[Nottingham] Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#

[Martin]

Folks,

I've not been following this:

> Rather an interesting post:
> 
> 
> Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#
> 
> http://www.fsf.org/news/dont-depend-on-mono

But was reminded of that as I've just stumbled across this article:

Test, package .NET apps for Linux with Visual Studio add-in
http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/11/test-and-package-net-apps-for-linux-with-visual-studio-add-in.ars

####
Novell has launched a new add-in for Visual Studio that will allow
Windows developers to test and deploy their .NET applications on Linux.
This could help boost the availability of third-party software for the
open source operating system.
By Ryan Paul | Last updated November 11, 2009 9:40 PM CT
####


OK, so that looks like a nice piece of cross-platform compatibility
comparable to a WINE on hyped up steroids!

But considering the following comment, has Hell truly frozen over and
noone noticed?!:

####
"With Mono Tools for Visual Studio, we are bridging the gap between
Visual Studio, one of the world's leading development platforms, and
Linux, one of the world's leading deployment platforms," said de Icaza
in a statement. "By integrating our tools right into Visual Studio, we
are enabling developers familiar with Windows and .NET to quickly bring
their applications to the Linux market, and ISVs to offer their software
as ready-to-run appliances."
####

Note the "Linux, one of the world's leading deployment platforms" and
"quickly bring their applications to the Linux market, and I[ndependent]
S[oftware] V[endor]s"



Is all this good or bad or all part of an inevitable Microsoft Embrace -
Extend - Extinguish?


As the Chinese would say: "Interesting Times"!

Cheers,
Martin

-- 
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Martin Lomas
martin at ml1.co.uk
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