I’ve been programming/playing around with .Net for about 2 months now and I’ve determined two things:
1) I don’t like it.
2) Microsoft has decided that, unlike Burger King, you cannot have it your way.
I’ve complained about FrontPage before, like most professional web designers, and Visual Studio is just as bad about changing code, if not worse (it tends to forget to remove crap it automagically puts in).
Now, it seems, that Microsoft has gotten themselves into a patent squabble over .Net. The funny part is, Microsoft was notified on Feb 7th that they where infringing on said patent and have done nothing about it.
From what I can see, Vertical Computer Systems, Inc. has 3 patents to it’s name, so this isn’t a likely candidate for Patent Whoring, as some have suggested. The abstract says:
A system and method for generating computer applications in an arbitrary object framework. The method separates content, form, and function of the computer application so that each may be accessed or modified separately. The method includes creating arbitrary objects, managing the arbitrary objects throughout their life cycle in an object library, and deploying the arbitrary objects in a design framework for use in complex computer applications.
Now, since I don’t read nor speak Patentese very well, Infoworld has had a team of crack hamsters (or hamsters on crack - whichever) translate the above paragraph into:
The patent is for Vertical’s SiteFlash technology, which utilizes XML (Extensible Markup Language) to create a component-based structure to build and efficiently operate Web sites, according to the company’s Web site… Source
Now, I did some heavy digging on Vertical Compute…blah blah blah (ok - I’ll admit, I’ve got a Red Bull in front of me, a case of the shtuff on the floor next to me, coffee on the other side of me and 2 “sticks” of Jolt Gum in my mouth - seriously) website and found a very ugly template with uglier graphics (except for the stock photo of some cute chick typing) and no screen shots of anything. For being a publicly traded company (it’s still too early to tell if the lawsuit is helping their stock price), they sure don’t look like they really sell anything worthwhile.
Anyway, after all that research, I can see why Microsoft ignored them. They’re pretty much tried to patent Object Oriented Programming and the way most dynamic based systems work. This thing has prior art spray painted all over it.
Unfortunately, as much as I dislike .Net, businesses all over the place have decided that it’s one of those things you need to learn to stay employed. I doubt this patent or any other, for that matter, will slow down the whole .Net (say c-sharp everyone…) craze down.
