After a five-day outage, Microsoft fixed a technician's error Tuesday, allowing Windows users to once again access critical operating system updates on the company's Web site which was based on .NET technology. This brings up a questions, how reliable will .NET be to users.
The .Net initiative is Microsoft's multibillion-dollar effort to use its software heft to gain a significant share of the Web-delivered services market. .Net relies on a newly created software framework designed to give customers a hassle-free, secure way of connecting with businesses over the Internet.
Microsoft will sell the software and developer tools needed to create .Net-enabled sites. But the company will also offer its own personalized Web services paired with a "passport" containing a consumer's financial information--a setup that will supposedly make online transactions faster and easier.
Known as .Net My Services, the collection of consumer information and services is a key component of Microsoft's strategy to charge Web users for a trouble-free Net experience and to sell businesses access to My Services customers.
But the scope of the plan has the technology industry's eyes on the giant, and several recent security incidents and service failures haven't inspired confidence. Nor has this new problem with the upgrade site.
So how will .NET be consider reliable? so far, Microsoft didnt do a good job getting this service platform on the highway of the internet. "Lets face it, Microsoft is not exactly a cashless company, (but) I feel pretty uneasy about depending on them when so often their services have gone down for days and longer without a backup system of any kind," said one affected user posting to an online forum for Windows & .Net Magazine.
