Microsoft reverses controversial .NET change after open source community shouts

Microsoft is rolling back its decision to remove a key feature from its upcoming .NET 6 release, following outrage from the open source community. Microsoft angered the .NET open source community earlier this week by removing a major part of Hot Reload in an upcoming release of .NET 6, a feature that allows developers to modify source code while the app is running and immediately Allows you to view the results.

It's a feature that many were eager to use in Visual Studio Code and across multiple platforms, until Microsoft made a controversial last-minute decision to lock it into Visual Studio 2022, which was mostly paid for. There is a go-to product that is limited to Windows. Microsoft sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Verge that the last-minute change was made by Julia Lewson, the head of Microsoft's developer division, and was a business-focused move.

Microsoft has now reversed the change following backlash, and anger inside the company from many of its Microsoft employees. "We made a mistake in executing our decision and took longer than expected for the community to respond," explains Scott Hunter, .NET's director of program management. Microsoft has now approved a community pull request to re-enable this feature and it will be available in the final version of the .NET 6 SDK.

We asked Microsoft for comment on the fact that an executive ordered the change, but the company did not want to discuss the controversial decision. "We have taken steps to address this issue that some of our OSS community members have experienced," a Microsoft spokesperson said in a statement to The Verge. "Hot reload capability will be available in the general availability build of the .NET 6 SDK on November 8th."

However, Microsoft's blog post does not address this controversial decision. Instead, it suggests that removing the code rather than simply disabling it was a mistake, not a business decision. "In our attempt to scope, we inadvertently removed the source code instead of not enforcing that code path," says Hunter.

While this reversal would be welcome for the .NET community, the explanation and circumstances surrounding this phenomenon may not be easy for those who value transparency in such decisions.

“As is true with many companies, we are learning to balance the needs of the OSS community and being a corporate sponsor for .NET,” Hunter says. "Sometimes we just don't get it right. When we don't, we can learn from our mistakes and move on better."

The incident comes after weeks of unrest in the .NET community over Microsoft joining the .NET Foundation. The foundation was created in 2014 when Microsoft made .NET open source, and is considered an independent organization that exists to improve open source software development and collaboration with .NET. A resigning board member recently questioned the role of the .NET Foundation, asking whether it is "to enforce Microsoft's will on .NET open source, or whether you're here to promote a healthy community and to support the community." To help promote?

Claire Novotny, the executive director of the .NET Foundation, recently resigned due to a controversy and others questioning the independence of the .NET Foundation, which was given special privileges from Microsoft. Microsoft has certainly damaged some of the open source work it's been building over 10 years with this U-turn, and the company still has a lot to do with improving relationships with the .NET community and . Net Foundation.