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Microsoft Plans to open sources for Windows Forms
prostoalex writes "Shawn Burke from Microsoft says they are ready to ship sources for Windows Forms for .NET Framework 2.0 and asks for specific advice on accomplishing that (specifically, a smart comment tool). Windows Forms contains .NET framework classes for building GUI applications."
Let me be the first to say that this is a GOOD thing.
God knows, Microsoft would not be the only group to have the need to strip/edit source code comments. I believe we should try to be constructive instead of 320 comments rated 0 or 1 that trash Microsoft for having naughties in the comments. Every bit of code I've ever seen tends to have jokes, sarcastic quips, etc embedded.
I can only imagine what the comments might be though. Maybe stuff like
/* next 10 lines stolen directly from OpenBSD */
or maybe
/* add the next bit to ensure that this code will *never* work in Gecko!! Hahahaha */
Does this make a difference to projects like Mono? And what's the catch? Can I use the source for anything useful without being tackled by lawyers? If I look at their source am I tainted forever?
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
As a user and developer of both custom 'Doze software (by day, for $) and OSS (at night, not yet for $) . . .
Microsoft is not likely to release these under a genuinely Free or Open Source license . . . but . . . they will be helpful to me as a 'Doze developer by helping me find and work around and/or fix implementation bugs in Windows.Forms.
I've thus far not had a use for Mono or Dot.GNU, but I suspect that the release will help them for the same reason it will help me: they won't be able to use the source directly but it will help them to find and either fix or (if necessary) re-implement Microsoft bugs upon which software may rely.
Nonaggression works!
If you use classes which depend on .NET, your
application is dependent on code that's part
of a monopoly platform.
If you expect it to run anywhere than on Windows you have to depend on MS not using license terms, embrace-and-extend and patents to make mono fail. Or they can just keep changing the implementation as fast as they can ship out updates, and wear the mono folks out retaining the existing functionality, leaving them unable to add to the framework.
Remember how long WINE took? And how few apps ran under it for the first few years? Indeed, how few run under it even now...
--dave
davecb@spamcop.net
Imagine MS releases source to something like their win32 API, or at least part of it. Then they sue WINE on the next feature that comes out. Sure, it may be soemthing general (They both used the word 'int' in their code :) ) but its still a setback for opensources PR, and with good lawyers and dumb judges, it can be dragged on for forever (SCO vs The World) until the EFF has no more money to give WINE.
Microsft doesnt like open source things. If MS open sources something, they are up to no good.
It doesn't look like this is a "good thing", at all really.
.NET, it's not worth tainting yourself.
TFA:
Now, this is not the MFC model where you'll be able to build it, etc. We're talking about just source and PDBs for debugging.
Okaay. So they're going to let you look at the code, but not build it. With all certainty, modification and redistribution is right out. They just want you to help them with debugging, tainting yourself in the process.
If I were a Mono or DotGNU developer, I wouldn't touch this thing with a ten-foot-pole, lest I taint myself. It's not going to be open-source. It's doesn't seem like it's even going to be buildable or readable.
So unless you like MS so much you're willing to do their work for them for free, finding bugs in this (rather insignificant) part of
Even Java is better than this. And it's not Open Source either.
Could this be an attempt to get source code out into public view before Mono finishes its Windows.Forms implementation?
.net on BSD?
Or was this code already available on Microsoft's website for building
Amazing magic tricks
-stimpy- joyyyyy~~~~ -/stimpy-
.net, especially when creating custom objects to extend some common .net object like a textbox or dataset. I've wept tears for weeks trying to debug things when I KNOW looking at the source would alleviate everything. Sometimes microsoft's APIs are just WORTHLESS.
i can't tell you how many times i've wanted the source when working in
I share some of the political concerns over the open-sourcing that I've read in here, but I think this is a bait I'll bite on regardless. I can quit saying "When in doubt.net you can't read the source.net"