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Ximian to bring Mono to Mac OS X

nunogawa writes "According to Think Secret, Miguel de Icaza said Ximian will probably be subcontracted to bring Mono (.NET support) to Mac OS X. The article mentions that de Icaza never mentions what company would hire Ximian to do this and surmises that Apple would be the likely candidate. On the other hand, I think Microsoft is another reasonable possibility."

6 of 56 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Why are we associating Linux with MacOS? by jeffy124 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    item 2:

    Let's take a purely mathematical approach. Entropy S = k ln W where W is the mulitplicity of the configuration: W = N!/nl!nr!. Now, if we let N be the number of OSX machines in existence with nl = number that have been cracked and nr the number that haven't been (yet!), we can plug in some numbers and find that the likelihood of break-in is roughly 87.3%.

    What the f*ck is all that!! You just threw a bunch of neat looking variables together and pulled 87.3 literally out of your ass in an attempt to say that an OS-X box has a high risk of intrusion. Show what numbers you use and your sources for them and maybe then someone will believe you.

    --
    The One Rule Of Chess You'll Ever Need: Don't play someone who carries a kit in their bookbag.
  2. Re:what happens if we just don't care? by PythonOrRuby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    The impression I've gotten is that it's a potentially cross-platform application framework that will ideally be language-neutral(sort of like how AppleEvents can be accessed by any number of languages, with AppleScript simply being the default).

    Even if it does live up to the hype, I fail to see why any Mac developer, and especially Apple itself, would have even the slightest interest in bringing it to Mac OS X.

    Mac OS X already has a nice platform-neutral framework. It's called Java(and .NET strikes me as only slightly more than vaporware designed to kill Java by FUD). We also have a really nice native, rapid development, compiled(and thus, fast) framework. It's called Cocoa, and it is fairly language neutral(Obj-C, Java, Python, Ruby, Eiffel) too.

    So, if we embrace this new CLx(MS changes the last letter about once a week), and Mono comes to Mac OS X, we can write compelling new programs that also run in Windows. Gee, why not just save some time and just petition Apple to sell Dell machines at the Apple Store?

    The Macintosh community has a wonderful set of frameworks and APIs that have been refined over the course of almost two decades. Ditching all of that for Microsoft's "Next Big Thing" would be sheer lunacy.

  3. Re:what happens if we just don't care? by SteveX · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It's pretty simple. Users seem to like running Microsoft's software, and Microsoft has creating a whole new environment in which software will run.

    It's not a big leap to imagine that in the future Microsoft will release software that users will want to use, that will run in the CLR.

    If the CLR exists on the Macintosh, then Mac users can run it.

    I'm not talking about Word or Excel here because those exist for the Mac today - but plenty of other apps (like Microsoft Money for example) exist only for Windows. It's not real likely Microsoft is going to develop any desktop applications in Java (the only real alternative when it comes to cross platform binaries) but it seems like a given they will for .NET.

    So (down the road a bit) if you can run .NET software, you have a whole lot more software to choose from. Having more software available to Mac users will help Apple sell Mac's. That's why Apple should care (even if you personally don't).

    - Steve

  4. Not funded by Apple (I'm betting) by kwerle · · Score: 2, Insightful

    However, he didn't specify what company would hire Ximian. "I suppose he meant Apple," speculated one eyewitness...

    What a dumb idea. Apple has a healthy (ehem) relationship with M$. Why would they pay Ximian for a port of .net? Why not wait for M$ to do it? Seems like they probably will, since they will probably need it for Office...

    What's more, Apple are dealing with the Java port in-house. It's not like they are lacking the expertise.

    Finally, I would expect Apple to say something publicly if they were funding this. They would probably have to disclose it in their quarterlies anyway.

  5. Re:what happens if we just don't care? by PythonOrRuby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I guess I just have a problem with the idea of Apple playing "catch-up" with Microsoft, especially now that the most compelling reasons to use a Mac lie in applications that are exclusive to the Mac.

    If Apple starts saying "buy a Mac so you can run Ms Money", people are going to look at this and wonder why they shouldn't just buy a Windows machine in the first place.

    And yes, I personally don't like it. I find the playing up of Office while AppleWorks goes neglected a shame. But I also think it makes business sense. Apple has survived because it can distinguish itself and give people a reason to drop a few hundred dollars more.

  6. Re:what happens if we just don't care? by PythonOrRuby · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Actually, I'm not especially fond of Java. However, I'd like to see something better shove Java out of the way, rather than it getting railroaded based on a promise Microsoft has made about the potential of .NET.

    As it happens, I've recently become quite interested in the work going on with Parrot, because of the possibility for language neutrality.