At Tech-Ed a couple of weeks back I met with Novell’s Miguel de Icaza , best known for his work on Mono (cross-platform .NET). I wrote this up in a short article for IT Week. Despite its headline, note this comment:

It is hard to discern whether Microsoft’s agreement with Novell is a signal of universal good intentions, or a prelude to litigating more aggressively against others. De Icaza maintains that Mono does not, in any case, breach any patents, but welcomes the agreement. “For Novell customers this is good”, he says, adding, “I know it is not great, we would like a blanket statement for everyone in the world.”

This whole patent thing has yet to unravel. In the meantime, Mono 1.2 is a major step forward. It is worth paying attention.