Roy totally agree with you. In a sense, the Mozilla example is a good one. Look at the number of versions they have, because the project is not manage by some authority.
I like the Application blocks, because as you mention it, it give me a good professional and reliable solution to some basic tasks. I can't deal anymore without the DAB, and thanks for the info I was not aware of a version 3.
I think the majority of people who look at the app blocks just download them and use them as a reference for the 'proper' way to do something. This being true, the value is seriously damaged if it is the work of the community.
Oh yeah, and most people in the MS dev community actually want to make money for our work - so this idea that Redmond has that the 'community' will become some OSS hybrid is just flat wrong.
Roy, from what I've seen and heard, your assumptions as stated above simply aren't correct. I have seen tons of complaints that MS hasn't followed it's own best practices in their app blocks, that they don't maintain them, they don't add features that are required for them to become really useful, etc, etc, etc. I think every reason you state for wanting MS to keep control (except for the brand recognition and assumed accountability) are things that I have seen posted elsewhere that are lacking in the blocks.
Sorry do post again already, but note that the post immediately under this post on the weblogs.asp.net main feed is an example of what I am saying. The block in question there has bugs and the poster has fixed them but since it is not a community project, he is the only person who has that corrected working version and the rest of us will have to fix the bugs ourselves.
Shannon: If MS is slacking on the blocks, would a community effort do any better? MS has some serious thinking to do in this regard, but in the end, if *they* are not fully accountable for the application blocks, those community developed blocks will be nothing but well known code snippets.
If MS can't dedicate people to the blocks it itself has been creating, that is a problem in itself. It does not mean that they need to transfer over to the community.It just means that MS needs to pick up the slack in this regard and make our lives a little easier. Just like the application blocks are supposed to do.
1. Do you think that the official MS version of the DAL block has progressed farther and/or better than the GDN version?
2. Do you think MS will be releasing more than 1 version of a block per framework release?
3. Do you think MS will even be releasing service packs, updates or hotfixes at all for the blocks?
If you answered "yes" to any of the above questions, then you have a point. Otherwise it is all just wishful thinking. If simply saying "Microsoft really should do ______" had any bearing on reality, the world would be a much different place, wouldn't it?