Microsoft and open source?!

Stephan Somogyi AnchorDesk

Published: 08 Aug 2000 13:03 BST

Somebody has to fill the role, since Sun seems positively bipolar when it comes to Java standardisation and open source. Since Java's emergence, Sun has had a constant (and apparently irreconcilable) conflict between wanting to see Java proliferate while simultaneously retaining complete control of Java's direction (presumably to avoid Microsoft embracing and extending it).

This strategy does not seem entirely successful, since Java is far from open; plenty of people want to use its technology but are finding it more difficult to do so than they'd like. (Not to mention the fact that they are beholden to Sun's opinions about what's right for Java.)

On two separate occasions (once with ISO, where Sun tried to have itself declared a standards body, and more recently with ECMA), it almost looked as if Sun had gotten a clue and was going to put Java through a standardisation process and let it go. It was not to be.

Then Sun went and announced that it was going to open up the source to its StarOffice suite on Oct. 13, drew accolades, and basked in the open-source limelight. Attention was successfully deflected from Sun's firm grip on Java.

"Microsoft" and "open source" in the same sentence
So imagine my surprise when I recently discovered that Microsoft is apparently contemplating (nota bene: there is no announcement or commitment, just consideration) making available an open-source reference implementation of its recently-announced C# (pronounced "C sharp") language as well as CLI (Common Language Infrastructure), the language-independent bytecode interpreter that works similarly to a Java VM.

All this and more can be found in the minutes of a meeting held two weeks ago in Orlando as part of ECMA's previously obscure TC39 technical committee.

ECMA, for those of you unfamiliar with it, is an international information and communication standards organisation. TC39 in particular is focused on scripting languages; its major success to date has been ECMAscript, the language formerly known as JavaScript, which was originally embattled both by Microsoft and Netscape. TC39 brokered the detente, and has been working steadily -- and successfully -- ever since to keep the momentum behind ECMAscript going.