No Java is not in the same boat as .Net. There is no open-source version of .Net released by Microsoft. .Net as a framework is still a proprietary product of Microsoft. They are letting Mono survive only because of their Embrace, Extend and Extinguish scheme. Not so with Java. There is an officially GPLed version of Java out there. You can be 100% sure that Sun is not going to get you into trouble for using it. Java is as open as any other open-source language today. Not so with .Net and Mono is just an implementation of an older version of .Net. Mono can never compete head-on with .Net as it can never implement latest version of .Net which Microsoft releases. They always have to play catch up. If FOSS has to succeed it must exceed the capabilities of its proprietary counter-parts. A good example for us is in Firefox, not in Mono. <div class="gmail_quote">On Sun, Jun 8, 2008 at 9:14 PM, Mackenzie Morgan <<a href="mailto:macoafi@gmail.com">macoafi@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;"> I'm personally not a fan of Mono's dependence on Microsoft's whims, but then Java's in pretty much the same boat with Sun, and it's still the language I use the most. -- Mackenzie Morgan <a href="http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://ubuntulinuxtipstricks.blogspot.com</a> apt-get moo -- Ubuntu-devel-discuss mailing list <a href="mailto:Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com">Ubuntu-devel-discuss@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-devel-discuss</a> </blockquote></div> -- Chandra Sekar.S e-mail: <a href="http://chandru.in">chandru.in</a>@<a href="http://gmail.com">gmail.com</a> Blog: <a href="http://tuxychandru.blogspot.com/">http://tuxychandru.blogspot.com/</a> We choose the brand of our Mobile Phone, Motorbike, Car, Shirt, Shoe, Bread, etc. Then why not the brand of our OS too? Pre-loading and forcing Vista on new laptops kills consumers' choice. Fight for choice of OS just as there is for the Hard Disk capacity in new laptops.