The upcoming year is taking on a definite theme at Microsoft. Call it the next chapter of .NET, the company's roadmap for enabling software and services over the Internet. At Microsoft and across the technology industry, several new or enhanced products scheduled for release in 2002 will build on .NET, allowing a wide range of customers to better realize the potential in their businesses, in the office and at home. For Microsoft, 2002 arrives on the heels of an historic year that saw the release of Windows XP, the fastest, most secure, accessible and powerful operating system in its history, as well as Office XP, the most significant update ever to Microsoft's decade-old Office suite of productivity applications. Along with the release of Xbox, Microsoft's first gaming console, the trio of product launches set the table for a true "Digital Decade" that will revolutionize the way companies do business and how people around the world communicate, learn and play.

For software developers in 2002, Visual Studio .NET will provide the tools needed to build Web services based on eXtensible Markup Language (XML), while a forthcoming suite of developer tools will help make speech a common way to receive and exchange information with Web or telephone applications. Windows .NET Server will provide a foundation for developers to build, run and manage Web services, and allow businesses to develop and deploy a broad range of enterprise-scale applications. For small- and medium-sized businesses, Microsoft Great Plains Business Solutions will launch the division's first products that incorporate .NET technologies, Dynamics and eEnterprise Release 7.0. Many knowledge workers will experience .NET services on the Tablet PC, the evolution of today’s fully functional laptop computers. These next-generation laptops will combine the power and features of a standard PC with the convenience and mobility of a pen and paper, including the ability to capture and reuse handwritten or spoken notes. Besides products helping to deliver on the promise of .NET, other newsworthy Microsoft product and technology highlights expected for 2002 include: