This isn't a first for MS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569283.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569283.aspx http://www.ecm

This isn't a first for MS: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569283.aspx http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/netframework/aa569283.aspx http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecma-335.htm http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Ecm... The entire spec for .NET including the CLR and C# are under ECMA's control, rather than Microsoft's. And MS is actively supporting the Mono project. I'm not claiming that they're doing it out of altruism, but rather that they're seeing the value in supporting open source. It just took them longer than it did for others ;)