Why are overloaded operators always static in C#?

posted by  jhorra (5)  15 months ago (blogs.msdn.com)

A language design question was posted to the Microsoft internal C# discussion group this morning: "Why must overloaded operators be static in C#? In C++ an overloaded operator can be implemented by a static, instance or virtual method. Is there some reason for this constraint in C#?"

Before I get into the specifics, there is a larger point here worth delving into, or at least linking to. Raymond Chen immediately pointed out that the questioner had it backw