[Mono-devel-list] Surveys: Mono 1.0 and Mono Conference.

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hey guys,

   I want to query the community, and find out about two things:

	* What should Mono 1.0 be?

	* When and where should we do a Mono developer summit.

* Mono 1.0

	Mono is rapidly approaching maturity in various of its class
        libraries, the question in everyone's minds is: is it worth
        waiting for the full .net framework implementation to be ready
        to publish 1.0, or is a subset fine?
        
        Mono 1.0 so far is going to be a subset, and my current thinking
        is `.NET 1.0 minus two major pieces: EnterpriseServices and
        Windows.Forms'.
        
        But today some people suggested that we might want to have a
        Mono 1.0 release earlier by committing to less than that,
        something like: 
        
        Mono 1.0: 
        	C# compiler
        	Toolchain (ilasm, ildasm, al, etc)
        	corlib, System, System.XML, System.Security.
        	ADO.NET (System.Data and providers)
        	ASP.NET (System.Web.Services and System.Web)
        
        Anything else that is robust by the time the other components
        are deemed "stable" would also make it.  So if for example
        "System.Wasabinator" is of 1.0 quality by the time the rest is
        done, we can also include it. 
        
        We would later publish the other components in upcoming
        releases:
        
        	JScript, VB.NET (compiler and runtimes)
        	System.DirectoryServices
        	System.EnterpriseServices
        	System.Windows.Forms
        
* Mono Conference (Code name: Mono Summit of Love).

        Gnome has been fairly successful at running yearly conferences
        for users and developers.   And these face to face meetings are
        fantastic to improve the collaboration between the various parts
        of the project, and help to go over development bumps rather
        quickly.
        
        Also, it is great to put faces and voices to nicknames and email
        addresses. 
        
        So am thinking that we need to have a such a summit.  There are
        two questions: what is the audience for this summit and where
        should we base it.
        
        Audience:
        
                We can certainly make this a hacker-only conference, but
                given the amount of projects, companies and developers
                using Mono, it might make sense to have something with a
                larger scope.
                
                In one extreme we have the `big room with internet
                access, printers and laptops' and in the other we have
                something more formal including presentations on
                specific technologies, tutorials and workshops. 
                
                I know active Mono developers would like to come (and am
                working on getting the funding to pay for airfares and
                hotels for those who can not afford a trip to the other
                end of the world).
                
        Location:
        
                I suggested Cancun during summer break, but Nat quickly
                pointed out that if you are working for a company, there
                was no way your boss would authorize such a thing.
                
                So here are the parameters:
                
                	* If we are getting many latin-americans/asians,
                	  we should do it in a country that does not
                	  require VISAs, so that rules out the US and
                	  Brasil.
                
                	* If we are getting mostly US citizens,
                	  Europeans that are under the VISA waiver
                	  program and just a few foreigners, we might
                	  consider the US.
                
                My choice would be to pick a cheap city, rather than an
                expensive one, and one that has good airport
                connectivity to minimize airfare cost, for case A we
                have:
                
                	* Cancun, Mexico.
                
                	* Barcelona, Spain
                
                For case B we could probably do Boston, unless some
                University wants to step up and provide some facilities.
                
Love, Love, Love,
Miguel.