"Turn". NET open source core runtime, and the line and cherish

Reproduced from Infoq

Background

Infoq Chinese station previously reported, November 12, 2014, ASP. NET's father, Scott Guthrie, executive vice president of Microsoft Cloud Computing and Enterprise product engineering, announced at the Connect Global Developer Online conference that Microsoft will open source. NET core runtime and extend. NET to run on Linux and Mac OS platforms. NET core runtime will be published based on the MIT Open Source License Agreement, which will include execution. NET code requires everything from--CLR, JIT compilers, garbage collectors (GC) and core. NET base class libraries. In addition, Microsoft has released Visual Studio Community 2013, which is a new free version of Visual Studio.

There have been many versions of the report and commentary on this incident. However, recently often have friends ask my opinion, simply combed the next idea, think of the possible impact and inspiration are written out, broad home a look.

Not the end.

Remember. NET announced the open source of the day, the editorial group in a commotion, see everyone is still very excited. I was initially surprised, but later meditation, it is also a matter of the inevitable. Viewed from the timeline, in recent years. NET family has been open-source a number of members, including the ASP, C # compiler, and so on, plus this time. NET core runtime, the server-side framework is now fully open source (or soon open source). So, this incident just took Microsoft's. NET open source strategy is a climax, but certainly not the end.

Announcing open source is a new starting point, and how to build up an open source community and nurture it is the key. Open source requires careful operation, and the annual open source projects are constantly emerging and disappearing. NET open source projects do not need to consider the issue of failure, developers focus on cross-platform support when the landing, the open source community how to operate.

Trend

Open source is the general trend, just 5 years ago, the major companies and manufacturers are still discussing whether it should open source, but now we are talking about how to better open source. With the development and maturity of the internet era, open source has become standard. According to GitHub's. NET Core Open Source project, there are now nearly 6,000 star, considering open source for one months, so the result has already indicated the development community to Microsoft Open Source support.

Previously, open source is a way to ensure the survival of software projects, and now many open-source projects have become a business and operational strategy, survival is not a problem, how to live better is the key. Just like a I do Linux open source is to sell services and hardware, Google do Android open source is to get mobile internet access like Microsoft does. NET open source is also for its "mobile first, cloud first" strategic interests service. The author is not very sympathetic to the view that open source is Microsoft's conspiracy theory. Now it is playing the yang, for the interests of the company, as long as not harm the interests of the community, not to mention the open source itself is a good thing.

The two great hegemony of the past

By the 2005, Java and. Net were a plus, thanks to Microsoft's strong support, in many areas, such as the community. NET is even better than Java, after all, Java in the past under the leadership of sun did not have too many bright spots, thanks to open source support, to maintain a vibrant vitality. At the time, in enterprise-level development, Java EE and. Net had been criticized by the development community. But then came the wave of mobile internet to Java another life, Google Open source Android system, in order to control the mobile Internet access, its development language Java has become the choice of many mobile developers, either iOS Object-c language, or Android Java, and most of both. Microsoft chose a relatively closed strategy, even if the United Nokia, the market share of Windows phone is still not high, which is directly caused. NET usage is not high.

I also remember that in the era of two strong hegemony, there are few technical forum in China. NET and Java two factions are very noisy, stand clear, from the tool support noisy to language features, and noisy to the function library support. Now think of the times when multiple competitors are good for the developer, have a choice, and allow the competitor to listen to the developer's voice.

Cross-platform support

The. NET open source and support for Linux, Mac OS, provides a new choice for mobile developers, and can no longer rely on Java in the future. NET supported C #, C + +, etc. can become a mobile development language. The advantages of the C # language as a later person are obvious, Java has been catching up, and now has cross-platform support, and developers are free to choose.

As you can see from the. NET open source implementation Project Mono blog, mono plans to work with the. NET team to integrate. NET core code into the Mono project while contributing the platform-dependent code in mono to. Net.

