.NET Framework

The .NET ecosystem has runtimes. The oldest and most well-known runtime is the .NET Framework. Here is where the confusion begins: even though it is called the .NET Framework, it is mainly a runtime. It does have a framework in it, and it is also a platform, and so do all the other runtimes.

You can build more application types with the .NET Framework, but the types are mainly Windows-centric. This is because the .NET Framework uses some Windows-specific API’s for some application types.