Milos is a collection of building blocks, not a framework. Each building block is designed to be able to function on its own, without requiring the use of the entire product. At the same time, the building blocks compliment one another and add functionality when they are used together. For instance, when an Office style list control is used with the Milos data components, the list control can automatically take advantage of the advanced features of the data components which are not found in a regular .NET DataTable.

The intent of Milos is to componentize areas of functionality so that those functions become an easily consumed commodity to the developer instead of a development project in and of itself. The Names Management component for instance, encapsulates all of the functionality of collecting and maintaining names, addresses, phone numbers, email addresses and other "stock" information. It provides for linking multiple names to the same address so that one update to the address updates the address for everyone who lives there and makes it easy to send mail only to the head of household, or to each person in the household as needed. It provides formatting for international addresses and numbers along with many other advanced features. Adding name management functionality for customers, suppliers, mailing lists and any other place you need names in your application is a matter of using the database definitions, stored procedures, business objects and business entities provided by Milos. If you use a Milos Names control as well, you have only to point the control to the business entity object and you're done.