Why .NET Micro Really Went Open Source

 

A few months ago Microsoft announced their plans to release the .NET Micro Frameworkas an open source project. Since then there has been rumors thatMicrosoft is using open source as an excuse to abandon the project. Thetruth is the exact opposite, Microsoft is actually using open source todrive the adoption of .NET Micro.

According to Colin Miller, Project Unit Manager at Microsoft, thechange is being driven by the business model for small electronicdevices. Even a small licensing fee of a dollar or two per unit canaccount for a significant portion of a device’s total cost. This costdrives down adoption, which in turn interferes with Microsoft’sstrategic goals. Specifically, the goal is for Microsoft to have acomplete package of development tools for everything from the smallestelectronic devices to massive cloud-based system.

Another reason open source is important for adoption is theheterogeneous nature of the electronic device market. Adoption wasbeing slowed down because developers and engineers were forced to waitfor Microsoft to port the Micro framework to each new device.

Colin also revealed Microsoft is planning to form a well organizedpartnership with the open source community. A board formed of bothMicrosoft and non-Microsoft members will determine which projects tofocus on with the expectation that they will eventually make their wayinto the core of the framework. The list of possible projects will bepulled from submissions by the user community.

One area where .NET Micro has been taking flak is the lack of VisualBasic support. While Microsoft still isn’t planning on dedicatingresources for VB at this time, they do have a demo version an internbuilt a few years back. This will be released as open source as well,with the expectation that if a VB version is really desired by thecommunity they can pick it up and complete the project.

Another area is the lack of open source cryptography libraries.According to Colin this was an accident of timing and he hopes thatonce the open source site is setup that someone will adopt thecryptography project.

With support for managed code, WPF, and high quality components thatcan be assembled with little or no soldering, the future of the smallscale and hobbyist electronic markets looks better than ever.