Tuesday, October 09, 2007 12:57 AM
Microsoft did a Good thing recently. They decided that they would ship the source to the Framework. Good is an understatement.
Have a weird problem with a ObjectDataSource. No worries, no need to break your cognitive flow, no need to reach for Reflector, just set a breakpoint in the ObjectDataSource.Select method (or wherever).
What’s the catch? Well, some folk feel that it’s some kind of trap. IMO, the funniest response is Phil Haack’s Dr. Evil comic. The basic premise of the conspiracy theorists is that by looking at the source code, you are forever tainted, and will no longer be able to contribute to an open source project like Mono, Moonlight, and probably a lot more based on the breadth and depth of the code that you will now be able to effortlessly F11 into.
Reminds me of a story…
My father was born near the beginning of WWII in German occupied Holland. My uncle was a teenager at the time, and told me a story about how he and my Grandfather were nearly arrested by a German soldier. My Uncle found a junked and ruined motorcycle, and being the son of a mechanic took it home. He and my Grandfather had it fixed in no time in spite of the fact that the German war machine was consuming all mechanical parts, oil, tires, food, and everything else of use or value in its evil quest, especially from its suppressed and occupied territories.
Having such a thing—a working motorcycle, was obviously forbidden, and would have been confiscated if discovered. Being able to get parts, oil, and gas was a good reason for jail, questioning, or worse. So what did my Uncle and Grandfather do? They took it out for a spin; my teenage Uncle driving and my Grandfather on the back.
Well, the inevitable happened. A German soldier saw my Uncle and Grandfather riding around the countryside in their new bike. The soldier, luckily, was on foot and yelled, “YOU TWO! STOP!” My Uncle turned to my Grandfather and said, “What do I do?” My Grandfather calmly replied, “Give it a little more gas.”
Settle down capital ‘O’ Open Source pundits. Microsoft isn’t going to trap you. For one, they couldn’t afford the bad PR karma this would create. Second of all, Microsoft, unlike some other software companies, actually seems to like developers (e.g., THEY’RE GIVING US READ ACCESS TO THE LIBRARIES). Third of all, if an evil entity ever came at you with such an insidious attack, just “give it a little more gas”. Fight fire with fire. Say you’ve never seen the source, don’t know the source existed, can’t remember if you’ve ever used Visual Studio or Microsoft technologies, etc… Hey it works for the politicians.
Please note, I am not advocating stealing anything. This source is a gift, and should be respected and honored. Fix your own bike, don’t be afraid, and definitely take it out for a spin!