There have been some great announcements this week.
Visual Studio Community Edition
We announced a free Community edition of Visual Studio. This is our Pro SKU, but usable for open source, education, and teams of 5 or smaller in non-enterprise projects (conditions are defined on the linked page).
http://msdn.microsof...mmunity-vs.aspx
This is great news for NETMF developers, among others, because you'll have access to add-ins/extensions, plus all the great tooling that comes with VS Pro. You'll also be able to have cloud/web + NETMF projects in the same solution, in the same IDE, rather than have to open up multiple express IDEs.
Open Source .NET Core
We're open sourcing the server core of .NET, and will be supporting it across a number of different operating systems. When you combine this with the VS Community Edition, it means you can expect to see more .NET developers over time, especially in education and maker communities.
AllJoyn
We've announced that AllJoyn will be built into Windows 10. AllJoyn is a protocol and architecture for connected devices. It's exciting because it follows a strongly-typed model that feels a lot like NETMF and WinRT. APIs are discoverable and easy to use.
http://msopentech.co...ntech-alljoyn/
It's all open source. I'd love to see some community-driven NETMF activity in this space. If you look at the list of partners in the AllSeen alliance, it looks to be something that will be important in home automation and consumer devices.
Enjoy
Pete