.NET stuff

[Artaudd]

Technically, .NET appears to be a sound architecture that can deliver the goods. But that's like saying Mussolini made the trains run on time. Great job, but let's check out the dungeons.

The loophole that lets applications drill down to access native Windows services "for performance" will completely destroy the nominal cross-platform capability of the .NET architecture, and it's difficult to visualise Microsoft wringing its hands over this. If anything, they will encourage building Windows hooks into .NET applications to effectively reduce them to Windows applications. Microsoft is not in the cross-platform business. Microsoft is in the proprietary platform business. Those hoping for .NET to provide a level playing field between Windows and Linux will be sadly disappointed. The friendly fire of performance purists in the .NET camp will end that idealistic crusade.

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Third, there has been a good deal of FUD from Microsoft on the legality of Open Source efforts to clone .NET. At the same time, they eagerly use these initiatives as proof of .NET's widespread acceptance. Indeed, it seems likely that the more successful these ventures are, the greater will be Microsoft's incentive to derail them. Sun was able to obtain the help of the courts to stop Microsoft from polluting Java, but can Open Source legally prevent Microsoft from making proprietary extensions to .NET in future? It's their own technology! They can do anything they like with it. So swimming with the Microsoft shark is definitely a dangerous pastime that is better avoided. .NET is a proprietary technology, regardless of appearances. In the web era of open standards, that should be sufficient reason to damn it.

http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php...03-20-OP-LF-MS