This article on some of the latest Mono arguments that are flying about just hit my inbox.
As a Linux/OSS user I want freedom. I want to be able to install and use or uninstall things on my pc and use it for what I want and need to use it for rather than use the only option. As someone who uses dotnet all day at work I do not like Mono. However, as stated I Do No Like Mono I didn't state that Mono is a cancer that needs removing or anything else that would be as OTT or plain stupid.
Mono is impressive or imho it was before Novell got their hundreds of coders onto it. It showed the power of part time and OSS developers. However, now it is just one company constantly playing catch up with another. The Mono platform will never be on an equal footing to .Net and this can be seen most clearly in this months Linux Format where a review of MonoDevelop states clearly that you can't debug with it! That particular review was written (in case you was wondering) by Paul Hudson one of the biggest Mono fans I know of (and esteemed editor of said publication).
My other problem with Mono is the fact it has decided to only really work with the GTK stable of the Linux UI Toolkits. What I find quite funny is that people who only a few years ago started to develop GNOME so they did not have to use the Qt Developed KDE are now integrating with Mono so tightly. The irony does make me smile every time I see Qt is now released under LGPL.
Mono has its fans and I am sure that it may even bring some people over to Linux which will be great. I just do not like it or the politics that surround it (yes I also stopped using openSuse). However, lets not start name calling that do use it or find familiarity with it.
2 comments:
The article is outdated as MonoDevelop these days has a built-in debugger (since MonoDevelop 2.0, released in March 30th).
Mono is *so* good that people build some of the *best* desktop applications that have come out in the last five years without even having one.
We can only imagine what developers will be able to do now that they do have a debugger.
OK well the article I read in Linux Format was for version 2.0 and as I said it was written by a BIG fan of Mono.
I'm not saying that Mono is not "*So* good", I said I do not want to use it. You comment should obviously put that some of the best GNOME based software is using it and that is a fact I do not dispute.
As for the use of the debugger I think _All_ Linux developers should be using theirs more!
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