Here's the article link from News.com:
http://news.cnet.com/news/0-1003-200...html?tag=mn_hd

Here's a bit...
Microsoft gets backing for .Net tools
By Mike Ricciuti
Staff Writer, CNET News.com
December 13, 2001, 8:30 a.m. PT
Microsoft on Thursday said a technology standards body has endorsed programming
tools key to expanding the appeal of the company's .Net Web services plan.


Microsoft said the European Computer Manufacturers Association (ECMA), an
international technology standards organization, has ratified Microsoft's
C# (pronounced "see sharp"), a Java-like programming language, along with
a component of its .Net Web services framework called the Common Language
Infrastructure (CLI).

That means that C# and the CLI are now officially standards administered
by ECMA. But Microsoft will retain control over who gets to license the technology
and how it will be distributed, a company spokesman said.

And here's the Microsoft press release:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/p...2-13ECMAPR.asp