Microsoft is reversing a decision to remove a key feature from its upcoming .NET 6 release, after a public outcry from the open source community. Microsoft angered the .NET open source community earlier this week by removing a key part of Hot Reload in the upcoming release of .NET 6, a feature that allows developers to modify source code while an app is running and immediately see the results.
It’s a feature many had been looking forward to using in Visual Studio Code and across multiple platforms, until Microsoft made a controversial last-minute decision to lock it to Visual Studio 2022 which is a paid product that’s limited to Windows. Sources at Microsoft, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Verge that the last-minute change was made by Julia Liuson, the head of Microsoft’s developer division, and was a business-focused move.
The scorpion and the frog make it a little further across the river. For now.
This sort of thing is one of the reasons I don’t trust “effectively proprietary” languages.
I’ve never done any work in C# and the only Java I’ve written was for university courses… though it also helps that neither has ever really been a good fit for my POSIXy use-cases.
(And, now, Rust has leapfrogged them in the areas where I wouldn’t still choose Python, TypeScript, or GDScript.)
So,
Microsoft reversed a 100% price hike in Xbox subscriptions after player outrage: https://news.xbox.com/en-us/2021/01/22/update-on-xbox-live-gold-pricing/
Sony reneged on their word for not charging for HZD: Forbidden West upgrades. After very justified outcry they reversed the decision: https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2021-09-05-sony-u-turns-on-controversial-horizon-forbidden-west-ps4-to-ps5-upgrade-policy-following-backlash
Apple called it “courage” to gut all the useful ports on their “Pro” models, making it an expensive “Air”. It only took them three years of public complaints to go back: https://www.wired.com/story/apple-macbook-ports-rave/
So, they do actually listen to the customers. But only if a major headache is there. A few nagging voices… it will be ignored.
Apple is listening to declining sales (up overall due to the pandemic, but they’ve slipped over 5% in sales to be behind HP in number of PCs sold in the U.S.) If they listened to customers they would have reintroduced those ports after one model, and offered a real desktop immediately after the trashcan Mac.
Yes, that one took the long road. It is not always easy, but people really voted by their wallet.
(When my laptop refresh was up in the company, I really checked out the new MBP, but decided to go with another platform because of all that “courage”).
I wish I got a dollar every time Microsoft had to walk back one of their brilliant plans.
Right after they did this I decided to stop using it in mac and linux, that’s enough for me to no longer trust their open source drive.
I switched back to Kate (which also runs in windows and mac), even if I’ll miss the stronger power shell tools that it had. I’ll make do with manuals if I need anything fancy for that, Microsoft can go fund themselves.
What does .NET Hot Reload have to do with Kate?
I have previously run Windows and Linux side by side in a dual boot configuration. I have now set up one computer with a Linux only installation and slowly going through documenting install and other critical set up and use information, I will also be testing it with some niche plug-in hardware I occsionally use. That is my response to Microsoft attempting to strongarm me and throw my still performant and useful hardware on the scrapheap.
Windows 10 can live in a VM if I can be bothered to install it and I’m not going to waste a spare and fully lawful grey market licence key on it. Windows can complain all it likes. What are Microsoft going to threaten me with? Not being able to change the wallpaper? Ooh, scary.
That will show them!
Visual Studio has a free version which includes Hot Reload.