14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has reached an important milestone bound to impact the future evolution of the .NET Micro Framework. Specifically, at the end of January 2010, the Redmond company launched the community development website for the framework. Developers that have kept up to date with the direction in which Microsoft is taking .NET Micro Framework already know that at the end of 2009, the company open sourced the technology. By making the .NET Micro Framework open source, the software giant is no longer solely responsible for its evolution, although the promise is that it will continue to remain involved.
Instead, the .NET Micro Framework can now be pushed forward only through collaborative development efforts which involve both Microsoft employees and members of the open source community. However, this does not mean that Microsoft is leaving the technology hang out to dry, but it does imply that the focus and resources invested in .NET Micro will be toned down.
“A Core Tech Team of volunteers from inside and outside Microsoft has been identified. This group will work in specific areas to refine and direct project proposals and get them developed and accepted into the core code base. There is a discussion group on the web site for proposing and discussing projects. Let's start the ideas rolling - what did you always want to see in the product? Who can you enlist to get it in?” asked Product Unit Manager Colin Miller.
In November 2009, Microsoft made available for download version 4.0 of .NET Micro Framework, a fully-fledged open source release, under an Apache license. At that time, the company pledged to continue work on the development of a core implementation of the .NET Micro Framework. Still, Microsoft’s own efforts will be done in conjunction with the NETMF community.
“Besides the features that are destined to be incorporated into the core codebase, there are other extensions and add-ons to the platform that people have made and will continue to make. Some of these are free and some are for sale. The web site includes a Showcase that allows the creators of all these extensions as well as services to be listed by their creators and found by users. If you have an extension, you can list it yourself on the site,” Miller added.
.NET Micro Framework 4.0 SDK is available for download here.
.NET Micro Framework 4.0 Porting Kit is available for download here.