In the past, Miguel de Icaza has raised the ire of Linux
advocates by saying that there are some good things in Microsoft's
.NET. His company, Ximian, is planning on proving that with Open
Source alternatives to .NET.
"Even as Microsoft touts the open availability of the
underpinnings of its .Net initiative, open-source advocates are
working to make sure .Net isn't a Microsoft-only technology."
"Ximian, a Boston company that works on the Gnome user interface
for Linux, is scheduled to announce Monday a software project
called "Mono" intended to compete against Microsoft.Net, according
to sources familiar with the plan."
"The move, if successful, could increase the importance and
popularity of the Microsoft.Net software-as-a-service strategy
while undermining Microsoft's control over the software itself. But
analysts caution that .Net itself is a nascent technology, and any
attempts to clone it are likely to be even more immature."
