"...Is Ximian enamored of Microsoft? Hardly. "I believe
that Microsoft has behaved criminally, has stifled competition."
Friedman said, "I think we are calling Microsoft's bluff here. They
are saying that .NET is an open system... We're going to implement
an open version of it, and see how they react."
de Icaza said, ".NET is the next step towards language
unification, but you have to look at this technology with cold
eyes, and not let your passions be in the middle (against
Microsoft, for Linux, for KDE, against GNOME, etc) or you will live
a life of bitterness."
Is Mono a good idea or a disaster? I think it is a worthwhile
endeavor, that choice is good, and that we need a free alternative
to .NET. Free software development is ruthlessly efficient -- good
ideas survive, lame ideas don't. Developers need to find Mono
worthy of the sweat of their brow and users need to weigh the
results. As always, the community decides."