About .NET on Linux

It still surprises a broad segment of the software community that .NET has been open-source and multi-platform for many years. This site started as a notion of Houston Haynes in 2021 when his company SpeakEZ was founded - as collection point for information and to serve as a community resource. The concept was to make some attempt to track the wide and varied world of open-source development of cross-platform tools for the .NET ecosystem - with Linux as a point of emphasis, as the site name would imply. This blog is to serve several goals:

• organize information on relevant, modern and emerging efforts related to cross-platform .NET libraries and tooling, particularly for Linux environments
• socialize the value proposition of open-source .NET to the broader business community
• track the fragmented OSS landscape, collect and contribute information toward Linux becoming a first-class experience for .NET development
• establish a waypoint where the community may share knowledge and socialize their collective efforts independent from the aegis and/or influence of Microsoft

Microsoft has their own take on the history of .NET for cross-platform development. There's no way that this little static web site can complete with their well-funded corporate megaphone. That said, this blog was created in the (perhaps naive) belief that "someplace" should maintain some independence and serve as a collection point for developers that choose .NET as their open-source platform of choice. This applies in particular to those that wish to keep the corporate influences on the .NET ecosystem at arm's length.

Along those lines, there have been recent announcements by Microsoft regarding their Copilot product for Windows 11, the "Recall" feature in particular. While it was originally the intent here to focus on the Linux server experience, there was some expectation that the Linux desktop would also become a subject of interest. This carries from Houston's own interest the maturing Linux desktop efforts that are ongoing today. But with the announcement of Recall and the subsequent response from the community, it's expected that Linux desktop development will become a major point of interest, if not emphasis, on this site. That's speculation at this point, and much of that is up to the amount of sustained interest and contribution from the community.

This site will continue to grow, and there will be opportunities to help influence the direction the site takes as more community members become involved. If you're interested in authoring a blog post or contributing in some other fashion, feel free to let us know in the discussion portion of the GitHub repository.

Thanks!