KludgeHack

.NET Framework source code to be released

I still can’t believe in this news. Apparently Microsoft will be releasing the base class libraries under the Microsoft Reference License, and the source code will be available for download by anyone.

“We’ll begin by offering the source code (with source file comments included) for the .NET Base Class Libraries (System, System.IO, System.Collections, System.Configuration, System.Threading, System.Net, System.Security, System.Runtime, System.Text, etc), ASP.NET (System.Web), Windows Forms (System.Windows.Forms), ADO.NET (System.Data), XML (System.Xml), and WPF (System.Windows).  We’ll then be adding more libraries in the months ahead (including WCF, Workflow, and LINQ).  The source code will be released under the Microsoft Reference License (MS-RL)“

This will allow even greater integrated debugging support. VS 2008 will even support to automatically retrieve the appropriate .NET Framework source files on demand from Microsoft.

You can get more information on Scott Guthrie blog and this Hanselminutes podcast.

With this move, I’m sure the .NET framework can begin to appeal those who believe the framework its to close to work with. I can’t wait to peek under the hood of WPF and LINQ code.

Even so, I still hope Microsoft can offer in the near future a real open-source framework with third party patches…