[apardoe-MSFT]

@Pantaloons: Right on all counts. One clarification: .NET Native and MDIL are orthogonal. MDIL was used in Triton to split NGen into conceptually two pieces: the optimized part (in the Windows Phone Store) and the part bound on the customer's device to the installed Framework.

.NET Native produces completely native binaries. MDIL/Triton produces NGen binaries that still need a runtime and, occasionally, a JIT.

[shanselman]

And Triton is...

[apardoe-MSFT]

Pay attention, Scott :)

Sorry. Triton is the Windows Phone 8 "Compiler in the Cloud". It basically split NGen into two pieces, allowing the optimization to happen in the Store while the .exe generation happened on the device. The interface between these two halves is MDIL.

Bing will tell you a ton about Triton.

[shanselman]

Sorry, I see this in just one place. Sounds like an internal code name. https://www.google.com/search?q=Triton+.net+compiler