Dot.Net

was launched by Microsoft shortly after the turn of the millennium. Dot.Net, or .Net for short, is a service-oriented ensemble of technologies, programming languages, communication strategies and products. The essential element is the .Net Framework. This is a layer between the operating system (Windows) and the applications (programs). Dot.Net programs require a .Net Framework with a Framework Class Library (FCL) and a virtual machine (VM) as a runtime environment.
Dot.Net is designed to be cross-platform. For the first time, a runtime environment is also available for the Linux operating system (Mono). The corresponding Dot.Net Enterprise Server offers XML communication (Extensible Markup Language) and an environment for web services.

Source: logipedia / Fraunhofer IML