GDI+ is Windows specific. I think if you are using Mono then it has an implementation of the API for linux, which then uses some Linux library like Cairo.

Microsoft only released .NET for Windows, Mono (www.mono-project.com) is an open source implementation of .NET.

Mono is very useable and complete for web / ASP.NET development, but for Forms programming their are still things missing. Mono also provides many classes to access features microsoft didn't include (primarily features of standard open source libraries that microsoft doesn't use). Gtk+ is the library that Gnome using on Linux and Mono also has a .NET library for writing desktop programs using it through a wrapper (GTK# I think).

Mono works on Windows, Linux, FreeBSD (I think), and MacOS X.

washu, I think you are missing the fact the the CLI and C# specs do not cover much of the usefull functionality of .NET (for instance ASP.NET, ADO.NET, GDI+, and most other major pieces of the FCL).

It is worth noting that Rotor was intentionally only ported to FreeBSD / MacOSX by Microsoft because A) FreeBSD is the Mac core and MS sells Mac software, and B) Microsoft is quite scared of Linux and wants to keep it as behind as possible on new technology.

Also, it is incorrect that Mono is a port of .NET to Linux, Mono is not tied to Linux in any way ... I personally have only ever installed it on Windows XP. It is a CROSS PLATFORM open source implementation of .NET. It is partial. It does have linux related libraries (or more correctly, Gnome related, which may also run on FreeBSD and MacOS X). It also implements various security and helper libraries mostly used by the *nix world, but not linux alone, such as Solaris, AIX, etc.

2 things -

1, I work as a C# .Net programmer, using Visual Studio 2003 writing ASP.NET based banking web software, at a Microsoft partner company. So I'm not trying to tell people ... run from the evil microsoft. The MS being scared of linux IS true, period. Read their papers. The MS trying to hold linux back if and when they can IS true, just as MS (and every other major corperation) is scared of any competition that can hurt their bottom line, and tries to hold back any competitor that would take their customers. I'm not saying MS is anti linux cause they're anti progress or anything, I'm saying their anti linux in the same way they are anti oracle, anti IBM, anti Sun, and anti apple. Which is to say, for the companies existing, and for finding ways to both profit, but against the other company profiting in any way that doesn't help MS. And since they haven't found a way for Linux to help MS, they are currently simply just pure anti linux. That won't always be true I'm sure.

2, have you read the Rotor license? It is not a real product you can use for any usefull purpose. It cannot be used for ANY COMMERIAL PURPOSE whatsoever. And it cannot be relicensed of course. So even FreeBSD and Apple cannot include rotor with their systems, or build systems with rotor on them, or distribute rotor with any commercial application. So it's not exactly a "here's .NET for Mac and FreeBSD", it's a "here's some source code to play with".

But still, rotor does exist, it's good that it does (of course part of getting ECMA standardized includes certain licenses and availability rules - but not as lienient as MS made rotor). So I'm really not trying to argure with you. Your post about Rotor added real value here, I was jsut taking issues with the implications in your original post that you can do anything usefull with .NET on any platform except windows, UNLESS you get dotGNU or Mono, cause you can't.

Credentials mean nothing on the internet.

Mono is creating a new Windows.Forms framework that is going to be "super protable" and will allow managed Windows.Forms applications to run unchanged on all platforms Mono supports. Its going to have .NET 1.1 parity approaching December or January, they say, or they've said, I hate the semantics of time. It'll be ready to rock in awhile.

Also, Mono *IS* an implementation of ECMA .NET for Linux. DotGNU is a competing alternative to Microsoft's .NET initiative. It means jackshit since the libraries are interchangable between the two projects.