Microsoft to Open Source .NET Stack, Expand Platform to OS X, Linux

[MacRumors]

Microsoft today announced that it is furthering its commitment to cross-platform development with an expanded open source program for its .NET platform and additional support for operating systems outside of Microsoft Windows.

"With billions of devices in the market today, developers need tools that target many different form factors and platforms," said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president, Developer Division, Microsoft. "Through Visual Studio and .NET we are committed to delivering a comprehensive end-to-end solution for developers to build and manage applications across multiple devices and platforms."

After releasing several .NET libraries earlier this year to the open source community, Microsoft confirmed it would open source the full server .NET stack, making it available to developers via Github. The company also is expanding .NET to run on third-party platforms such as Linux and OS X and is working with the open source Mono project to ensure these cross-platform operations are ready for enterprise-level applications.

As part of its Connect() event, Microsoft also unveiled its next generation Visual Studio 2015 developer suite with expanded cross-platform support. Additionally, the Redmond company announced the immediate release of Visual Studio Community 2013 and Visual Studio 2013 Update 4.

This open source initiative is part of a broader campaign to support platforms outside of Windows and Windows Phone. The company now offers Office on the iPhone and iPad and is continuing its support for Apple's OS X platform. An updated version of Office for Mac is rumored for release sometime in 2015.

Article Link: Microsoft to Open Source .NET Stack, Expand Platform to OS X, Linux

 

[flash84x]

This seems huge, Nadella is killing it.

 

[mrfoof82]

This seems huge, Nadella is killing it.

.NET is actually a joy to work with. Being able to write apps in C# for OS X has been a dream for a lot of developers. It's a very lovely language and supporting framework.

I don't mind Objective-C. I like Swift (a lot). Though being able to use C# on OS X and have first-party support and tools from Microsoft would make me a very happy camper.

 

[NOTNlCE]

I wonder how this will impact the Wine project? People have been working with Windows software on OS X and Linux for years. Can anyone speculate what this could mean? Is it possible that we could just "recompile" C# or .NET software for OS X and Linux? Or will it just work? Like Java?

 

[imaginex20]

.Net was suppose to be a cross platform language but hey Microsoft write installers for your framework would ya?!

This is a step in the right direction, c# has improved tremendously since the 2.0 days

 

[Jessica Lares]

Wow, this is HUGE.

You think it will make Wine better? (That sounds wrong literally, but technically no )

 

[thejadedmonkey]

Wow!

 

[solamar]

Until it's done for DirectX, meh.

it's a start.. but I want to see it on Linux and OS X .. for games..

 

[Alenore]

Wow!

My reaction, exactly Oo

 

[mdridwan47]

Nadella making all the right moves it seems.

 

[talmy]

.Net was suppose to be a cross platform language

In Microsoft-speak, "cross platform" means it will run on different versions of Windows. I'm not joking.

 

[napabar]

A little too late

This would have had more impact a few years ago, when .NET peaked. Since then, other cross platforms tools have emerged.

Hard to say what impact this will have on the Mac. Apple doesn't allow pre-reqs for application in the Mac App Store, so no app that require ".NET Framework 4.5 for Mac OS X".

 

[\-V-/]

Until it's done for DirectX, meh.

it's a start.. but I want to see it on Linux and OS X .. for games..

Maybe this will propel that notion forward. Doubtful, though.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

So all they're doing is blowing away Mono, then, right? Or am I mistaken in thinking that Mono is an open-source, cross-platform, drop-in replacement (or substitute) for .NET?

 

[macduke]

So to recap, Microsoft is going open source and free with some of their products, Google is moving towards closed source with parts of Android, and Apple is now selling phablets faster than they can make them. Also my iPad is now as fast as a MacBook Air. What kind of alternate reality tech world have I suddenly stumbled into?

 

[mzeb]

This would have had more impact a few years ago, when .NET peaked. Since then, other cross platforms tools have emerged.

Hard to say what impact this will have on the Mac. Apple doesn't allow pre-reqs for application in the Mac App Store, so no app that require ".NET Framework 4.5 for Mac OS X".

Well, there's a bit of funniness with this one. You can get around the pre-req for a while. Since MS partnered with Xamarin you could build a C# app that ran on OS X, iOS and Android. All you need to do is bundle the CLR in the app package and you're good to go. My company built a C# SDK and did exactly this as a proof of concept.

 

[napabar]

Well, there's a bit of funniness with this one. You can get around the pre-req for a while. Since MS partnered with Xamarin you could build a C# app that ran on OS X, iOS and Android. All you need to do is bundle the CLR in the app package and you're good to go. My company built a C# SDK and did exactly this as a proof of concept.

True. One would hope Microsoft has thought of this.

 

[tkermit]

Google is moving towards closed source with parts of Android

Not 'moving towards'. Much of (Google's) Android is de facto already closed source.

 

[moonman239]

I guess this means I'll get to do .NET development on my Mac. That might come in handy for, say, desktop applications. I'm in a gaming workshop wherein we use VB.Net. Since my primary computer is a Mac, I have Visual Studio 2010 Express installed on a remote Windows server.

 

[ethanwa79]

So to recap, Microsoft is going open source and free with some of their products, Google is moving towards closed source with parts of Android, and Apple is now selling phablets faster than they can make them. Also my iPad is now as fast as a MacBook Air. What kind of alternate reality tech world have I suddenly stumbled into?

Love this comment. Things have changed SO much in the last 10 years.

 

[Iconoclysm]

So to recap, Microsoft is going open source and free with some of their products, Google is moving towards closed source with parts of Android, and Apple is now selling phablets faster than they can make them. Also my iPad is now as fast as a MacBook Air. What kind of alternate reality tech world have I suddenly stumbled into?

I wouldn't call this Microsoft going open source. This is them making it easier for themselves to release clients to other operating systems without having to create a completely native client. Also allowing people to leverage their technology in other software...the end game is that Microsoft is not counting on Windows anymore but are still very much a paid software company.

 

[thejadedmonkey]

I wouldn't call this Microsoft going open source. This is them making it easier for themselves to release clients to other operating systems without having to create a completely native client. Also allowing people to leverage their technology in other software...the end game is that Microsoft is not counting on Windows anymore but are still very much a paid software company.

How much more "open source" than the MIT license can they possibly go?

 

[DaveMcM76]

So if I'm reading this right as Microsoft releasing an official cross platform CLR and IDE where does this leave projects like Mono?

 

[flash84x]

.NET is actually a joy to work with. Being able to write apps in C# for OS X has been a dream for a lot of developers. It's a very lovely language and supporting framework.

I don't mind Objective-C. I like Swift (a lot). Though being able to use C# on OS X and have first-party support and tools from Microsoft would make me a very happy camper.

I enjoyed C# when I used it in college, I've never used it outside of it. But when I recently learned of the `await` operator I was blown away. I am wishing for something like that in Swift. I hope that using GCD (which is great) is a bandaid for the time being and Swift really defines some solutions to threading as a first-class language feature.

 

[Rapcon]

So all they're doing is blowing away Mono, then, right? Or am I mistaken in thinking that Mono is an open-source, cross-platform, drop-in replacement (or substitute) for .NET?

From the blog post... "We are excited to be working closely with the Mono community on this effort, to jointly deliver an open-source, enterprise-ready .NET implementation for the server to Windows, Linux and OS X. Miguel de Icaza of the Mono project shares our excitement: "This is a new and exciting time for .NET developers. We are going to blend the best technologies from .NET into Mono, and the cross platform capabilities of Mono into .NET, giving C# developers the best of both worlds."