Visual Studio (VS) is the IDE to develop applications for the .NET Framework. The .NET Framework use the .NET Runtime (or CLR). The .NET Runtime is what load and execute your application on the client machine. AFAIK, the only not-.NET language supported by VS is C++ (in unmanaged code). MM is built on top of the MS .NET Framework, so you still need it.

This article may help you clearing up the .NET terminology: http://www.codeguru.com/csharp/sample_chapter/article.php/c8245

HTH

>I am getting confused on the Visual Studio terminology, platforms and such.
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>Is it called "Visual Stuido" or is it called ".NET", or "Visual Studio .NET" or what? Perhaps the ".NET Framework" runs on top of "Visual Studio"? Could someone use "Visual Studio" without using ".NET Framework" (even though it may not be smart, but is it doable?)
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>Does ".NET" really always mean ".NET Framework"?
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>If I were to the the MM .NET Framework, would I not use the Microsoft .NET framework at all, or does MM .NET run on top of it?
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>Please help me as a beginner researching this as I consider moving from VFP to "whatever it's called"