[Mono-dev] FireFox plugin/ClickOnce was: Mono 1.1.17 has been released.

[Sebastien Pouliot]

Hello Ted,

On Wed, 2006-08-30 at 00:44 -0400, ted leslie wrote:
...
> "write for any purpose, write once, run anywhere"
> and unfortunately mono has not provided a means to use it as a browser
> plugin like Java. For me i could go for just a plugin to Firefox (linux
> and Win32), wouldnt even need it to support IE.
> Until this can occur, a programmer still has to Java or (active x
> plugin), to achieve  web page integration.

Yes, this feature would be a nice one and, as Jon said in another email,
ClickOnce [1] would too be a nice feature. And I can quickly think, even
without caffeine, about a few more ;-)

> Unfortunately not having this is a huge barrier to some people adopting
> mono. 

and while it may be a "huge barrier to some people" [2] I definitively
don't think this is a *huge* barrier in the general (current or would
be) community.

> Providing this (as even MS .Net doesn't seem to provide web page plugin
> ability of .Net) would put Mono over the top, and likely bring many more
> contributors on board making Mono grow much faster.

Let me rephrase this the way I see it:

        Providing this would put Mono on par with Java and IE/.NET and
        likely requires many more contributors on board, making Mono
        grow in a new direction.

Feel free to disagree as this is only my humble opinion ;-)

Don't misunderstand me, I *want* this, I even want it *now* (if wishing
helps ;-) but I don't think it will attract "many more contributors" (!=
users) or make "Mono grow much faster". Still I like your enthusiasm :) 


[1] A full implementation CAS isn't a hard requirement to both features.
Applying digital signatures and limiting execution to FullTrust|Nothing
(i.e. no execution) would be a limited but valid (and useful)
implementation (although I personally prefer the full/complete one ;-)

[2] Those people are invited to contribute, directly or indirectly, to
Mono. Alternatively they should speak louder when similar discussions
happens on the mailing-list.

-- 
Sebastien Pouliot  <sebastien at ximian.com>
Blog: http://pages.infinit.net/ctech/