New Open Source Development Tool From Novell
Novell, a sponsor of the open source Mono project, has announced a new development tool called MonoDevelop 1.0. The company will also release a new framework that developers can test, called Mono 2.0 beta.
According to sources, Mono is an open source development solution that allows Unix developers to create cross-platform .NET applications.
It supports Linux, Mac OS X, Sun Solaris, and Microsoft Windows operating systems, as well as x86, x86-64, IA64, and SPARC.
According to Novell, MonoDevelop has and will continue to enable developers to write desktop and ASP.NET web applications.
This is true of applications created on Linux and Mac OS X, which they can easily port on .NET applications created with Visual Studio.
The Mono 2.0 beta includes a .NET 3.5 preview in addition to a .NET 2.0 profile, along with improved Mac support and a Mono migration analysis tool that helps customers determine Linux readiness for .NET migration.
Novell maintains some of the core components of Mono, but also depends on open source community involvement in the project.
The company provides collaboration with Microsoft to some degree on the project through ECMA committee meetings, according to a Mono FAQ.
The product FAQ also shows Microsoft's shared-source licensing of .NET as 'tightly restricted' for commercial use, unlike Mono.
Novell generates revenues in the Mono project by offering commercial development support for Mono, as well as consulting services.
MonoDevelop 1.0 and the Mono 2.0 beta is available as of March 14.
