.NET label dropped from Windows Server software

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Microsoft is introducing a new branding convention for its server-software products to synch up with next week's launch of Windows Server 2003.

Microsoft's server programs will be sold under the "Windows Server System" brand starting April 24, when Microsoft is set to ship its latest operating system. The shift will affect products that had been marketed under the .Net Enterprise Server label. Dropping the .Net label from server software follows the company's decision earlier this year to do the same with the forthcoming Windows Server 2003 OS.

By creating the Windows Server System naming convention for all its server products, Microsoft hopes to clarify what the .Net name means and to demonstrate the company's long-term commitment to Windows, said Barry Goffe, group product manager at Microsoft's server platform division.

"We unfortunately have not been superclear in the past about what .Net is and what .Net isn't," Goffe said.

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News source: ZDNet

"It's definitely a confusing brand and IT (information technology) directors didn't understand it well, but developers understood right away," said Matt Rosoff, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft. "The marketing department at Microsoft just got a little out of control and applied it to everything."

Microsoft will continue to use the .Net moniker for products that involve application development and Web services, including its Visual Studio.Net programming tool, Goffe said. The .Net name remains with consumer-targeted Web services, including .Net Alerts, which sends out reminders, and Microsoft's .Net Passport service for password authentication.

(4 replies) #1 danbalsh on 17 Apr 2003 - 13:59

god if they spent as much time fixing bugs, as they do renaming products, Windows Server 2003 etc might be worth getting.

#1.1 JaggedFlame on 17 Apr 2003 - 14:20

Yeah, and we all know that the marketing department can fix bugs, right? If you would learn how a corporation works instead of claiming that doing anything other than fixing bugs is a waste of time, you might be worth agreeing with.

#1.2 danbalsh on 17 Apr 2003 - 14:30

I'm well aware of how a corporation works thankyou

And the above statement was ment to be a joke, you know

#1.3 Neobond on 17 Apr 2003 - 14:32

JaggedFlame: I'm sure he meant they as in "Microsoft" so stop nit-picking man

#1.4 JaggedFlame on 17 Apr 2003 - 15:27

Okay, never mind if it was a joke. It's just kinda dumb how some people seriously think that renaming a product directly takes away from bug fixing.

Neobond, not sure what you're gettin' at, but it doesn't matter, eh? :inhale:

(1 reply) #2 jesterzwild on 17 Apr 2003 - 14:45

This is old news in regards to the .NET moniker being dropped. What's "news worthy" here is the new moniker of Windows Server System, which coincides with Office System. Though it definately seems that the article focuses too much on the .NET change, which has been done over and over for some time now. Slow news day I guess.

#2.1 JnCoKiLLa on 17 Apr 2003 - 18:11

I guess nobody notice that this was from last month

(1 reply) #3 kyro on 17 Apr 2003 - 14:49

[QUOTE]"We unfortunately have not been superclear in the past about what .Net is and what .Net isn't,"[/QUOTE] Then why even bother putting it there in first place ....

#3.1 mbg on 17 Apr 2003 - 18:02

I think they wanted to indicate that it was a part of the .NET plumbing, which it is (it is a platform for web services, among other things, but it is a pretty key part of hosting .NET services). The problem is, people already have a concept of what Windows Server is, and this new one isn't really much different. It does all of the same things as previous versions, and it does a lot more than .NET hosting. It's not all about .NET, so it makes .NET look like a trendy suffix like "XP" when it's actually something completely different.

#4 Atom on 17 Apr 2003 - 16:42

wasnt this posted a few weeks ago?

#5 Krankerz on 17 Apr 2003 - 18:07

Old news...get with the program!

#6 hardgiant on 17 Apr 2003 - 23:38

Same crappy software exciting new name

Actual 2003 is pretty good

#7 kioria on 19 Apr 2003 - 15:58

.NET has only confused newbies. Most of the people I know has absolutely no problems with .NET. In fact, they use it next to their names, coz it sounds and looks good. Nevertheless, MS has done a good job on researching about .NET's popularity. Because newbies have noidea what .NET is.

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