On the .Net Foundation (DNF)
With everything going on recently with the .Net Foundation (DNF), I’ve spouted off a couple of times. A lot of that centers around my own interactions and perceptions of Microsoft as a larger company. To be clear, I don’t hold other groups accountable for the actions of DNF themselves, but it does influence and fall under the perception of Microsoft as a company.
My perception will be different from yours or someone else. I’ve been a computer enthusiast most of my life, spent a little bit of time doing software based art, UI/UX as well as over two decades as a developer. I’ve worked with Microsoft tools including ASP classic and ASP.Net and with that the larger .Net ecosystem and C#. I remember Monorail before ASP.Net MVC was a thing. For the past decade, I’ve done far more in the JavaScript (Node.js) space than I have with C#. I still work on C# projects at work, and on the side, I’ve always appreciated the thoughtful approach of the language and platform.
DNF appears to be of two minds, for the most part. Fostering the User Groups surrounding the .Net space and supporting the more popular Open Source projects that have joined the Foundation in what was thought to be a symbiotic relationship. I think this split mind issue has come to light recently in efforts such as the attempts to be heavy handed in requirements for member projects and long term stability. To be clear, for the most part, maintainers and contributors to these projects are not employees of the DNF, or Microsoft or it isn’t part of their job function to do so.
The number of members and organizers of User Groups, I can only assume greatly outnumbers the maintainers of member projects. This has to make it hard to weigh the needs and benefits of one over the other and I think this may be the greatest reasoning for some of the actions. My own perception of MS, is there’s largely a “Not Invented Here” overarching perception from MS, and the .Net developers (those using .Net in their jobs) to prefer “blessed” solutions over open-source communities. I think DNF is trying to have their cake and eat it too as a result.
From my own perception, this has lead to errors in thought and action towards the member projects. I think this is amplified by general perception of all things Microsoft to many developers who don’t use (only/mainly) MS products/tools. It just doesn’t look good. I think that DNF needs to split its’ resources and management of contributor projects from the user group support. It can still suite to remain under DNF, but the management should probably separate a bit structurally. These are just my own thoughts, perceptions and observations and I can be entirely wrong in this.
