[Pc_Support] .NET based on Java?

[Bryan J. Smith]

Damien McKenna <dmckenna at thelimucompany.com> wrote:
> I've had Java and .NET developers dispute it also.

And they said ... ???  I would be interested to find out
where .NET/C# came from.  Microsoft's legal team did their
best to secure the rights to the Java source code in their
counter to Sun's claims.  Although it went quietly reported
in the media, there was literally a huge "WHEW!!!" in
Redmond.

It's not like Microsoft just took Java and made it C#
overnight.  It was literally developed over years before the
lawsuit was finally settled.  It wouldn't have surprised me
if Microsoft had a contingency plan if they didn't gain the
rights to use the Java source code.  Luckily, they did.

Furthermore, from what I understand, a lot of Microsoft's
efforts were on improving the CLR/VM over the JRE --
especially the Win32/x86 performance.  That was really what
was driving a lot of the changes anyway.  Even those Java
supporters inside of Microsoft always felt they could beat
Java at its own game on the Win32/x86 platform.

So it wouldn't surprise me if the CLR/VM is radically changed
from the original JRE 1.1.  But the language, limitations,
class libraries and other things are very inter-operable
because they are the same base.  That's how Microsoft has
been able to incorporate new Java 1.4 code into C#/.NET under
their new license, and vice-versa for Sun from .NET class
libs.

> Interestingly the CAB archive format used, in part, the LZX
> file format devised by Jonathan Forbes for the AmigaOS
> platform who was later hired by Microsoft.
> http://xavprods.free.fr/lzx/ has more in item 7 in the
> FAQ.

No one would say Microsoft doesn't use what it considers the
best tool available -- be it BSD-like Open Source, what they
can buy (typically the #3 product on the market, although
sometimes #1 when an option, etc...).



-- 
Bryan J. Smith                | Sent from Yahoo Mail
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