Microsoft shares the source

 

Gallery

By Alun Williams

Posted on 27 Mar 2002 at 15:54

The source code for its implementation of C# and the .NET CLI (Common Language Infrastructure) has been made available by Microsoft.

It has not been released as Open Source, but as 'Shared Source' (Microsoft has its own restrictions on what can be done with the code), primarily for the benefit of academic - rather than commercial - institutions.

The move is intended to encourage the take up of XML Web services, with the idea being that it will be easier for developers to experiment with programming languages and XML Web services that conform to the .NET framework. The code made available works with Windows XP and FreeBSD.

'The Shared Source license, while not "open source", is a bold experiment for Microsoft,' said Tim O'Reilly, founder of O'Reilly & Associates and a leading light of the Open Source community. 'It enables the academic community to study the code and share its ideas, even if they can't use it verbatim for commercial use. We need more experiments such as this to understand what's science and what's religion when it comes to the effectiveness of different types of software licensing in spurring innovation.'

The code is available for download today, and you can find more info here.

The low-down on Open Source

The low-down on .NET