I’ve recently read a couple of arguments regarding Mono and it’s effect on Linux. These are interesting debates and can be found here and here. I’ve decided to posy my 10 cents worth!

My most popular application is Furius ISO Mount which up until version 0.11.0.0  was written in C# using Mono. Prior to this application I had never done any development for Linux and all my previous programming work had been corporate driven Windows development. When I came to Linux, I thought it was great that my existing skill set was immediately transferable to Linux and I could start hacking some code together with limited Linux knowledge. I think this is an important point to take into consideration. I understand the political arguments, however, I feel that any technology that brings more developer to work with Linux is only a good thing.

There is often an argument that Cannabis is a gateway drug, while not as dangerous as other drugs, it can lead to exposure to the harder drugs; Mono was my gateway drug! Programming using Mono gave me exposure to Linux development and led me on to trying other languages, such as Python.

Furius ISO Mount was completely rewritten in Python for version 0.11.0.0 but if it wasn’t for Mono I would have never written the application and possibly never programmed for Linux. This reason. for one, is why I think the Mono project is a worthwhile endeavour and I hope it introduces more Windows programmers to developing for Linux.