Does IronPython indicate MS interest in dynamic languages?

[Bengt Richter]

On Tue, 05 Apr 2005 23:34:25 -0400, Thomas Gagne <tgagne at wide-open-west.com> wrote:

>Cameron Laird wrote:
><snip>
>> 
>> And now, for something completely different, I'll tender a
>> personal view:  I think Mr. Gates and Python are actually
>> destined to get along uncharacteristically well.  Roughly, I
>> suspect the habits and motivations of the two are so skew,
>> that the usual "embrace and extend" simply won't obtain.  I
>> soberly expect IronPython to work out well for both Microsoft
>> and Python.
>
>The techweb.com article said something interesting.
>
>> "Python is an open-source dynamic language; dynamic languages enable developers to produce applications more efficiently by reducing the amount of complexity in the code they write," Jason Matusow, program manager of Microsoft's Shared Source Initiative, writes on his blog. "Microsoft's IronPython project demonstrates the benefits of putting the Python dynamic language on the .NET Common Language Runtime."
>
>Assuming (I don't know for certain) that MS's PR approves all messages 
>that leave the building, I'm wondering if this foray into dynamic 
>languages doesn't signal something greater on MS' part.  While Sun and 
>Java (and C# for the most part) have remained statically-typed, do you 
>think IronPython might indicate a new direction for MS language development?

If there is to be an MSPython, how long 'til Mozilla FirePython? ;-)

Regards,
Bengt Richter