The Mono Project is the much talked-about open source initiative to create a Unix implementation of Microsoft's .NET Development Framework. Its purpose is to allow Unix developers to build and deploy cross-platform .NET applications. The project has also sparked interest in developing components, libraries and frameworks with C#, the programming language of .NET. The controversy? Some say Mono will become the preferred platform for Linux development, empowering Linux/Unix developers. Others say it will allow Microsoft to embrace, extend, and extinguish Linux. The controversy rages on,...

Mono is an open-source implementation of the infrastructure upon which Microsoft's .NET Framework is built. Providing a compatible option with all of the technical features of .NET without the restrictive licensing and prohibitive costs that Microsoft imposes, the Mono project was initiated and co-financed by Ximian Corporation for the development of an open source version of .NET Framework for Linux/Unix and Windows platforms (Mac OS X support will be added).. Mono will allow cross-platform programming and operating of .NET compatible applications. Experts see the presence of a...