Open Source on .NET: Ignored and Embraced
On
Tuesday
I wrote about a conversation I had with Shaun Walker, founder of the popular
open source DotNetNuke Web application framework for .NET. I wrote about Shaun's
experience founding DotNetNuke and what it's like to be an open source developer
working under .NET.
Based on some of the comments to this entry, I think people might be misreading
the context of the interview. As is clear from the original post, Walker has
enjoyed outstanding access and guidance from Microsoft -- specifically through
the Developer Division (DevDiv) under Scott Guthrie. In fact, it was Guthrie
himself who hooked Walker's team up with key people in Redmond.
When Walker said his team was being ignored, he was speaking specifically of
other groups in Microsoft -- among these being the open source group led by
Sam Ramji. Walker said Ramji's group seems most interested in luring non-.NET
(read: Linux)-based open source developers and projects over to the Microsoft
platform. Native .NET developers -- including DotNetNuke -- just aren't on Ramji's
radar.
And that, Walker thinks, is a shame. DotNetNuke has benefited hugely from the
attention lavished on it by the DevDiv, but Walker believes there are scores
of worthy, .NET-based projects that are just not getting the support they need.
"We're hoping that over time that attitude will change and they will provide
more support for native open source application vendors," Walker told me.
Walker isn't alone in this sentiment. Back
in April, Coding Horror blogger Jeff Atwood spoke at length about his frustrations
with how Microsoft treats open source developers. He went so far as to say that
"open source projects are treated as second-class citizens in the Microsoft
ecosystem."
Walker, for his part, believes Microsoft is heading in the right direction.
"I do think it is going to improve over time. Like anything that is immature,
it does take some time to figure out how to coexist peacefully and collaborate
successfully," he said.
Do you think Microsoft is doing enough for native .NET open source developers?
What would you like to see Microsoft do to improve its efforts to serve this
group? E-mail me at mdesmond@reddevnews.com.
Posted by Michael Desmond on 07/24/2008 at 4:02 PM