Mono Project

A project backed by NovellCorporation (courtesy of their buyout of Ximian) to implement the core DotNet technologies for GnuLinux: CommonLanguageInfrastructure, class library and C#-compiler.

Version 1.0 released on June 30th, 2004.

News on what MicroSoft thinks on the MonoProject are very ambigous:

: Microsoft told ComputerWire? it would provide technical assistance to Ximian Inc in its work on the Mono Project, to develop a version of .NET for Linux and Unix using open source development. Boston, Massachusetts-based Ximian announced the Mono Project last week.

But http://news.zdnet.co.uk/story/0,,t269-s2091693,00.html states, that MicroSoft is making veiled threats against Ximian's mono, implying there really cannot be even a clean-room implementation without violating MicroSoft's IP:

: The Mono project founders plan to exploit key .Net technology specifications that Microsoft has submitted to standards body ECMA. However, Goodhew said ECMA allows technology submitters to license their intellectual property, to retain control over implementation. Goodhew said Microsoft will publish licence terms covering "all the intellectual property we believe will be required to implement [the core dot-Net] standard" prior to the ECMA general assembly in December.

Also: http://primates.ximian.com/~miguel/archive/2004/Jun-25.html Microsoft have apparently demonstrated mono at a german linux conference:

: Various reports have arrived that Microsoft was demoing Mono at the LinuxDays?. I do not have more data other than a Windows machine was used to build a web application, copied to Linux and ran there and that they also showed Monodoc. Nice!