Developers and corporate customers eager to get their hands on an open-source version of Microsoft's .Net line of programming tools will need to wait a little longer.
The first version of the Mono project, which is designed to let developers create .Net applications for Linux and Unix, will be available in the second quarter of 2004, according to Novell, which became the owner of Mono through its acquisition of open-source software maker Ximian earlier this year.
The Mono project, started in 2001 by programmer Miguel de Icaza, operates as an open-source project under the auspices of Ximian. About a year ago, de Icaza said an initial release of Mono would be available by the end of 2003.
Novell also said that future versions of Mono will give developers tools for building GUIs, or graphical user interfaces, for Linux or Unix .Net applications.
Microsoft's .Net software includes programming tools and the .Net Framework, the software plumbing installed on Windows machines that's needed to run .Net applications. The Mono project is taking advantage of published specifications for .Net to recreate the environment for Linux and Unix.
"Linux on the desktop is becoming a viable option for an increasing number of IT buyers," Chris Stone, vice chairman of Novell's office of the CEO, said in a statement on Tuesday. "To be successful, developers need a productive development environment, stable APIs (application programming interfaces) and a well-defined technology roadmap."
Novell's plans for Mono -- which is tightly linked to Microsoft's plans -- are being watched closely, as Novell has become more of a direct competitor to Microsoft. The company has become a powerhouse in the open-source world, through its acquisitions of both Ximian and, earlier this month, Linux distributor SuSE Linux.
Novell has adopted a strategy of offering open-source alternatives to Microsoft's software. But Mono does not pose a significant short-term threat to either Microsoft's .Net development line or Java-based development, said Stephen O'Grady, an analyst at RedMonk.
"Mono is clearly intended to provide some of the .Net advantages to open-source advocates, but that class of developer is usually virulently anti-Microsoft, so winning them over to a Microsoft-related initiative, even if it's open source, is likely to be a significant challenge," O'Grady said.
"I think they're likely to try to make inroads to the corporate market, specifically with customers with some Java pains or those .Net shops concerned about being too close to Microsoft," O'Grady added.
In the latest Mono timeline, de Icaza said that he would like to incorporate a series of enhancements that Microsoft is planning for .Net. At Microsoft's Professional Developers Conference last month, Microsoft described how the company is reworking its Windows operating system and development tools to improve connectivity, storage and presentation of Windows applications.
Mono version 1.0 is expected to include a compiler for developers to write code with Microsoft's C# language. The Mono toolkit will be designed to generate Unix or Linux application code to run on machines with x86, or Intel compatible, processors as well as PowerPC-based processors.
The first version of Mono will be designed to be compatible with Microsoft's .Net 1.0 and .Net 1.1. Version 1.2 of Mono, targeted for completion by the fourth quarter of 2004, will include additional "libraries," or tools, for building GUI-based applications and support some features in .Net 1.2.
Talkback
One of the curiosities of open source is that many of the articles written about ope source are influenced by a strong tradition of writing about closed source products.
This articles by-line "that the results of the Mono project will now not be available until next year" is a clear example of such journalism.
Mono, while not released as version 1.0 yet, is available for testing, or even development, already and can be downloaded and run from the mono website (http://go-mono.org/).
This is typical of open source software, and while I wouldn't recommend rushing into use of this software prior to the declarion of a version 1.0 release it has many advantages over it's closed source counter-part.
For example, people interested in using mono for software development can trial the software now, getting a feel for whether or not it is suitable to their needs. Under the proprietary model of software development, you must wait until the software company deems it release worthy, only to find out that often it's been released too early and you've just payed handsomely for software that really doesn't work as you thought it would.
Even better, having found that mono meets most of your needs, but there are some areas you'd like to see working before you start development, the open source nature of the product means that you can actually add those features you need, rather than having to wait for the company in question to get around to it.
Novell may not have declared mono at version one yet, but that certainly doesn't mean that you can't download it and try it right now. Mono is already being used in production environments, including the serving up of (some of) the web pages for the project itself.