It's a bit like COM+ but completely .NET. It's a bit like COM+ but without the weird idiosyncrasies. It's a bit like COM+ but without so many names*. Perhaps the closest .NET product to TaskGarden is the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) provided by Microsoft. However if you have ever used WCF you will know how incredibly heavy and complicated it is. If you have a year to spare then by all means go for WCF. If not then TaskGarden is lightweight, portable and functional. It concentrates on getting the job done.