.NET/FRINGE/ - Let's build a stronger community around OSS .NET

For many years now the .NET framework and its ecosystem are viewed as a Microsoft thing, where its a product by a company and you either opt to use it (on Windows servers only) or not. Unlike other ecosystems, the community seemed to have no control over the direction the technology takes; the community has to align with Microsoft's view which, as you'd expect, isn't always what the users wanted.

While it was true for many years and some of it still is, things are changing. Many Microsoft projects are now open-source, on github, and accepting Pull Requests. A lot of development is now happening in the open, in that context the weekly ASP.NET Community Standup deserves a mention.

Microsoft is changing, for real. It is my belief that we, as a community, need to step up and strike while the iron is hot to shape the future of the .NET ecosystem.

To that end, I've been involved for a while now in what we call ".NET Fringe". Fringe is us saying just that - there isn't a better time than right now to establish a strong and opinionated community around .NET and open-source software written for the CLR. This is the time to voice different opinions, to familiarize ourselves with libraries that are not mainstream and with approaches to development that are less common in the .NET world.

Strong naming, Linux support, IDEs that are not Visual Studio, learning lessons and concepts from other ecosystems, functional programming, robotics, semantic logging, cloud, architecture and more -- this is our chance to tackle those topics and more, as a community, and together build a stronger ecosystem.

We start with a conference, taking place in Portland OR in April 12th-14th. Most of the speakers were announced already, and tickets are on sale. In the conference we will have a chance to get together and have an open conversation where all ideas are welcome, with the ultimate goal of forming a strong community.

Some of our plans for the .NET/FRINGE/ conference in April:

• State of the OSS panel, with well respected community members.
• Evening events (we will announce more details soon!).
• Group hikes and bike rides.
• Workshops.
• Open spaces and lightning talks.
• 3D printers for you to play with.
• Live streaming of some of the sessions, for those who couldn't make it.

And with that, and many thanks to our sponsors, and we are certainly looking forward to seeing you there!