ON Sdtimes, David Worthington writes, "Microsoft releases .NET Micro framework as open source."
LOS ANGELES – Microsoft followed through on its promise
to open-source the .NET Micro Framework, making version 4.0 available under the
Apache 2.0 license, the company announced here at PDC ’09 today.
The Micro Framework is a modular edition of the .NET
Framework that targets embedded developers. Microsoft’s Developer Division
started the community effort in after the company reorganized in May,
consolidating all .NET development under its direction.
Version 4.0 of the framework packages source code for
distribution, including its Base Class libraries and runtime code. Microsoft’s
open-source community manager Peter Galli said the primary new features are an
object model for handling HTTP client and server, support for multi-touch
events, versioning for assemblies, and SSL and HTTPS emulation.
However, Microsoft did take away some functionality in
order to make the SDK open source. The framework’s cryptography libraries are
not included, and Microsoft also stripped out its TCP/IP stack because it
contains third-party software licensed from EBSnet.
Customers that require those networking capabilities
can contact EBSnet directly, Galli said.
Colin Miller, Microsoft’s product unit manager for the
.NET Micro Framework, said that Microsoft continues to have a team of
developers working on the project, and that their efforts would help move the
product forward.