[Am-info] .Net and C#

[Gene Gaines]

On ZDNet Tech Update at:
http://techupdate.zdnet.com/techupdate/stories/main/0,14179,2838786,00.html

  Is .Net ready to go anywhere?
  By Eric Knorr
  January 15, 2002

I've pulled out a few paragraphs below to highlight the nasty bits.

Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com



"Microsoft's new C# language won't emerge from beta until next
month, but it's already stirring up lots of speculation. ...

...

So here's the catch: Microsoft's shared-source policy, under
which the C# and CLI specifications were submitted to the ECMA,
states that Microsoft offers a "fully functional, illustrative
implementation that can be used as a basis for noncommercial
experimentation."

In other words, those who confuse shared source with open
source do so at their own peril. Last summer, Ximian announced
its intention to develop an open-source, Linux-based version
of .Net, including C# and the CLI based on the ECMA specs. In
a similar effort, Halcyon Software is supposed to start testing
a Java implementation of .Net this month. That's fine with
Microsoft--after all, the company anointed Corel to create a
FreeBSD version of .Net last June. Just don't start using those
ports for commercial development purposes, or you'll violate
Microsoft's shared-source licensing terms.

...

I'm as delighted as the next guy by the irony of .Net running
on a Sun Solaris box. But if that ever happens, Microsoft will
determine the time and place. C# and the .Net platform promise
a viable alternative to the world of J2EE development--
particularly if you want to invest in Web services, since the
J2EE spec has not yet outlined how that will happen on the Java
side. But for the foreseeable future, that means Windows, pal,
unless you plan to code for your own entertainment."



Gene Gaines
gene.gaines@gainesgroup.com
Sterling, Virginia