Sometimes, when other boring things let me have a rest and my mind falls on it (thanks to my friend Roger this time), I like to have a look to the mono project.
I won't discuss the maturity or suitability of this platform in comparison to Microsoft Windows based native solutions (beware of Silverlight!!!), but there is something in the self-presentation you can read at the mono's site that leads me to meditation (or being more dotnetian "reflection", ;)).
That is:
Mono 2.4 has been released! The Mono Project aims to make developers productive and happy: Mono 2.4 is our gift to the world. Sponsored by Novell , the Mono open source project has an active and enthusiastic contributing community and is positioned to become the leading choice for development of Linux applications.
Microsoft technologies are losing every day more and more terrain in projects to be done in public administrations and governments, terrain that is gained by other Open supposed technologies in the name of freedom, gratuity, etc. (Is Java from Sun so Open? Which RDBMS are used in those open projects (often Oracle)?, we are often facing mere electoral reasons).
Moreover Java is the preferred language taught in universities (Microsoft starts losing the war from the first battles as the fresh working flesh arrives to the market without knowledge on dotnet).
So if the aim of Mono of becoming the leading choice for development of Linux application were reached, they would be achieving a big part of what Microsoft hasn't yet, that is, to spread dotnet and gain adepts across the world of IT solutions.
