RE: [DotGNU]RE: Java issues.

[Aisha Fenton (DSL AK)]

>I think Brad wants to focus on the fact that the Mono team is going to
>build C#/CLI tools no matter what we say, so we will have them to use.
>Also using them will allow us to be compatible.

I am looking forward to the Mono C#/CLI tools and learning C#. But I also
want to continue to use Java, and even better I'd like to use Java with
DotGNU.

>As I have mentioned, I dont think that its wise for us to not use a
>technology because it came from Microsoft. I think Samba would have
>never been done if they would have followed your advice, and I think
>Samba has been great for the free software world, and yet it has
>potentially giving some credibility to the weak SMB protocol.

I think that this is a slightly different situation though. The scope is
different between the two. Samba is only meant to support SMB and in no-way
be a competitor to the native file-systems. 

DotGNU, on the other hand (I hope) will have a major impact on what *nix is
and how we develope for *nix. Which is great! What is decided here will have
a greater impact than just allowing compatiablity. 

Sorry I didn't mean to say that CLI/C# shouldn't be used, just that
Java development is a healthy part of the Open source community and it would
be nice if that were reflected in DotGNU.


>I dont really see that we have a head start per se.
>Microsoft already has ASP.NET, has beta versions of VB and VC++ that
>will compile into CLI, they have already added XML interfaces to both
>SQL Server and Exchange Server, they have Passport already up and
>running and being used by a fairly wide audience. The way Is ee it we
>are already playing catch up, and we shouldnt fool ourselves into
>thinking otherwise. Lets looks at the facts so that we fight this war
>with wisdom and our eyes wide open

Java has a large and mature base of developers and support that are very
interested in DotGNU. Were as a CLI only implementation will be drawing on
support from MS developers, and they are not the most OSS friendly of types!

Is supporting both out of the question?