This is the first release of the .NET Framework and is also part of the first release of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET.  The Microsoft .NET Framework is a software component that can be added to or is included with Microsoft Windows operating system. It provides a large body of pre-coded solutions to common program requirements, and manages the execution of programs written specifically for the framework.

The pre-coded solutions that form the framework's class library cover a large range of programming needs in areas including: user interface, data access, database connectivity, cryptography, web application development, numeric algorithms, and network communications. The functions of the class library are used by programmers who combine them with their own code to produce applications.

Probably the most widely used Microsoft.Net tool is the Microsoft Visual Studio.Net development software (IDE).  The IDE provides specific goal oriented project types and visual functionality, which allow the developer to take full advantage of the .Net Framework.  Example project types include ASP.Net Web Service, ASP.Net Web Application, and Windows Application.  The ASP.Net Web Service project type provides basic skeleton code of a web service, so the developer need only fill in the details.  The Windows Application and ASP.Net Web Application project types provide graphical functionality for the developer to (for instance) set a “web reference” to a web service, which automatically creates a proxy of the target web service.  This allows the developer to quickly write code to access and communicate with the target web service.