How Microsoft rewrote its C# compiler in C# and made it open source

[Thomas1965]

Roslyn is the codename-that-stuck for the open-source compiler for C# and Visual Basic.NET. Here’s how it started in the deepest darkness of last decade’s corporate Microsoft, and became an open source, cross-platform, public language engine for all things C# (and VB, which I’ll take as a given for the rest of this piece).

https://medium.com/microsoft-open-source-stories/how-microsoft-rewrote-its-c-compiler-in-c-and-made-it-open-source-4ebed5646f98

[E0p9LyTq]

Microsoft finally woke up to the reality it is the after-market add-ons they can sell which will be more lucrative for them.

The trend, in my opinion, started with offering Visual Studio for free to individuals and small businesses.

Keeping VB & C# proprietary really was a mistake for their bottom line. C/C++ being non-proprietary (in the sense no one company held a copy-right to the languages) helped make their market saturation a reality.