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Microsoft Open Sources CoreCLR, the .NET Execution Engine
An anonymous reader writes: As part of Microsoft's continuing project to open source the .NET framework, the company has announced that CoreCLR, the execution engine for .NET Core, is now available on GitHub. CoreCLR handles things like garbage collection, compilation to machine code, and IL byte code loading. The .NET team said, "We have released the complete and up-to-date CoreCLR implementation, which includes RyuJIT, the .NET GC, native interop and many other .NET runtime components. ... We will be adding Linux and Mac implementations of platform-specific components over the next few months. We already have some Linux-specific code in .NET Core, but we're really just getting started on our ports. We wanted to open up the code first, so that we could all enjoy the cross-platform journey from the outset."
Aren't we bored with this, "Let's pretend to be more open than the next guy when actually we just want to create more lock-in" dance?
It's like the way everyone non-MS touted moving to WEB APPS when what they really meant was, "Let's weaken the PC platform while having proprietary apps for all our mobile devices."
Parent is actually insightful.
No, he's not. He is completely ignorant of history. Even if you can't see it right now, there is trap hidden somewhere in Microsoft's actions. There is ALWAYS a hidden trap in any apparently-friendly action Microsoft takes. You either see it up front and avoid Microsoft like the plague that it is, or you fall victim to the trap after it's sprung.
Don't any of you remember Microsoft's last promise to not sue over Dot Net runtime patents?! On the surface, it seemed like Microsoft had turned a corner away from the Dark Side. But a closer analysis revealed that Microsoft's promise only extended to one very specific version of the Dot Net runtime, which was a version that was quickly superceded by the next version of the Dot Net runtime.
The trap was that we were meant to believe that we were covered by the patent pledge for the Dot Net runtime. However, if you tried to implement Microsoft's superceding version, the patent pledge no longer applied.
Rather than trying to figure out whether you're the dinner guest or the dinner in the wolf's lair, it's just far safer to stay away from the wolf altogether. No one ever got eaten by staying away from Microsoft.
Despite the anit-MS sentiment, there is a grain of truth to the "ALWAYS a hidden trap" sentiment.
Who here doesn't believe that MS has a huge marketing department that essentially holds sway over almost all major announcements and strategies. The untrue part is that there is some sort of evil at work. There's not. It's not personal at all.
However, to the marketing department, all software outside their control is viewed as a potential competitor. And Linux/GNU more than most.
So we can be reasonably certain that any MS direction is not designed to help Linux be more attractive to users.