^ 1. 07/16/2001 - Unthinkable Happens Between Microsoft and Open Source Computergram International: Issue 4207, July 16, 2001!%/TD%!!%TD%! - Top Stories By Gavin Clarke After months of hostility, the astounding prospect of cooperation - albeit limited - between Microsoft Corp and the open source community has been raised, as the Windows giant said it would assist work on an open source version of .NET for Linux and Unix. Microsoft told ComputerWire it would provide technical assistance to Ximian Inc in its work on the Mono Project, to develop a version of .NET for Linux and Unix using open source development. Boston, Massachusetts-based Ximian announced the Mono Project last week. David Stutz, group program manager for the shared source implementation of Microsoft's Common Language Infrastructure (CLI) told ComputerWire: "We have talked informally with Ximian, and will determine with Ximian whether technical assistance would be appropriate." Ximian was unable to be contacted. Stutz said that Microsoft supports Ximian's work, which he called a "testament to the openness and viability" of the .NET platform. He said that Ximian's work potentially gives developers a choice of .NET platforms - Microsoft or Mono. Communication between the parties is a step forward for developers and customers working with mixed environments, especially as recent dialogue between Microsoft and the open source community has consisted of a series of insults over the nature of the General Public License. The Mono Project has only been made possible because key elements of Microsoft .NET have been made publicly available through standards, and Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft appears to have been blind-sided. Cooperation, though, is likely to be limited and designed to ensure the success of Microsoft's platform. While Ximian said last week said that applications built for Microsoft's .NET will execute under its planned open source CLI for Linux and Unix, Microsoft's CLI is not expected to execute Linux and Unix applications. Microsoft also hopes that the prospect of bundling features such as Instant Messaging, browser and multimedia with the operating system will tempt developers to its own platform. Theoretically, this step will give applications running on Windows richer features than Windows applications that run on Linux or Unix under Mono. This depends, though, on how the open source community builds its libraries and calling languages. "Microsoft will do everything that it can to ensure that Windows remains the best place to run Windows applications. That said, if someone wants to write Windows-based applications for other platforms, we're not opposed to the idea," Stutz said. -- dep there's more to history than what's in books; that's why it took so long to happen. _______________________________________________ http://linux.nf -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] Archives, Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, Etc ->http://linux.nf/mailman/listinfo/linux-users
