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>It isn't the developers that will determine the success of the .NET.

I should have specified VS.Net. .Net itself is more than Visual Studio. Already you can buy .Net servers.

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>I haven't met to many folks who think it is a good idea parking their data on Microsoft servers, only to pay a fee to access it, or have it held hostage against increasing fees for pay-per-use or metered access to executables. Some data would never be moved there, like tax or other personal and critical data.

The idea of Application Service providers will die. Too many people opposed to it. Don't confuse ASPs with .Net. Oracle and Sun are both touting the ASP idea too.

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>Gone would be the need to create CD copies, have a large support staff, or a large development staff. Large layoffs loom at Microsoft.
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>Also, consider what would happen to the net if Microsoft decided to create and sell a 'WinPC' that was essentially a PC without a BIOS, OS or HD, but had a DLS connection to the internet and an FTP boot program on a chip that would, on powerup, bring down from the MS website the BIOS and OS for the PC. Without access to the Microsoft's BIOS and OS site the box is useless. A discount will be given to those who access the .NET using Bill's WinPC, penalizing those who use conventional general purpose PC. Would coders pony up and pay hourly for the right to write applications for clients? Applications that would be written on the web, tested on the web and run from the web? Want to pay Bill hourly for the right to learn and putz around with new ideas? I would bet that Gates would even volunteer to give the WinPC to every user free of charge. What a deal.

You're taking this to the extreme...one that won't happen. If you think the DOJ is after MS now, it would be after them big time if this were to happen. Also, much of the technology that MS is pushing will be open standards. SOAP, XML, C# just to name a few.

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>BUT, supposed Microsoft and others (recording industry, for example) got laws passed outlawing the manufacture and/or repair of general purpose PCs, because it was a device that could make 'illegal' copies of software and threaten IP rights.

The movie industry already tried that in the "BetaMax" case. The Sumpreme Court ruled against them.