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The warning signs are mounting fast and furiously. Microsofts “Live” branding campaign is in danger of succumbing to the same fate as its .Net one.
When Microsoft first coined “.Net,” the term referred to something quite specific: the .Net Framework, a set of classes and libraries for building Windows applications.
But within a matter of months, Microsoft marketers began attaching the .Net moniker to all kinds of products, from Windows .Net Servers, to MapPoint.Net. “.Net” became a meaningless term that even Redmonds own couldnt explain concisely.
In 2003, the .Net naming police did a clean sweep and purged the .Net name from all but a handful of products. But the damage was done. .Net had become a shell of its former self, and one that few Microsoft constituents, to this day, can define with any certainty.
Now, history is threatening to repeat itself with Microsoft “Live.”