Well, this is another post about Perl, about Win32, the Evil Land on planet OS, and of course about ActiveSate, the little Light in Evil Land's Darkness that makes life possible.

This meditation has been inspired while I had a look yesterday at the relooked ActiveState website. I came back from this quest with different feelings, that I would like to share with you, friendly Monks.

At the same time, I am excited to see that the company is as active as its name, but also disappointed to see that ActiveState is interested in Microsoft .NET concept. Is .NET something good? Will it be a revolution in the way people use their computers, making their configuration independent of their location provided that they have access to Internet? The point is that it is Microsoft, and Microsoft is known for making it hard to port their code to other platforms, including Perl before ActiveState emerged.

The second thing is that Windows/Visual C++ is my OS of development, because I am forced to use it (company policy). Of course, I tried to adapt myself to it (great virtue of a programmer), by installing ActiveState, and I was really pleased: ActiveState did a great job in providing a Perl distribution easy to install and well integrated in the Win32 OS. But how should I react when I see that ActiveState is becoming closer and closer to Microsoft? Shall I shout loudly that it is a good thing, because it is going to be easier to develop with VisualPerl, the plugin that will integrate Perl in Visual Studio? Or shall I be affraid that ActiveState might loose its pilgrim mind and change it into a more commercial and Evil soul?

The future will tell, for sure... I am preparing for either one of those life changes: embrace ActivePerl, or forget it, like you would forget a friend who was your best friend for a time but then betrayed you.

Back to my humble work, now!