[Mono-devel-list] Can I use Microsoft's DLL's on the Win32 platform?

[Jürg Billeter]

On Die, 2005-04-26 at 14:39 -0400, Pete Gonzalez wrote:
> Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> > Apps that use COM or ActiveX controls will never run on Mono.  
> > Even if COM was there, the existing code that depends on the control
> > would require the control to be ported to some form of COM on Unix
> > (which to begin with is not available in a reusable form) and binaries
> > for each platform to be created.
> 
> Heh, so in other words, "run on Mono" means "run on Unix"?  That's cool, 
> but you know not everybody cares about creating a single .exe that runs on 
> multiple platforms, especially if it means giving up valuable libraries and 
> API's.  For example, the Mac versions of big apps like Adobe Photoshop or 
> MS Word have huge differences from Win32 in order to integrate properly 
> with the OS.  And for many companies, the only platform they have to worry 
> about is the one with ActiveX.  :-D

The whole point of Mono is to develop a cross-platform environment, so
it doesn't really make sense to implement non-cross-platform components,
does it?

Excerpt from Mono FAQ[1]:

"What is Mono™ exactly? 
The Mono Project is an open development initiative sponsored by Novell
that is working to develop an open source, UNIX version of the
Microsoft .NET development platform. Its objective is to enable UNIX
developers to build and deploy cross-platform .NET Applications."

[1] http://www.mono-project.com/FAQ:_General

Regards,

Jürg

-- 
Jürg Billeter <j at bitron.ch>