Mono, the Linux version of Microsoft's .net Framework,
could give users a way to take their Windows programming skills to
the open source platform.
According to Novell, Mono provides users with a set of Windows
programming interfaces such as ASP.net, ADO.net and the .net
Framework 1.1.
Miguel de Icaza, Novell vice-president of development and founder
of the Mono project, 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."
With Mono, users can potentially move their Windows code without
modification to Linux, according to Novell. It supports C# and
Visual Basic, languages which are commonly used to develop
applications within Microsoft's Visual Studio .net programming
environment.
It allows developers to write rich-client, web services and
server-side applications which can then be deployed on Linux,
Solaris, MacOS X, Windows NT/XP and various Unix systems.
Mono 1.0 is available to download from the Mono project developer
community website. It includes a just-in-time complier and virtual
machine for running applications based on Mono.
www.mono-project.com