Introduction

Microsoft first launched the Microsoft .NET Framework in June 2000, amid a frenzy of marketing zeal, with the code name Next Generation Windows Services. Microsoft seemed to add the .NET moniker to every product. There was Windows .NET Server (renamed Windows Server 2003), Visual Studio .NET, and even MapPoint .NET. As is often the case, over time, .NET provided features which were superseded by later and newer features based on advances in technology. For example, Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and XML-based web services have given way to Representation State Transfer (REST) and JavaScript Object Notation (JSON).

Microsoft made considerable improvements to .NET with each release and added new features in response to customer feedback. .NET started as closed source as the .NET Framework. Microsoft then transitioned .NET to open source, aka .NET Core. PowerShell 7.0 is based on .NET Core 3.1.

An issue was that, over time, .NET became fragmented across different...