[ Thanks to Doug Bostrom for
this link. ]
“The heritage argument is a holdover of the almost
viral opinion in the community that Microsoft is the antichrist. If
enough people state that opinion loudly enough, you can bet hard
cash that the number of voices will grow, in some cases based on
their heartfelt opinion but sometimes, sadly, based on the fact
that it’s a cool thing to say. However, the release of the .Net
architecture and tools shows a Microsoft that has returned to its
highly innovative roots. The .Net framework provides a programming
interface for the new millennium that works the way programmers
today want to work. The open-source and free software movement
itself is waking up to that fact in spectacular fashion.The specifications behind the .Net framework and its various
component tools have all been published. Ximian, coordinator of the
GNOME Linux user interface project, has embraced .Net with open
arms as a result. Ximian developers are currently working flat out
on Mono, a free implementation of the .Net framework and its C#
language for use on Linux and Mac OS X. They fully appreciate that
for all Microsoft’s image problems, .Net and the fundamental
concepts surrounding it are a major step forward for software
development as a whole, and a stunning leap forward for realizing
the true potential of the Internet as a means of communicating and
sharing information. When this work is complete there will be no
mainstream desktop operating system unable to run .Net
applications. As a point of fact, Mac OS X already has Web-service
support built into AppleScript.There has also been considerable criticism in the past
surrounding the security and privacy issues that arise from the use
of Web services such as Passport and the rest of the Hailstorm
family. These complaints are understandable — there have been
quite sizable holes exposed in Microsoft’s software in recent
years, so to have a central database such as that used by Passport
could be asking for trouble. But there is nothing in the .Net
architecture that says a user absolutely must use Passport to run a
.Net application. Similarly, the model of development advocated by
Microsoft is one whereby users choose just how much or how little
personal information to divulge to the system and the businesses
they choose to interact with.”