Joe Steeve wrote:
Thought mono is a GPLed software, the motivations of that project are not very supportive. DotNET is a dirty commercial venture. Mono's intention is not to defeat the dirty plan., but rather to enhance it on a different platform. If any GLUG/LUG decide to let a session on DotNET, it should be purely on DotGNU.
And how do you think .Net is different from Java in this regard?
- Both are backed by software giants - Both companies have traditionally been fiercely proprietary - Both of them offer a new language/platform. - While C# is now an ECMA standard, Java is still architected by Sun's engineers (even though Sun can claim that they have a "community" process for extending the language/specs) - Both have patents of various aspects of the implementation. - Both have proprietary implementations in the market. - Both have evangelists eager to win converts to the new platform. - Both the corporations are profit driven.
Yet, since the days Java came into the market, there has been an explosion in FOSS software. We have several Java implementations now(including various GNU ones), and none to my knowledge was started off to defeat someone, but rather to provide an alternative.
Then why jump upon .Net just because it is offered from a particular company? Let them be misled into thinking they can infect the FOSS movement, while let us keep doing the reverse. ;)
BTW, the heydays of software products is over. Prepare yourself for the next generation - services[1]. In the future, it wont matter to consumers which OS/language/platform they use - the service will be God. In that point of view, Mono(and especially Mono ASP.Net)/dotGNU is going to be critical. So call them enhancing a dirty venture, if you will. But just like Apache has taken over the backend web server market, you will find Linux/Mono/dotGNU taking over the currently booming market of ASP.Net applications.
As somebody had once said something similar - "The dirty plan being defeated will be entirely a side effect". :)
- Sandip
[1] http://www.oreillynet.com/pub/a/oreilly/tim/opensource/paradigmshift_0504.ht...