In an effort to broaden its reach beyond Windows developers, Microsoft has released as open source the server-side components of its .Net framework and embarked on a project to port the runtime software to Linux and Mac OS.

The initiative aims to make .Net a cross-platform framework, said S. “Soma” Somasegar, the Microsoft corporate vice president who leads the company’s developer division.

“You can build a .Net app and then decide if you want to run it on a Linux server or on Windows Server,” he said. “We want to deliver a comprehensive offering for every developer working on any application.”

The .Net open sourcing was one of a number of announcements the company made Wednesday around its developer tools and services. The company is also releasing a free version of its flagship Visual Studio flagship IDE (integrated development environment) for startups and individual developers, called Visual Studio Community.

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