[wplug] Re: C#

[The Doctor What]

Chester R. Hosey wrote:

>Logan Stack wrote:
>  
>
>>One of my friends here at college is a Microsoft fanboy and has been
>>raving about C# to me. I like some of its features and syntax better
>>than Java.
>>
>>C# and .Net are apparently part of the ECMA standard, and the Mono
>>project gives them support in Linux and Mac OS. Is there any lingering
>>"evil" on C#? Any reason I shouldn't use it on a new project?
>>
>>The only reason I can see is that it is (much) less likely that someone
>>will have Mono installed than the JVM.
>>
>>-Logan
>>    
>>
>
>I'm pretty sure the most common objection is that many interpret the
>situation in such a way that allows Microsoft to eventually charge
>royalties for C#/CLI implementations.
>
>ECMA requires that companies whose technologies have become ECMA
>standards license their technologies under reasonable and
>non-descriminatory (RAND) terms. The community reaction has been that
>what is RAND for a corporate licensee may not be so reasonable for a
>work intended to be Free. It is generally considered reasonable, for
>instance, to charge royalties for distribution of technologies based on
>ECMA standard.
>
>Microsoft has hinted strongly that they won't be charging any such fees,
>but the community reaction (shared by Red Hat) has largely been one of
>mistrust. There is reluctance to adopt C# without a clear and binding
>statement from Microsoft allowing for Free (especially GPL or LGPL)
>redistribution of their related technologies.
>
>A search involving a subset of {Microsoft, Red Hat, Mono, ECMA, RAND}
>may provide additional direction.
>  
>

Add the fact that, last time I checked, MS had not submitted all of the
necessary parts to ECMA it would be hard to reproduce the entire C#/.NET
platform in mono.

I think an example would be Mono and System.Windows.

Ciao!