ASP.NET MVC is now "open source". Is this a good thing?

Question

This question is only looking for feedback on the direction of ASP.NET MVC as a platform. I truly am not posting it as flame-bait. My company is planning a major web application investment and we need to decide if ASP.NET MVC is the right direction.

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Update Microsoft Answers

Scott Guthrie, head of ASP.NET development, posted this on his blog:

ASP.NET MVC is a free, fully supported, Microsoft product that enables developers to easily build web applications using a model-view-controller pattern

So as long as the above statement is true then ASP.NET MVC is safe to deploy on.

ASP.NET MVC is released under the Microsoft Public License (MS-PL). MS-PL is an OSI-approved open source license. The MS-PL contains no platform restrictions and provides broad rights to modify and redistribute the source code.

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When Microsoft released ASP.NET MVC under open source (MS-PL) licensing my first thought was that MS might soon drop support for it. And with that thought I wouldn't want to invest in mastering it for obvious reasons.

I could be wrong, so I wanted to get some feedback before making any solid decisions.

Is this a good thing?

Update:

A friend asked a compelling question about this subject: Is ASP.NET MVC Open Source or Shared Source? That got me thinking about the difference between Microsoft's open source-like initiatives and the open source community's "true", if you will, open source. And this difference really gets at the niggling concern over Microsoft open sourcing an important product. It's not that having access to the source is unappreciated. That is GREAT. I wish we had access to Win32 source, or even the entire source code for Windows. Talk about solving problems quickly! The concern is over whether MS will now take a hands -off posture towards ASP.NET MVC. In that case I don't know if we should use it as it could take awhile for robust community support to build around a source collection originally owned by a company not generally known for giving away source code.

Answer 1

The question you should ask is "Is this a bad thing?" Of course not.

Microsoft's choice to release MVC as open source is an example of their changing views on open source and free software. I extremely doubt they've done this so they could drop support of it.

Answer 2

Open source is always a good thing. Now, If MS drops support for it, the community will continue to develop it. Before, if MS had dropped it, it would never be updated.

Answer 3

Why on earth would anyone think that open source is a bad thing?

Answer 4

I would be SHOCKED if MS dropped support for it just because it was open source.

When MS made the announcement that they are shipping jQuery, it went along with a statement that they would start supporting jQuery as a product.

So, if they will be supporting open source products that they don't maintain, I would be shocked if they stopped supporting open source products that they DO maintain.

Answer 5

You can get source for the entire .NET Framework -- I don't think MS will be dropping it anytime soon. I think that open sourcing MVC is reflective of the stance that MS is taking toward being more transparent with their source and cooperative with the open source movement, not that they are expecting to cut it loose soon. Regardless, its a tremendous framework and I fully expect that MVC will continue to support it as it allows them to compete with Ruby/Python/Java in the MVC space.

Answer 6

Microsoft making asp.net MVC open source has no relation with not supporting it. Remember the way it was released as open source, means MS will be the one making the changes along the way. Note that for the moment they won't be accepting submit of patches, which is another clear indication they are in total control of the project.

Answer 7

We just last night had an MS Presentation for our local .net users group on MVC. There was discussion about the open source aspect of it. Within 24h of the source release, the Mono folks had adopted MVC. This is all good stuff!

I am hearing tremendous interest within the dev community for MVC. Microsoft seems firmly behind the pattern and framework. I hightly doubt they will be dropping official support for it any time soon.

Answer 8

it REALLY DOES NOT MATTER even if MS drops support for it. because since its open source, community would continue working on it

thats the power of open source communities - even a software giant like MS was forced to change its views and embrace it. they are doing more and more of open source these days. and its good for all of us (developer community) ;-)

Answer 9

It would be worth the time of every project which intends to use MVC to consider if MVC is seriously supported by Microsoft and the community, and what the risks of using MVC are to a project (against the benefits).

Will MVC last for the expected lifespan of the project, once deployed? If the best guess is unsure or no, potentially consider not using MVC.

Answer 10

Microsoft's commitment to support any product is based on market acceptance, competitive considerations, and product positioning. Their track record is inconsistent no matter whether they open-source it. Think IE and Frontpage. Opening the source code can only increase your chances for stability in the long run, IMHO.