In an effort to create an open source version of Microsoft's .net,
Intel and Hewlett-Packard have said they will lend support to the
Mono project.
Led by open source software maker Ximian, the Mono project aims to
develop a version of the .net programming environment that lets
developers build applications to run on Linux and Unix operating
systems.
"The prospects of being able to support .net not just on Windows
but on Linux or Unix holds a lot of promise for them," said Miguel
de Icaza, chief technology officer at Ximian.
Intel, HP and the Mono group have agreed to use a new software
licence, called the X11 licence. The new licence will allow
companies to use part of the technology developed by Mono, called
class libraries, in the software they sell without disclosing how
they use it.
Mono's technology was previously licensed under the General Purpose
Licence (GNU GPL) and a similar software licence called the Lesser
General Public Licence (LGPL). Any software code protected under
those two licences is freely available to developers to view,
modify and distribute. However, any changes made to the code must
be published and made available to the public.
A number of major software companies, such as Microsoft, oppose the
GPL due to its open nature. Microsoft has continually argued that
the software licence makes it difficult for a company to protect
intellectual property because it forces a company to expose to
competitors the blueprints of any code it uses that is licensed
under the GPL.
The new licence that the Mono project will invoke says a developer
can use the software code, modify it and distribute it
commercially, without publishing any changes it makes. Intel and HP
support the new licence because it would allow them to use the
technology in their own software products without disclosing
details to competitors. HP called the licensing shift a "practical
move," while Intel said the switch would accelerate innovation on
the Mono project.
"It allows Intel and HP to contribute to the project, which is one
of the reasons we're making this change," de Icaza said. "It's
something that Intel and HP feel is useful to them."
The licence changes will affect only work on the class libraries
developed by the Mono project. A software compiler used in the
effort, called the C# compiler, will continue to be licensed under
the GPL. In addition, Mono's version of the runtime environment
Common Language Runtime will continue to be used under the LGPL.