Maybe in the Visual Basic community, but it strikes me as somewhat more complicated for their purposes. Let's see if they're as good about it as they promise to be. Gustavo Eydelsteyn, managing director of ComponentOne LLC, has a different view. Analogous to Java byte code, ILs must be compiled before execution. As with Java applets and the JVM, a CLR must be present for an IL to run.
Execution can take place locally or on a server and delivered as browser content.
Initially, CLRs will be available only for Windows platforms. Dunlap said Microsoft is working on CLRs for PDAs, cell phones and other small devices. I think that what Microsoft means by 'run everywhere' is that it's going to run on anything from PocketPC to Windows 2000, which is their traditional view. However, O'Brien thinks that the distributed services model used by .NET, in which local or server-based applications can call upon services running on any other server with XML and SOAP as the primary enabling technologies, is the way the Internet is going to go. Whether or not the .NET platform from Microsoft is the enabling technology that succeeds is a marketing issue.