[Mono-list] A "Native" CLI

[Martin Atkins]

Hi,
	Has anyone pointed out/discussed that MS might be planning to
replace WindowsCE (or whatever it is called this week :-) by a natively-hosted
version of the .NET runtime?

Consider the advantages.... Most notably, processor independence - PDAs
(unlike desktop machines) have a plethora of processors all of which MS must compile it's
applications for.
(This is pretty-much what Inferno sets out to achieve, but without MS's marketing muscle!)

It would also mean that "desktop" applications could run (resources permitting) on
PDAs without modification.
Of course, one would need a wireless link to talk to the hated Passport servers.... 

Perhaps a native version of Mono should be considered for PDAs too? (Although I agree
that this is, perhaps, a rather early stage to be thinking about such things :-)

Perhaps this makes sense of why MS should be pushing a processor indepence strategy
just when the Wintel monopoly of the desktop is so well established! I bet Intel are wondering
too..... :-)

Martin
PS
	Has any one else pointed out the similarity between C# and Inferno's Limbo language
(Interface-based programming, JIT compilation, easy network services, etc)? As I noted in
http://www.zdnet.com/tlkbck/comment/22/0,7056,114376-874919,00.html, the CLR is really
"just" a JIT version of ANDF :-), but like ANDF, also misses out on ANDF's more sophisticated
heritage.