From: Lloyd Linklater Date: 2007-09-28T20:48:17+09:00 Subject: Re: Anyone interested In IronRuby I agree with Rikard in that MS has a bad track record. Still I would like to think that they would be willing to work and play well with the other children. The last time this thread arose here, it was thought that MS would make all the source available as in other gems. I asked the MS guy that was posting in that thread to confirm that and got no reply. Hopefully someone can answer that. That being said, I have another question. What exactly *is* dot net? Why is it so fervently touted? At work, a MS devotee that was contracting at work changed our setup from .NET 1.1 to 2.0 without telling anyone. It brought down the entire data warehouse. Asking around, I was told that every version of .NET released was not as backward compatible as advertised. We know that MS releases software that breaks existing apps. Vista even breaks MS' apps. We cannot afford to use .NET unless new versions will not break old apps. So, what is the word? What is it, why do we want it, and will it actually work? p.s. I do not mean this to be incendiary. I am having trouble getting through the hype in all I read about .NET and never seem to get straight answers and personal experience, while it may be caused more by idiots than .NET, still makes my company worried enough to avoid .NET until they can answer this. Please read this as an attempt to find a way to embrace the technology if I can find a way to do so not a flame against MS. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.