Microsoft shows love for .NET on Valentine's Day with an anniversary broadcast

Net Microsoft Anniversary
Net Microsoft Anniversary (Image credit: Microsoft)

What you need to know

  • It's the 20th anniversary of .NET, Microsoft's open-source developer platform.
  • Microsoft will celebrate the occasion with a live broadcast at 12 PM ET on February 14, 2022.
  • Developers can use .NET to create apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, the web, and mobile platforms.

Microsoft will celebrate the 20th anniversary of .NET with a live broadcast today, February 14, 2022. The stream starts at 9 AM PT (12 PM ET) and will go on for 45 minutes. With .NET, developers can build apps for Windows, macOS, Linux, mobile platforms, and the web. The cross-platform and open-source developer platform has been around through several versions of Windows and has evolved over the years as an important tool for developers.

For those unfamiliar with .NET, Microsoft has an eight-part series explaining what the platform is and what it allows developers to do. In short, a developer platform is a set of languages and libraries that can be used to create apps. Several popular languages are supported by .NET, including C#, F#, and Visual Basic. The developer platform can be used to create apps for just about every major platform, including Windows, macOS, and the web. With Xamarin, it can also be used for mobile development.

Microsoft also has a library of videos and articles to help developers get started with .NET.

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In addition to supporting desktops and mobile devices, .NET can be used to develop for the Internet of Things (IoT), the cloud, machine learning, and microservices.

Sean Endicott
News Writer

Sean Endicott is a News Writer at Windows Central, where he covers Windows 11, Surface hardware, Microsoft 365, AI, apps, and the broader PC ecosystem. Since joining the site in 2017, he has written well over a thousand articles across the Microsoft landscape, covering breaking news, analysis, and feature reporting.

He writes Windows Wrap, a weekly column covering the biggest stories in Windows and the PC industry, and what they mean for the platform going forward.

Before joining Windows Central full-time, Sean worked in journalism and media production after earning a First Class degree in Broadcast Journalism from Nottingham Trent University. Outside of tech, he is an award-winning American football coach based in Nottingham, England, and was named BAFCA Youth Coach of the Year in 2024.