[Mono-list] .NET User question

[Fergus Henderson]

On 04-Dec-2002, TP-Software <tpsoftware@users.sourceforge.net> wrote:
> Mono, is it the same as .NET but for Linux ?

To a first approximation, yes.
But there are some important differences.

> I mean when I compile a .NET application on Windows (Let's say a basic console application, not yet a winforms application),
> should it then run on Linux without any problem ?
> And vise versa if I compile it on Linux (Mono) should it run on Windows (.NET)

In theory, yes, provided the application does not use native code
and does not rely on any DLLs that use native code.

> If so, does that mean I can take a compiled VB.NET console application (which does exactly the same as the previous app) and
> run it in Linux ? 

VB.NET applications rely on a DLL that probably uses native code.
However, Mono might have a replacement for it.

> And why is there a Win32 version of Mono ?? Can't we just use .NET ?

Yes, but MS.NET isn't Free Software.
So if there are bugs in it, you can't fix them.
And you don't have the freedom to extend or improve it.

-- 
Fergus Henderson <fjh@cs.mu.oz.au>  |  "I have always known that the pursuit
The University of Melbourne         |  of excellence is a lethal habit"
WWW: <http://www.cs.mu.oz.au/~fjh>  |     -- the last words of T. S. Garp.