Compared to the Java system, currently. NET is only open source server-side framework, and Java open source is the entire system, including the client and development tools. The future of Microsoft Open Source Road is more broad, it is worth observing.

Nurturing ecosystems

It takes a long time for the ecosystem to be cultivated, and Java has been open source for nearly 10 years before it forms such a mature biosphere. NET requires patience and execution to go further. Since it is an ecosystem, it is important to develop and maintain the rules of the game in the ecosystem. The system is not just for developers, but for the company he's behind, the customers he's developing, the developers ' partners, and, of course, Microsoft. A platform wants cohesion, it is not only from the material and the spirit of two aspects of analysis. Material, developers can benefit from this platform, such as the platform is to support developers, multi-language cross-platform, with rapid deployment advantages, suitable for iterative development, the ecosystem has many success stories, with these characteristics, will make this platform developers ultimately benefit. In the spirit, to make the developer feel involved, his experience and knowledge of development can be shared through the ecosystem, affect others and the company, and his opinion can be timely feedback, then this kind of participation will attract developers. Key points include entrepreneurial incubators, the development and maintenance of survival rules, the creation of a business model for win-lose cooperation, and the benefit of stakeholders in the circle.

In recent years, Microsoft has become increasingly supportive of open source, but the image of the development community has not changed. After all, Microsoft has been the industry's boss for many years, its close-source impression on developers too deep impact, it is difficult to reverse in a short time. Continuous operational inputs and impacts are required.

In fact, Microsoft used to be very experienced in community operations, including a variety of online and offline activities, as well as the MVP incentive mechanism, in terms of open source, Microsoft can continue the previous action. There are two suggestions: one is to focus on localization, the introduction of Microsoft Open source projects, progress, analysis and cases to inform Chinese developers in time, second, to develop success stories, the power of example is endless, where is the winner after open source? Where's the sweetness? Set such an example, the development community will see.

Open Source Selection

Open source history is very long, take Java for example, open source fast 10 years, its server side, client, development tools are open source, although after the development of Sun, Oracle and other companies, but has maintained vigorous vitality. In particular, after the rise of the mobile internet, Java has gained new and rapid development. Developers in the choice of open source platform and projects, the most worrying is not that the project can not meet my needs, is the project by the unreliable, will not always do, this is the most critical. This is why most successful open source projects are backed by large companies, there are many people full-time open source projects, personnel stability, road map clear, developers rest assured, dare to use your products. The second is to meet the demand, win trust.

The benefit of open source is that absorbing the power of the entire technology community to promote the development and competitiveness of open source projects, the second benefit is to enhance the sense of participation and trust of developers, to attract developers and build a good ecosystem. Disadvantage, for some open source projects without vendor support, the road map is unclear, there is a dispute, there is a chance of splitting or failure. Contrast. NET open source, developers do not have to worry that the project will give up halfway, can focus more on the development and characteristics of the project itself.

Cloud-First strategy

This year, Azure became the first global public cloud platform to land in China, supporting Linux and many other open source software, which in itself illustrates the openness of Microsoft's current approach, from Windows to Azure, with a clear strategic intent. Globally, azure accounts for 64% of the global PAAs market share, ranked first. Microsoft Open source attitude, can attract more developers to use the Azure platform, after all, Azure is not a Microsoft proprietary technology platform.

The future, and the line and cherish

The author of the. NET open source has high expectations, in the era of cloud computing, big data, mobile Internet and IoT, the Java family is not conducive to the development of the community, Microsoft is no longer the past closed giants, embrace open source, look at Microsoft's past history, I never doubt Microsoft's strong executive power, time is a key factor , developers need to see Microsoft's commitment to open-source rapid action, open source community and ecology quickly build up, cross-platform official support version quickly released, seize the opportunity of mobile Internet, put the whole. NET new situation open, do not start out, and the line and cherish, the developer is the smartest.

"Turn". NET open source core runtime, and the line and cherish