Hey, if you’re gonna screw up, don’t make a little teeny mistake that you can sweep under the carpet and pretend you didn’t make. No, go out and prove yourself an idiot in a big way!!!

That’s what I did today when I wrote about .NET’s moves to share source with developers.

The reason I made the mistake? I saw all these headlines saying that .NET was being open sourced. It fit into the story I wanted to hear. After all Java is open sourced. Flex is open sourced (although someone just pointed out that Adobe isn’t yet accepting submissions).

But I didn’t really do my homework before posting this morning.

Truth is .NET isn’t being open sourced. Microsoft is not taking source code submissions from the developer community. No sirree.

Also, I didn’t really grok the impact on Microsoft developers. Over and over I’ve been getting hate mail today (and hate comments).

So, to correct my mistakes here’s a few things:

1. .NET is NOT being open sourced. It’s being shared sourced. So developers can see the code but can’t change it like they could on true open source projects.
2. For developers on Microsoft’s toolset this is a huge deal because it’ll help them figure out what’s going on inside .NET much better than before.
3. This isn’t the first time that .NET source was opened up, either. Developers, in my comments, have been making that point all day long.

Anyway, since I’m a .NET idiot you might want to check out what other experts are saying about these moves over on TechMeme.

I’ve also been posting the smarter .net posts over on my link blog.

Reuters reports on a new iPhone killer (Verizon’s claim, not mine) that’s coming soon from Verizon. Sounds great. Can’t wait to try it. I doubt people will wait in line, but who knows?

Ahh, maybe this is why Steve Jobs lowered the price to $399 for the iPhone. Now that seems like an even more brilliant move.

Some things I’d like to see here:

1. What maps are on the system. I use Google Maps all the time on my iPhone and I notice that even Patrick and Maryam are using it a lot too.
2. What stock quotes are on the system. I use Yahoo’s stock prices several times a day on my iPhone.
3. What’s the experience like? It’s one thing to put a touch screen on a device. It’s a whole nother thing to make it a thrilling experience. Even my ex-wife (the one who hates technology so much she moved out of Silicon Valley to get away from the geeks) loves her iPhone. Will the Verizon devices get the same kind of evangelical fervor going? We’ll see.

OK, I’m taking quite a bit of heat from the Zune advocates in my comments — lots of them think I’m an idiot for bagging on Microsoft. So, here’s a challenge.

I’ll give you one hour of airtime on ScobleShow.com to make the case for the Zune. You gotta come to my house in Half Moon Bay, CA to do the filming. I’ll treat it just the same as I do any other demos out there. You just bring your devices and explain to the world why these are so cool and why I need to buy one. I’ll even have Patrick bring all his iPods and iPhones so you can have those to compare with, if you’d like.

Call me if you’re interested and have access to one of the new Zunes. If you’re a Microsoft employee or a PR representative even better. I always leave my cell phone on my blog, by the way. It’s over there on the right side of my blog, but my number is 425-205-1921 (local call from Microsoft headquarters! Heh!)