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Mono Project To Release Dev Tool and New Beta

Novell, a sponsor of the open source Mono project, issued an announcement today that a new development tool, called MonoDevelop 1.0, will be available for download at the end of this week. Also targeted for release at that time will be a new framework that developers can test called Mono 2.0 beta.

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, BSD and Microsoft Windows operating systems, as well as a broad array of architectures, including x86, x86-64, IA64, SPARC (32) and others.

The new Mono 2.0 beta supports the Microsoft .NET 2.0 Framework. The beta will also include a .NET 3.5 Framework preview, according to Novell's announcement. Another feature in the Mono 2.0 beta is a "Mono migration analysis tool" to determine one's readiness to migrate to .NET.

The new MonoDevelop 1.0 development tool supports Microsoft Visual Studio project formats, as well as C# and other programming languages. Developers can create ASP.NET Web applications on Linux and Mac OS X using the tool.

In addition, MonoDevelop 1.0 is designed to make it easier for developers to port .NET applications created in Visual Studio to environments using the Linux and Mac OS X operating systems. Developers can maintain a single code base while porting their applications.

Novell maintains some of the core components of Mono, but the company also depends on open source community involvement in the project.

Novell collaborates with Microsoft to some degree on the project through ECMA committee meetings, according to a Mono FAQ. The FAQ also depicts Microsoft's shared-source licensing of .NET as "tightly restricted" for commercial use, unlike Mono. Novell makes money 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 can both be downloaded here, starting on March 14.

About the Author

Kurt Mackie is senior news producer for 1105 Media's Converge360 group.

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