[Mono-devel-list] Version moniker for Mono Release

[Nick Drochak]

Hi,

I've been thinking a bit about the moniker of "Mono 1.0" that is currently
being used to describe the planned first stable/public/non-development
release of Mono.  I suggest we take some time to think about that before
using it willy-nilly.

I believe from a marketing point of view this might have some problems.  We
are implying, regardless of how much we qualify ourselves in ReadMe's,
descriptions of contents and caveats, that Mono 1.0 is the same as .NET 1.0.


I believe a large number of people who are exposed to Mono first as a 1.0
product will have a negative impression. I think there will be many Windows
developers (including ISV's) that will see "Mono 1.0 Released!" and think,
"Hey, I'd love to run my app on Linux if I could." They will install it, try
to run their .NET app they've already built on it, and *most likely* find
out it doesn't work for them.  They will then come away with a negative
impression that "mono doesn't work." Initial impressions are hard to change.

Yes, some will file bugzilla reports and some will even become significant
contributors.  However, those will be a *very* small percentage. It seems to
me a significant risk to possibly alienate such a large user base. We need
to be aware that we are not only targeting developers who are building apps
geared for Mono, but there is a significant number of people with apps
already built, in progress, or whatever that are waiting to run them on
Linux.

The suggestion of calling it "Mono Core 1.0" is on the right track, I think.
However, I think the name needs to more strongly reflect the reality that it
will contain a subset of whatever an equivalent version of .NET has.

In addition, consider the situation 5 or so years from now when we have say,
Mono 1.8 and .NET 2.3.  What is anyone new to .NET/Mono supposed to make of
that?  Even the core hackers will be hard pressed to remember what's in
what.

Anyway, I think we should discuss it and carefully consider it.  Names do
have a significant impact.

Comments?

Nick D.