OK, I'm feeling brave now, so here is why I haven't really disagreed with ".NET" appearing everywhere.
IIRC at PDC 2000 when .NET stopped being called "Next Generation Windows Services" and was formally announced as .NET, it was to do a very important thing. .NET was to give you your data any where, any time, and on any device. As such the set of technologies that deliver on that vision deserve the .NET moniker. Since SQL Server 2000, Exchange Server 2000, Mobile Information Server, etc. are enabling technologies to get you your data any time, any where, and on any device, I'm OK with them being called the .NET Enterprise servers.
Here is a breakdown, as I've under stood it, of the usage of .NET.
.NET vision - Your data any time, and where, and on any device.
.NET initiative - The paradigm shift required to implement the .NET vision.
.NET platform - The actual bits to which the paradigm is shifting. This would of course include the .NET Framework and VisualStudio .NET, but would also include the .NET Enterprise server line (since the platform allows you to connect to them to achieve the vision). Version of Windows/Office/Servers that are part of the platform (and since Windows Server 2003 ships with the .NET Framework 1.1 it is part of the platform) and/or those that don't have the bits of the platform (e.g. don't run on the CLR) but deliver on the vision, deserver the .NET moniker.
If that thinking is accurrate, then the reason Passport became Passport .NET is that Passport enabled authentication any time, any where, and on any device (e.g. it delivered on the vision even though it didn't have CLR based bits). As I've said before this is why the .NET Enterprise servers server the ".NET" when spoken of as a group even though they don't have any CLR based bits. If Office 11 (and it does IIUC) supports scripting or CLR hosting (I think called VSA), than it deserves a ".NET" some where in its name.
Particularly in 2002 Microsoft folks often said that XML integration in products earned for them the ".NET" in their names. I think this distorts the vision. The end user doesn't give a rat's piece of cheese (that's for that expression, blue) about XML. The end user cares about getting his data any time, any where, and on any device. If XML (or CLR bits for that matter) are or aren't involved, he really doesn't care (nor should he).
Finally, I find it ironic that perhaps the first product to deliver on the vision and be part of the platform, has just lost the .NET moniker. Windows Server 2003 actually has CLR based bits, is a foundation of the platform (for the Enterprise Servers), and generally is designed to deliver on the .NET vision. But alas....now that the name actually made sense, Microsoft changed it.
Whoever wants to disagree with "Windows .NET should be a fully managed API" won't find disagreement from me. I think "Longhorn" which is supposed to have a fully managed API (IIUC) also deserves the ".NET" just as VisualStudio .NET 2002 and VisualStudio .NET 2003 both deserve the ".NET" in their names.
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