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The Microsoft Platform Ahead by David Platt; thoughts about Python and Zope

John Benson jsbenson at bensonsystems.com
Sun Nov 21 14:16:48 EST 2004 
Hi, I've been reading the above-titled book and it looks like some major 
Python and Zope features have been cherry-picked for pushing down into .NET, 
like application memory management (Python interpreter), and prefabricated 
website user management (Zope).

I know that these didn't originate with Python and Zope, and also that .NET 
adds extra Microsoft-specific goodies. However, the real possibility is that 
the Microsoft-centricity of .NET may diminish in time when VB.NET/C# 
/ASP.NET provide an attractive multiplatform alternative to Python and Zope 
or other content-management/portal/web service frameworks.

The question I'd like to pose is:

Will the open-source web service frameworks suffer the same fate as the 
Netscape browser?

The most likely scenario I see is that Python will remain important as a 
standalone language and one of the Microsoft CLR (Common Language Runtime) 
language alternatives (like VB.NET and C#) but that great frameworks (like 
Zope and Twisted) will be crowded out as Microsoft appropriates and 
repackages their functionality. Comments?

The one opportunity for Python and the open-source frameworks to survive and 
thrive is that Microsoft has targeted XML Web Services and authentication as 
basic functionality in .NET. That is, as it currently understands them. The 
admission in the book that Web Services are in their infancy leaves open the 
possibility that Microsoft may be playing catch-up with smaller and more 
agile frameworks in this area until the technology matures. Please forgive 
the oxymoron. It is probable that no computer technology matures: it either 
evolves or dies, or hangs on in the living death of legacy maintenance.)
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