it just means:

Microsoft is not: "eating their own dog food".

but i'm sure a "memo" from billg will fix that -_^

PS. slow blog day?! :)

They probably could have done it all with Drupal. :P

Just a heads up, the very classes and aspx Orkut is pumping out right now for www.orkut.com has a high probability of being compilable on Linux's Ximian Mono/mod_mono platform. He just has to make the code compilable using some wrappers and make sure the entire source base compiles fine every night on both platforms. Most C# projects have design specs that could be completely rewritten in Java syntax--relatively easily--.Net framework resembles Java too well in some departments and it only makes porting easier. So unless Microsoft rips a new one in the Mono project, it should be smooth sailing.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't Microsoft using the same app platform as Orkut? Is the flash aspect, then, the only difference between these apps (assuming they both use sql and xml)?

http://mywallop.com/login.aspx
http://www.orkut.com/login.aspx

But if Google does end up using .NET in the "final" version, they will have quite the crazy quilt. This diversity might be advantageous for them, though.

- JP

I don't see why developers have to bend to political pressures. I think I would be more dismayed if Microsoft engineers used only Microsoft tools and Google used only non-Microsoft tools.

I wonder what would happen when they try, if they ever do, to integrate orkut into the google machine.
I can see MSFT using other tools for the sake of experimentation, but also the possible roadblocks for the orkut people further own.

It sounds like Flash, XML, and SQL is being used for presentation. If Wallop isn't using ASP.NET, what is it using for the application logic?

There are swings and roundabouts with all this stuff. No matter what you do, you tie yourself into someone's 'religion' to some extent. The .net and c# 'religion' probably isn't all that much worse than the J2EE 'religion' (certainly not when it is taken to its '
enterprise' extremes). It's almost certainly more viable than the PHP or cold fusion faiths. Like religion, the important thing isn't which environment you choose, so much as how you go about using it.

In addition to .NET, orkut is using python for some of the "reset password" and email-related scripts.

When are we ever going to learn that "religious" wars don't end up anywhere... geesh, arabs vs. jews... japanese vs. koreans... brits vs. irish... windows vs. linux...

sign me on orkut