Microsoft .NET was conceived long before Web Services existed and is intended to achieve a far greater revolution than merely pay-per-view software.
Microsoft .NET is principally about 3 things.
1. A vision to mobilise and motivate the troops.
2. A new technology to create a discontinuity, define a "before" and "after", avoid the need for backward compatibility (and incidentally sell upgrades), give Microsoft a chance to dominate the Internet.
3. A growing set of specific pieces of software, showing staff, developers and the public what can be achieved (and incidentally creating new revenue streams).
They did it 10 years ago with Windows; they hope to do it again. The similarity to Java is no coincidence, in the same way that Windows was adapted from the MacIntosh. In almost every conceivable technical detail .NET is better than Java, as you would expect.
Smart people learn.
The incorporation of XML, relationship to Web Services and dalliance with software rental are largely coincidental, things that happened in the market place and just got shoehorned into .NET as convenient.
Just remember one thing: all Microsoft ever wants to do is sell more Windows.