[trezor]

While not really "news", it's interesting to see how Microsoft actually puts time and effort into non-mainstream projects like this.

As for the linked article, it raises one question which had me thinking:

I also pondered why another .NET language (from Microsoft) is necessary. Are C#, VB.NET, and the available third-party languages not enough?

I'm not complaining about getting more options, but with .NET compiler implementations for a dozen languages, functional languages like Python included, this seems like a valid question.

[mrkurt]

First class MS languages fit into the entire "environment" in a way that the less important ones can't even begin to approach. There are a bunch of super interesting languages that are extremely tedious to use in a mixed language .NET environment. Things like MS Build support, VS integration, and everything else are really nice to have.

Even F# suffered before MS really bought into it. It had basic VS integration, but no MS Build support, and other quirks that just became a headache to deal with every day. With the CTP, I can add an F# project to an existing .NET solution and use it like I would C# or VB. It's saved me a ton of time already.

As to why you want more: I want more because it's good for my brain. :) I also want more because I can attack problems with a tool that may be better for the job without breaking out of my applications.

[wayne]

Getting official Microsoft support with an official IDE is a big deal and this seems to be the first functional language Microsoft is taking seriously. IronRuby/IronPython and third party languages may exist, but they're nowhere near as big as the official languages (C#, VB.NET, managed C++, and heck, even J#).