November 05, 2004
ˇAsí se Compone un Són!
Mono is FANTASTIC and Microsoft .NET is very good.
In fact, MS .NET was one of the best things that happened to programming in the year 2000. It did not happen overnight either. It was the result of a number of evolutionary changes that are rooted in things like C/C++ from AT&T, COM from Microsoft, Java from SUN Microsystems and many other technology hits.
Mono is in principle, closely related to the MS .NET Framework. Specially those parts that were created as a result of the study of the ECMA-334 C# Language Specification and multilateral collaborative efforts of the members that work with the ECMA standardization of the C# Language, the runtime and other pieces.
Now, what makes Mono awesome is not its ability to imitate or reproduce existing Microsoft technologies, but rather the promise to make other great NON-MICROSOFT pieces available to ALL operating systems that Mono can be made to run on. Windows happens to be an operating system where Mono can run.
If you have not notice me yet, I am the fellow that has made a personal commitment to empower Windows with some (I wish I could say all) of the great libraries and emerging applications that are available in the other premier platforms in which Mono runs.
There are a lot of Windows users that have not discovered the wonderful benefits of SuSe, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, Mac OS X and many other very good operating systems and platforms. I felt that it would be nice to bring some of those advances to their side of the fence.
I have given the preceding paragraphs to put in context the statement that I make now:
Mono's future does not have to be dependant on the Microsoft's strategic plans for Windows and/or the .NET Framework. I personally believe that end users, software engineers and IT decision makers will be the ones that will clamor for Mono on its on merits. Furthermore, Microsoft Corporation may even choose to emulate functionalities and advances that originate within Mono because it will make sense in their quest to increase share holder value.
You now understand why I am not obsessed in having Mono perfectly replicate pieces of technology or functionality that are proprietary to Microsoft or just favored by them. Cross platform compatibility is very important to me. However, I rather look at an open source code base and empower systems that are NOT open source themselves than the other way around.
Paco's simple diagram:
So anytime I design or code a .NET Framework solution while in Windows, I do so hoping that I can be compatible with Mono.
By the way, this is not the first time I have been so smitten with an operating system or development platform. In 1987 when I discovered computers I was convinced that Microsft Windows was going to be the biggest thing in my live for the next few years. I admit that OS/2 was looking even better but I could not afford OS/2 and its development tools. It was Microsoft and Tandy Computers who back then made it cost accessible for this United States Air Force E-4 to learn and play with computer technology. It is about empowering people.
Linux and Mono empower people.
I absolutely agree with you - Mono is far more than a shallow copy of .NET that most people consider it. It provides different (and often better) implementations of the same functions, and functionality above and beyond the .NET Framework.
I too design and code for .NET/Mono compatibility, and still get excited when an assembly coded on one runs flawlessly on another (most times with re-compilation!).
Many thanks for your efforts in packaging and developing Mono tools for Windows.
Posted by: Schwuk at November 5, 2004 11:00 AM