Remix Mono and Windows

[Dylan McCall]

Chris, what do you mean by misbehaving? We'll need more information than that.

Mono is not a virus or an evil back-door. Mono is a development /
runtime environment based on (and compatible with) Microsoft's .Net.
.Net is largely funded and owned by Microsoft (I should stress that
this is in the same way the stacked window metaphor is). Mono is a
neat environment for building software, so there are many free
software developers who prefer it. You will notice, for example, that
F-Spot uses Mono, as does Banshee and Tomboy.
The benefit to Mono over .Net is that it is free, it is lighter
(anecdotal, sorry), it supports static compiling (without the VM) and
it is cross platform. That is, Mono apps have run on Linux, MacOS,
Windows, the iPhone, Maemo and beyond :)

There is some concern surrounding Mono due to the fact that it is
based on a technology developed by the evil, one-dimensional Microsoft
؟

Some people feel that Microsoft could sue Linux vendors for
distributing Mono, as they continually threaten how free software
infringes on patents.

Personally, I for one feel this is unlikely to happen due to the fact
that they have released a patent protection promise of sorts, and
otherwise because we have big companies relying on Mono for major
products. My favourite example of late is Electronic Arts with The
Sims 3. If Microsoft started attacking Mono users, they would find
themselves up against one pretty enormous company.



Thanks,
Dylan