.NET: an entrapping device or situation
.NET: to catch or ensnare in or as if in a net.
.NET: to take in a net; to capture by stratagem or wile.
.NET: to enclose or cover with a net; as, to net a tree.
.NET: to produce or gain as clear profit; as, he netted a thousand dollars by the operation.
.NET: a trap made of netting to catch fish or birds or insects
.NET: the excess of revenues over outlays in a given period of time
.NET: a drag-net or hauling-net, of great size, and requiring many men to work it
This writeup previously contained a rather anti-.NET rant. While I still think that the .NET Framework/C# was heavily inspired by Java, the final release of the platform is much less resource-hungry (or perhaps our computers are just faster...). It's still more bloated than desirable, but it's certainly useable, and a vast improvement over VB6 and below. Of course, you can still program in "old-fashioned" C++ using MFC, if you're into that kind of stuff, and merely reap the rewards of a much-improved IDE and help system.
Recent patches from MS have caused the .NET vision to shrink somewhat: code can no longer be run remotely (so it no longer replaces Java applets online) and the Hailstorm/My Services/Bend over and SUBSCRIBE to pay-per-use software aspect has been abandoned... for now...