Microsoft to Open Source the .NET Micro Framework

[Frak]

I have great news to announce. Today, at the Microsoft Professional Developer Conference (PDC) here in Los Angeles, we announced not only the release of version 4.0 of the.NET Micro Framework, but also that we are open sourcing the product and making it available under the Apache 2.0 license, which is already being used by the community within the embedded space.

by Peter Galli on November 16, 2009 09:16AM

http://port25.technet.com/archive/2009/11/16/microsoft-to-open-source-the-net-micro-framework.aspx

[starcannon]

Thats an interesting development.
MS seems to be doing a lot of this lately... Mono, Silverlight, and now this. I wonder what it all means.

Edit:
Thanks for the post Frak.

[Giant Speck]

In before "bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww it's not enough!"

[FuturePilot]

Maybe this can finally put an end to all the Mono FUD getting spread around.



Oh wait, this is only a part of a bigger plan..... http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif

[-grubby]

Maybe this can finally put an end to all the Mono FUD getting spread around.



Oh wait, this is only a part of a bigger plan..... http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif

http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif
http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gifhttp://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif
http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif

[starcannon]

Maybe this can finally put an end to all the Mono FUD getting spread around.
Oh wait, this is only a part of a bigger plan..... http://stashbox.org/701473/tinfoil.gif

Almost certainly; it's just that I never imagined MS would consider opening up part of a plan. You'll have to forgive those of us who are watching dubiously. It took them many years of asshattery to earn their current reputation, it will take them time to shed the stigma as well. I am interested in seeing where MS's new attitude is headed, and am hopeful that it is headed in a good direction.

That said, is it just me or does it smell like linsux in here again? Boards have been very very negative lately. And I've seen a surge of "the crew" posting as well.

[Frak]

In before "bawwwwwwwwwwwwwwww it's not enough!"


Almost certainly; it's just that I never imagined MS would consider opening up part of a plan. You'll have to forgive those of us who are watching dubiously. It took them many years of asshattery to earn their current reputation, it will take them time to shed the stigma as well. I am interested in seeing where MS's new attitude is headed, and am hopeful that it is headed in a good direction.

That said, is it just me or does it smell like linsux in here again? Boards have been very very negative lately. And I've seen a surge of "the crew" posting as well.

Good call.

[schauerlich]

That said, is it just me or does it smell like linsux in here again? Boards have been very very negative lately. And I've seen a surge of "the crew" posting as well.

It's almost as if people with an interest in Unix like operating systems might use both forums.

[earthpigg]

who is 'the crew'?

ill admit that i mostly keep track of people by their avatar pictures like the illiterate swine that i am....

[Icehuck]

Is the Apache license good or bad? It seems similar to the BSD license but I'm not sure if that's a good way to describe it. I'm not sure I'm happy with this going open source because 20 different forks of something leads to poor reliability.

[directhex]

Is the Apache license good or bad?

It's similar to BSD in scope, but with a patent grant clause. It's also GPLv3-compatible.

[gnomeuser]

This can only go two ways:

a) The BN boys will declare victory claiming to have forced Microsoft to submit to their campaign of lies, slanter and misrepresentations (I suspect their wording will be different)

b) The BN fanboys will somehow find something wrong with this and claim it isn't enough.

My money is on b. even if Microsoft came out tomorrow having licensed all their code under the GPLv3, written a full apology for their past behavior, fired Steve Ballmer and pledge to donate half their earnings to the FSF.. they would find something wrong with it and think it was a part of a plot to take down Linux.

[directhex]

This can only go two ways:

a) The BN boys will declare victory claiming to have forced Microsoft to submit to their campaign of lies, slanter and misrepresentations (I suspect their wording will be different)

b) The BN fanboys will somehow find something wrong with this and claim it isn't enough.

My money is on b. even if Microsoft came out tomorrow having licensed all their code under the GPLv3, written a full apology for their past behavior, fired Steve Ballmer and pledge to donate half their earnings to the FSF.. they would find something wrong with it and think it was a part of a plot to take down Linux.

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/11/16/mono-more-vulnerable/


Microsoft opens the door to accusations of copyright violation and for PR purposes it is said to be “opening up” another part of .NET, leaving its terrible "Community Promise" in tact.

That hardly took a crystal ball did it, David?

Also, still haven't seen a Foresight entry for the mono-project.com download page

[RiceMonster]

I think this is a good thing. I don't care what BN and fellow zealots are moaning about. Perhaps this means we can get the official .NET code ported to other platforms, who knows? What I'd like to know is what this means for Mono.


Is the Apache license good or bad? It seems similar to the BSD license but I'm not sure if that's a good way to describe it. I'm not sure I'm happy with this going open source because 20 different forks of something leads to poor reliability.

I wouldn't worry about that. Even if it is forked 20 times, we still have a company behind the official product that can stear it in a single, clear direction.

[gnomeuser]

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/11/16/mono-more-vulnerable/


*sigh*



That hardly took a crystal ball did it, David?


At least they are predictable



Also, still haven't seen a Foresight entry for the mono-project.com download page

I unfortunately haven't been able to start my work yet, development is painfully slow and I can't start revamping the Mono stack before the underlying work is done. The time frame originally said late November, now it is looking more like December or later..

You should still get Mono by default on any Foresight install though and the packages work fairly well.

[Frak]

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/11/16/mono-more-vulnerable/

What's great is that BN cares more about Mono than something that could hurt the Linux community even further, Samba. Samba has patent agreements with Microsoft to implement the native protocols, not reverse-engineered, real native protocols. They have a much larger following than Mono in terms of implementation.

What does that mean? BN if full of fluff and half-though out priorities.

[forrestcupp]

I don't have time to read the article right now, but I wonder if they are opening up windows.forms.

[RiceMonster]

I don't have time to read the article right now, but I wonder if they are opening up windows.forms.

The only thing the article states are not being open sourced are the TCP/IP stack and Cryptography libraries, so I'm going to assume win forms will be opened.

[Frak]

I don't have time to read the article right now, but I wonder if they are opening up windows.forms.


The only thing the article states are not being open sourced are the TCP/IP stack and Cryptography libraries, so I'm going to assume win forms will be opened.

Win.Forms isn't included in .NET Micro due to it's large size and dependency list. Instead, SPOT Presentation (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/microsoft.spot.presentation.aspx) have been used instead. It's the next best thing to Win.Forms for mobile or embedded devices.

[Dr. C]

What's great is that BN cares more about Mono than something that could hurt the Linux community even further, Samba. Samba has patent agreements with Microsoft to implement the native protocols, not reverse-engineered, real native protocols. They have a much larger following than Mono in terms of implementation.

What does that mean? BN if full of fluff and half-though out priorities.

The Microsoft - Samba patent agreement is not a threat to Free Software; quite the opposite. In summary it provides Samba with a patent license that allows Samba to distribute under GPL v3, as well as other FLOSS licenses software that contains Microsoft's patented technologies. Microsoft had to do this as apart of an anti trust settlement with the EU. This agreement is a major victory for FLOSS.

[Ric_NYC]

Any news about Mono? I didn't see any reference to it.

[Frak]

The Microsoft - Samba patent agreement is not a threat to Free Software; quite the opposite. In summary it provides Samba with a patent license that allows Samba to distribute under GPL v3, as well as other FLOSS licenses software that contains Microsoft's patented technologies. Microsoft had to do this as apart of an anti trust settlement with the EU. This agreement is a major victory for FLOSS.
I really don't see how that makes Mono any different. I tried asking on the BN IRC, but they just called me a M$ $hill and kicked me. I never got a response.