Microsoft has changed the distributed programming landscape with .NET: from data access to remote object calls to the deployment of software components. And, of course, .NET introduces a new technology in XML Web services that may revolutionize Web development.Distributed .NET Programming in VB.NET describes how to use these new .NET technologies to build fast, scalable, and robust distributed applications. Along the way, it answers common questions, such as: How do I use the .NET Remoting Framework? What role does COM+ play in the .NET universe? How can I interoperate with COM components? What's the difference between .NET remoting and Web services? How will these changes affect the architecture and design of a distributed application? Tom Barnaby assumes the reader is already familiar with the fundamentals of .NET. However, a .NET overview chapter is provided to concisely explain several of the fundamental .NET technologies that play a large role in distributed programming, including building, versioning, and deploying assemblies; garbage collection; serialization; and attribute-based programming.