Re: [DotGNU]Gnome to be based on .NET

[William G. Thompson, Jr.]

On Sat, 2 Feb 2002, Philipp Haller wrote:

> > On Sat, 2 Feb 2002, Bill Lance wrote:
> 
> > Java won't bind you to Solaris like .Net will bind you to windoze.
> > 
> > No one would argue that Sun couldn't do better vis-a-vis the Free
> > Software community, but they _are_ shipping JDK/JRE for Linux, Solaris,
> > and Windoze. You won't see Microsoft doing that.
> > 
> > We can focus our energies to solve the problem of how to build, deploy,
> > and maintain web apps and services faster, easier, and more efficiently,
> > or we can spend cycles porting a technology who's creator has one thing
> > in mind; creating platform dependant users.
> 
> Yes, Java is a nice platform and you can build powerful apps and services
> very fast. But Java is still not free and thus can never be integrated into
> GNU/Linux systems like the traditional GNU tool chain which would add to its
> power.
> Microsoft realized (at least this time) that a language independant approach
> based on a runtime system comparable to the Java VM really *is* good for
> development.

What Microsoft realized is that a Java independant approach based on a
runtime system they could tightly integrated with their OS is really
good for _them_.

> Why not build our own free GPLed C# compiler/runtime system? Then we can
> really do whatever we want to (just like with gcc etc.) and don't ask Sun for
> permission to implement a subset of Java 2.

(This is exactly what M$ want us to think.)
Why not? Because compiler/runtime is not enough. Without the tools and
the framework you will not win over the folks who don't yet understand the
importance of Freedom and Free Software.  They only care about fast 
implementation.

Now, of course you will say, ok, so build the tools and the framework.
But that would be just adding to the problem.  If we prove that you
can create, deploy, and maintain apps easier, faster, and more efficiently
than you could using dot net (and the m$ tool chain) then we are
taking the battle to them on _all_ fronts;  dot net matters less, the 
desktop matters less,  and their twisted idea of how people should run 
a technology business matters less.

Regards,
Bill Thompson
Chief Japple Evangelist
www.japple.org