Back in March, Microsoft announced that it has converted its web API to development in open source. Microsoft now has ASP.NET MVC, Web API, and Web Pages (Razor) all under Apache 2.0 open source licensing and available on CodePlex(http://aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com/). A lot of people are wondering, “So what does this mean for me?”
No Cause for Concern
First of all, don’t be concerned that you have to change the way you install a new version of Visual Studio or the .NET Framework. All the changes done in the open source environment will be bundled up and distributed as they currently are. Also, don’t be concerned that Microsoft has given up on actively working on the code. Microsoft has more software engineers than ever currently working on code development.
Why Bother?
If Microsoft is going to continue to distribute new versions in the same old way, why make the code open source? There are several advantages to making the code available to everyone. First off, it is much easier to submit bugs or suggestions for enhancements (see image below). Anyone can go to the CodePlex web site and submit a new issue (http://aspnetwebstack.codeplex.com/workitem/list/basic). If your issue is already listed, you can “vote” for it and promote it up the bug list. If your bug is listed and it has been fixed, then you can download the latest source code for the project and build. One cautionary note on building and using the latest code, you will want to keep all of your development environments and all of your production environments in sync (just like you would with any other code or third party components).
What Else is There?
There are discussion groups (see image below) for the open source project and code base and instructions on downloading and compiling the code. There are also a lot of useful links to coding practices and project guidelines. There is even a section on what will be included in the next release and what is planned for future releases. Lastly there is an RSS feed so you can pull the latest items from the issue tracker, discussions, and anything else related to the project.
So what does this mean to you? It means more direct communication with the development team and more developers for starters. Issues are reported on and acted on much faster than they were in the past. All together this makes ASP.NET a better product.