Novell has released the first version of Mono, which brings Microsoft's .NET framework to non-Microsoft platforms. It's available pre-compiled for SuSE and Red Hat distributions of Linux, and for Mac OS X. It's almost exactly three years since it was announced (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/09/mono_to_open_source_net/) by Miguel de Icaza. Novell acquired Ximian last year.

Mono is a run-time and C# compiler, but the team has included just-in-time support an IDE, and intriguingly, both a Visual Basic runtime and a Java VM. For a quick list of what's different from Microsoft's own .NET, consult this list (http://www.mono-project.com/using/relnotes/1.0-features.html). The biggest omissions in the initial release are lack of COM support - which may affect legacy applications - and no printing.

The project has been controversial since the start, and remains so. Today the debate is about patents: Microsoft has claims on many core aspects of .NET. (See MS patents .Everything (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/11/ms_patents_everything/)). But simply getting there and providing a level of compatibility is no small achievement. And keeping compatible is a problem Microsoft has with itself (http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html). ®

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Mono and dotGNU: what's the point? (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/02/11/mono_and_dotgnu_whats/)
Novell marries SuSE to Ximian desktop (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/07/novell_marries_suse_to_ximian/)
A different kind of Mono culture (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/09/09/a_different_kind_of_mono/)
MS patents .Everything (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/02/11/ms_patents_everything/)
Borland thinks Mono for open source .NET challenge (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/10/30/borland_thinks_mono_for_open/)
Anders Heljsberg on what's next for C# (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2002/02/14/anders_heljsberg_on_whats_next/)
.Net may yet close the open source movement (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/08/net_may_yet_close/)
And then there were two open source .NET clones (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/08/02/and_then_there_were_two/)
BETRAYAL! .NET clones and GNOME in the firing line (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/07/24/betrayal_net_clones_and_gnome/)
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