[Mono-osx] An open letter to the OS X Mono group.

[Andrew Satori]

The money isn't there.  I've spent the last 18 months trying to sell  
Mono & PostgreSQL (and to a lesser degree ODBC) on the Mac to anybody  
that will listen.  So far, I have one small contract that covers  
roughly 1 day per week of a single junior developer.  All of the big  
companies and contracts have gone against my bids.  Until a big  
player, (and I think that player almost *has* to be Apple) steps up,  
I don't think we'll ever get enough Mac specific resources to get  
Mono on the Mac to be a full peer to Mono on Linux.

This is *NOT* a comment on the Mono dev's, they do the right thing  
for their business at this time.  The problem is that the Mac is not  
Linux.  Mac users will not, as a rule, accept an X11 app as a Mac  
app.  Many of them will not even accept a wxWidget, QT or Java Swing  
app that has a native .app wrapper and looks like an Aqua app, but  
behaves just a little bit 'off'

Generally speaking, Mac users don't accept the 'multiple interface  
toolkit mish mash' (brushed metal, aqua, apple pro-tools  
notwithstanding) that many Linux users do.  I've met Mac users that  
won't even use Cocoa-Java apps because of UI quirks.  Because of  
this, Windows.Forms, even with a native Mac look won't be effective  
unless they are Mac in feel as well.

I know that this opinion is not shared by others on this list, but in  
my experience. Mac users  are VERY picky, and UI issues seem to be  
that one consistent 'rub'.

Andy


On Mar 26, 2007, at 2:52 AM, Ron Braithwaite wrote:

> On Mar 25, 2007, at 9:11 PM, Miguel de Icaza wrote:
>
> <snip>
>>> It seems
>>> that work has been done in that direction but more bodies are  
>>> needed.
> <snip>
>> If your company has the budget, they could hire a few developers to
>> work
>> on this particular task.
>
> This could be the moment that I - that ALL - of us have been waiting
> for. As a technical consultant to a number of companies, I can say
> that there are a *host* of problems that could easily be solved if
> some company would throw some significant manpower towards getting
> Mono done on OSX.
>
> I have two things I want: Windows Forms and I want a decent installer
> that hides the bloody details of Mono from the user for both initial
> installation and updates.
>
> And all that is needed to get there is some forward thinking company
> funding the people to make it so.
>
> Holding my breath,
> -Ron
>
> --
> B.S stands for belief system. Don't accept anyone else's, and don't
> totally believe your own.
> -- Robert Anton Wilson
>
>
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