infantile.

.NET was definitely an attempt to play catch-up to everyone else in regard to the Internet, and even Microsoft couldn't explain what it was. We went to TechEd every year, and even attended a traveling dog-and-pony show that Microsoft held to explain .NET. We came away thinking it was distributed COM.

But then everything was named .NET. Or "My". .NET sucks, but the "My" this and "My" that was downright insulting. Yes, I know it's MY computer, because it's on MY desk. Holy shit, are those MY documents on MY computer? Who would've thought!

Then "Windows Me". WTF. Where was the enterprise version called "Windows Us"? And no, it didn't stand for "Millenium Edition", because that would've been "Windows ME".

Microsoft used to design good UIs, though. They did more to advance the GUI in the '90s than anyone else; definitely more than Apple has done to desktop GUIs since the '80s. But they've lost their way sadly over the last few years. Hopefully they can become relevant again and attract some decent design talent to replace what they've obviously lost.

And clean up this mess (this is Windows 7): http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7194/6889938667_20f136ca0b_b.j...

[ Parent | on HN ]