Though Microsoft's apparently pleased with Mono, calling it a
"ringing endorsement of .NET," IDC's Dan Kusnetzky isn't feeling
horribly sanguine about the project, saying it's mostly good for
Microsoft, which will reap the PR rewards of looking inclusive as
its case continues to work through the courts.
"...Microsoft's support of Mono is simply the same old
same old for the software giant, IDC analyst Dan Kusnetzky said.
Microsoft has historically achieved market dominance by controlling
APIs, and forcing competitors to write software to its APIs, only
to turn around and change those same APIs. "Instead of satisfying
their own customers' demand, competitors are busy catching up with
Microsoft," Kusnetzky said. "It looks like they've gotten someone
in the open source community to play the game of following
Microsoft around and trying to do what they do."
That leaves the Mono project--which takes its name from the
Spanish word for "monkey"--playing a deadly game of monkey see,
monkey do."