Novell has announced the availability of Mono 1.0, the
open-source development platform based on the .net framework which
allows software developers to build Linux and cross-platform
apps.
The Mono project, "makes it far easier to build and develop
applications on Linux and other platforms, allowing developers to
get software to market faster and more cost effectively, "
said Novell, the sponsor of the community initiative.
Miguel de Icaza, founder of the Mono project and
now vice-president of development at Novell, said, "Even as Linux
grows on enterprise desktops, developing applications for the Linux
desktop has been challenging because existing tools were extremely
technical and complex."
"Mono is an extremely usable, commercial-grade development
platform for Linux desktops and servers with a complete set of
tools and APIs," de Icaza said.
"It's based on published standards and proven programming
languages and libraries, and Mono's cross-platform capabilities
also extend to applications for Microsoft Windows, Apple MacOS X
and other flavours of Unix."
Mono includes a C# compiler, a .net-compatible runtime and two
stacks of APIs: a Mono stack that takes utmost advantage of Linux
servers and desktops, and a set of APIs compatible with the
Microsoft .net Framework 1.1 which provides support for ASP.net,
ADO.net and several other components.
To further aid software developers, a website -
www.mono-project.com -
has been launched with tools, resources, project roadmaps and
detailed information about Mono.
While previous project websites focused on creating and
contributing to Mono the new site will cater to users of Mono and
those deploying applications with Mono, in addition to project
contributors.
Novell is using Mono internally in the development of products
including iFolder and ZENworks. Since the Mono Beta 1 was released
4 May, more than 50,000 copies of the software have been
downloaded.
Written by
LinuxWorld staff