[Mono-list] ASP.NET and Licensing

[Michael Schurter]

Alex Nedelcu wrote:
> ASP.NET is quite a controversial piece of the .NET framework.
> ADO.NET is another controversial library, that has no replacement.
> 
> As Thomas Jefferson said ... the price of freedom is eternal vigilance.
> Why can't we just stick with the ECMA standards and create true
> open-source alternatives for the rest of the .NET framework ?
> Is it really that hard ?

Yes.  Simply planning and getting a consensus on a framework is very 
difficult.  Look at PHP.  It had no good cohesive framework for a very 
long time and now there are dozens of competing ones all at various 
stages of completion.  Choice is good, but only when there are good 
options to choose from.

> I mean, besides licensing reasons, really ... ASP.NET is very
> tool-oriented to be bearable without VS.NET,
> and ADO.NET simply sucks, as I've never seen a more poorly designed
> database access library.

I agree, but remember that Mono will (and has already) attract many 
traditionally Microsoft developers.  It couldn't do that without a 
compatible framework.

Also - MonoDevelop is coming along nicely:
http://mjhutchinson.com/journal/2006-27-07/aspnetedit_in_monodevelop_teaser

> I thought about starting my own database access library, similar to
> Python's or Perl's DBI.
> Shouldn't be too hard to create such interfaces and then to create a
> mysql adapter by wrapping the mysql C library,
> the only problem being the limited free time I have.

I think that everyone here probably has the same problem.

-- 
Michael Schurter
Synthesys Computer Solutions
http://www.synthesyssolutions.com/