Scott Rosenberg’s latest column takes on Microsoft’s .Net initiative, and provides a good overview of what it’s all about if you haven’t figured it out yet. The only problem I have with it is that it says that .Net isn’t a “me too” offering from Microsoft, which isn’t really the case. While the origins of the idea behind .Net are less obvious than those behind Windows or Internet Explorer, .Net is a rearticulation of concepts created by Apple, Sun, and others. Jaded technology watchers can see things like Jini and OpenDoc as the inspiration for much of what appears to be in .Net. Certainly using XML as application glue isn’t an idea that comes from within Microsoft.