Mono,
which is an open source implementation of the Microsoft .Net Framework,
was in focus at the MySQL Users Conference 2005 on Thursday.
The technology features a virtual machine that can enable .Net
applications to run on Windows or Linux and Unix, and lets .Net
developers build apps for those two platforms.
“It's an alternative to developing applications with the .Net
framework,” said Miguel de Icaza, vice president of Developer Platforms
at Novell and the main developer of Mono. Mono applications also can
run on Java frameworks.
Tailored for desktop applications, Mono supports languages such as
Visual Basic, C# and Python and features binary compatibility with
.Net. de Icaza showed a photo manipulation application, FSpot, that was
built on Mono.
An upcoming version of Mono, due in September and possibly to be
dubbed version 1.2 or 2.0, will feature Windows Forms support for
building cross-platform GUI applications as well as support for C# 2.0.
de Icaza said he did not know the size of the Mono user base. But
technology that brings .Net to Linux sounds like it could gather a lot
of support as it matures. [InfoWorld TechWatch]