[NTLUG:Discuss] .Net and the Mono Project

[Alex Coker]

FYI, I found this interesting.

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Application Integration
Open sourcers unveil .NET plans
by John K. Waters

Open Source developer Miguel de Icaza, leader of the GNOME
project and founder of Boston-based Ximian, is a fan of
Microsoft's .NET.

Icaza, one of the true stars of the open source movement, has
been telling reporters in recent days that he is impressed
with the Microsoft approach to providing all products on the
Internet, and that .NET lets Microsoft start with a clean slate
and build for the future. And, he gushes, .NET is "a development
environment for the next twenty years.

"Five years ago, we [open source developers] had the high ground
in technical tools," Icaza said in a recent interview. "We had
better tools and a better development environment than Windows
developers. With .NET, I see that the roles have changed and
Windows developers have much better tools than we have. Ours
are good but not as good or as integrated [as .NET tools].
Within that context, I can see how developers might use Visual
Studio instead of free software to develop
applications--especially if they are not concerned with freedom,
and the ideas behind free software."

Given this view, Ximian's launching of a community initiative
to develop an open source, Linux-based version of the Microsoft
.NET development platform was not surprising. Called the Mono
Project, the initiative will provide a development framework
designed to allow users to create, deploy, and run .NET
compatible applications on the Linux platform.

Microsoft has begun flirting with an open approach to .NET.
The Redmond, WA-based company joined with Canadian software
maker, Corel, recently in a joint effort to make .NET tools
and technologies available on the FreeBSD platform under the
terms of the Microsoft "shared source" license.

However "shared source" is not quite the no-strings-attached
approach of true open-source development. Supporters of the
Mono Project claim that it will provide open source developers
with a true "build once, deploy anywhere" tool set that takes
advantage of the services enabled by .NET. Under the terms of
the GPL and the LGPL licenses used by the Mono Project,
developers can write and distribute commercial and
proprietary applications, something that is not possible
with the Microsoft "shared source" license.

The Mono Project will incorporate key .NET compliant components,
including a C# compiler, a Common Language Runtime just-in-time
compiler, and a full suite of class libraries. According to
Ximian, the Mono Project will allow developers to create .NET
applications that can run on any Mono-supported platform,
including Windows, Linux and Unix.

Is the open source movement about to be swallowed by the
monolith from Redmond? Hardly. Open sourcers tend to burn
with a religious fervor that even the wet weather in
Washington is unlikely to dampen. As open sourcers turn their
attention to .NET, it is more likely that the move will
increase the importance and popularity of the .NET strategy
while diminishing Microsoft's control over the software
itself.

"This is a defining moment for the open source community and
Linux," said high-tech book publisher Tim O'Reilly. "The
Internet infrastructure has always been based on open source.
The Mono Project is an essential step in making sure that
remains true as the Internet evolves."

"The best way to ensure the integrity of .NET is to see whether
it's possible to create a high-quality alternative
implementation based on the specification," said Michael
Tiemann, CTO at Red Hat. "The Mono project, protected with GPL
licensing, will ensure that communications about the strengths,
weaknesses, and outright flaws in the .NET architecture can
be intelligently discussed and responsibly executed."


For more on Integration, go to:
http://www.adtmag.com/section.asp?section=integration.

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