Microsoft could take a leaf from Apple’s book on how to use open-source effectively without needing to have a “OSS or nothing” attitude.
Totally agree with this. There are so many internal Microsoft factors that make it difficult if not impossible for MS to do what Apple does (eg, ship OSS bundled with the OS).
I develop OSS in .NET (honest guv), can I have some cash? Also I need beer. Lots of beer…
Seriously though, nice one Jeff! It’s good to see evidence of the community being self-sufficient in financial terms.
Awesome news, and I love the idea of helping OSS become more ‘first class’ on Microsoft.
There are so many internal Microsoft factors that make it
difficult if not impossible for MS to do what Apple does (eg, ship OSS bundled with the OS).
And that is a really shame. I’m an active OSS developer for the KDE project and a full time software engineer mostly working on Linux-based applications but I still keep an eye on what MS and Apple are up to.
I’ve recently left a job at a large company to go work for a startup simply because their “internal factors” are effectively killing the business and the “suits” seem to make all the technical decisions now.
MS used to be the #1 place for CS grads to apply to. That crown has been nicked by Google partly I think as MS has a lot of good software engineers but the “word on the street” is that the management make it really hard for them to do their job…
Microsoft could take a leaf from Apple’s book on how to use open source effectively without needing to have a “OSS or nothing” attitude.
For that to happen, they’d have to be in the same position as Apple was in: They have to use OSS to survive.
Apple has been famously closed with everything they do, and the only reason they have now seemingly embraced the OSS system is because they didn’t have the resources to build a kernel from scratch or a web browser from scratch, or whatever, so they had to use things with OSS roots. Doing that required them to abide by the licences they’re under and ‘give back’. MS would have to be forced into it if they’re to do the same.
Great to see you following though with your promise jeff.
Good Work ,dude !!! But I would have rather that you would have donated the money to some more deserving open source projects which sun on open source OSes. But, oh well, I guess it’s the thought that counts !!!
@Mike Arthur: “I’m afraid .NET won’t ever be a first-class open-source citizen while it is controlled by Microsoft. Microsoft has repeatedly threatened open-source projects with potential patent lawsuits”
What has the visibility of the source-code got to do with whether or not Microsoft sues a project for patent violations?
Presumably Microsoft will (have) also sue closed and/or commercial products if they find patent violations in them (which they can do with or without source code, if they see a product that operates using certain technologies or protocols and decide to investigate its inner workings).
I don’t see anything stopping people writing open-source code in .Net. You write some code; you stick it in SVN or on a webpage; you’re done. If the code is legal then nobody can touch you for it.
finally those developers will be able to buy a Mac and start working with a real computer.
/sarcasm
@Leo, you don’t understand the reality of software patents. With copyright it’s relatively easy for the programmer to know whether the code is “legal”, but with patents I could write some code and only later discover that I’m using some method that Microsoft has patented. With Mono the problem is magnified because it’s explicitly using Microsoft technology, but Microsoft hasn’t explicitly granted a patent license on that technology.
What has the visibility of the source-code got to do with whether
or not Microsoft sues a project for patent violations?
The vast body of open-source development occurs on top of other open-source projects, be they the web server, language or operating system.
Mono doesn’t have patent immunity from Microsoft. Therefore to run an open-source .NET application and avoid patent violations I need to purchase a copy of Windows, IIS and use MS’s .NET rather than Mono. Surely you can see how this will affect .NET OSS being a first class citizen?
@Simon: Very much agreed about the NIH. I think donating is kinda up to those who donate, even if their reasons are, in your opinion, flawed. Jeff is a .NET developer so it is unsurprising that he will want to support the .NET ecosystem.
When there’s no JIT, C# compiler or any other .NET tools,
how are you going compile and run your source?
Ever heard of Mono?
For web-applications Mono runs very well.
And another thing:
I checked it, i don’t use any software that is older than a few years.
Older sources here exist, but i only look back at them for fun.
Software evolves over time, forgotten?
STW looks pretty much a commerical entity to me, and it doesn’t seem to accept code from people outside it’s organisation. Not what I would call opensource.
Wow, deleting comments now, eh? Nice, Jeff.
Now that you make all of your money on the internet, why stay in CA? Move to Utah and hang out with Dooce while ogling her piles of cash.
@tittrat :
I agree with you about Mono and the availability of .NET development tools. However when you say :
And another thing:
I checked it, i don’t use any software that is older than a few years.
Older sources here exist, but i only look back at them for fun.
Software evolves over time, forgotten?
Actually, I know of quite a few companies where the life expectancy of a program is around 20-30 years – to the point where sometimes people lose the source code and can only try to find a faster machine to make it run faster.
Your website looks like it was printed on a laser printer that is running out of toner. All the letters are different shades of gray.
Jeff,
Thanks for doing this. The community appreciates it. What a fine thing you’ve done. Thanks so much.
-Judah
That’s awesome, Jeff. Congratutions to ScrewTurn Wiki!