SubSonic: Some Clarifications

Eric just sent me an email that relayed a SubSonic user's concern that I'm going  to "stop development" permanently. I've also received a few messages from people who were concerned (some even said "shocked") that I would stop development altogether because of the whole TD.NET thing. So let's get something straight:

I'm NOT giving up on SubSonic, ever.

Now, let's look at what I actually said:

I'm very tempted to stop work on SubSonic completely (stop as in not innovate - we'll always support it) until this issue is resolved

Couple of things with this:

• the word "until" is the operative one - I'd like to feel more comfortable understanding where I can, and cannot innovate SubSonic. I'm here in Redmond right now so it's the perfect time for that.
  
• I'm talking about innovation - which currently was diving into the BuildProvider and a few other things to enhance the dev's experiences.

 

So for those of you worried that SubSonic will drop dead - perish the thought. Good writing skillz elude me at times so if I worried anyone, I apologize for that. I don't apologize for my opinions on this mess though.

Are You Just Being a Drama Queen?

Some people think so, but I think it's a failure to see the nuances of this situation. I just sat in a meeting with some MS folks and we talked a bit about what's going on - they were exceedingly receptive and very very accommodating - they really wanted to hear what I had to say! I applaud them for that.

If you look at the situation long enough it becomes clear that it's a gray mess full of ulterior motives (no, it's NOT just about violation of a EULA). There are lots of implications for developers, like myself, creating tools to interop with MS technology, however.  We, as component developers work on enhancements and improvements to the developer experience - but when does enhancement meet violation of some EULA? Where is the line drawn that SubSonic can't cross with respect to Visual Studio and any other toolset out there? If I don't know where it is, and all I can rely on is a statement that says "you can't work around limitations in the product" - well I think that's foolish of me.

All that aside - I don't want to open up another argument and give this situation more than it deserves. I stand completely by my convictions that we oughtta know just a little bit more than what we do know about "technical limitations" in the platform. For now just know SubSonic's not going anywhere.