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Xamarin announces Mono will be put under an MIT license

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Pretty nice news here. Recently Microsoft purchased Xamarin the creators of Mono, and now it will be opened up under the MIT license.

QuoteSo we are announcing today that we have contributed the Mono Project to the .NET Foundation, including some previously-proprietary mobile-specific improvements to the Mono runtime. Mono will also be re-released under the MIT License, to enable an even broader set of uses for everyone. In addition, to help clarify users’ rights to Mono under Microsoft patents, Microsoft has issued a broad patent promise for Mono. Miguel has posted more details to the Mono Project blog.


Due to this, these previously proprietary extensions will also be under the MIT license:
- ARM64 port of the Mono runtime
- Workarounds for bugs in some ARM chips
- Use of Apple’s CommonCrypto to implement the crypto classes in the .NET API
- Integration with X509 certificates on Apple platforms
- Support for “Native Types” on Apple platforms
- Generic Value Type Sharing
- Offset tool to maintain the cross compiler

It's possible now that Unity3D could update their version of Mono with a much later version. This could benefit a lot of game developers and gamers.

You can see the news source here. Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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I am the owner of GamingOnLinux. After discovering Linux back in the days of Mandrake in 2003, I constantly came back to check on the progress of Linux until Ubuntu appeared on the scene and it helped me to really love it. You can reach me easily by emailing GamingOnLinux directly. Find me on Mastodon.
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17 comments
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z3ntu Mar 31, 2016
I really don't understand the intentions of Microsoft.

* Open-Sourced '.NET Core'
* Bought Xamarin
* Mono and (formerly) proprietary extensions licensed under MIT
* Bash for Windows (still believe it's an april fools' joke/prank/whatever)
* "Microsoft <3 Linux"
* Fucks Linux Skype users in the ass
Tom4hawk Mar 31, 2016
Quoting: z3ntuI really don't understand the intentions of Microsoft.

* Open-Sourced '.NET Core'
* Bought Xamarin
* Mono and (formerly) proprietary extensions licensed under MIT
* Bash for Windows (still believe it's an april fools' joke/prank/whatever)
* "Microsoft <3 Linux"
* Fucks Linux Skype users in the ass
They've accepted their defeat on the server market (and mobile) and they want to get some money from it. On the other hand they want to keep desktop market for themselves - chance skype and bash thing (so you will be able to create server components/programs for linux on windows).
neowiz73 Mar 31, 2016
It's interesting but in a creepy way, it's cool to see but I remain skeptical of their intentions here. Although Satya Nadella has been running the show a lot different than his predecessors. the overall lockdown of programs and games from the Windows Store still makes me wonder what is really going on here.

it's like different parts of the company are going in polar opposite directions. somehow I don't think this will end well. But Linux will always remain Linux even if MS somehow borks up some portion of it in the process. I think Linux will come out ahead in the end because of all the new open sourced code.


Last edited by neowiz73 on 31 March 2016 at 6:14 pm UTC
Liam Dawe Mar 31, 2016
Whatever their intentions in other parts of their business, open source should be applauded when it's as useful as this.
adolson Mar 31, 2016
Juan Linietsky has mentioned making a C# version of Godot Engine once Mono switched to the MIT license. That should make a lot of people happy, since they inexplicably hate GDScript. More options are good.
Natedawg Mar 31, 2016
This is pretty exciting news to me. Unless I'm missing something, this means that game engines like Atomic (currently adding C# support) and Xenko (Windows only editor as of now unfortunately) will now be able to make iOS and Android builds without the end user needing to pay Xamarin the $1500 yearly fee. Somebody please correct me if I'm misunderstanding the license change :)
lucifertdark Mar 31, 2016
Microsoft can't be trusted to do what's best for anyone but themselves, if they get their claws into Linux/Ubuntu, it's only a matter of time before it's dead & buried.
Storminator16 Mar 31, 2016
Quoting: lucifertdarkMicrosoft can't be trusted to do what's best for anyone but themselves, if they get their claws into Linux/Ubuntu, it's only a matter of time before it's dead & buried.

So much this. Too much history to say otherwise.
kurros Mar 31, 2016
I hope this means that Unity3d can finally upgrade from Mono 2.6. Though I suspect they just aren't going to bother and stick with their C++ plans.


Last edited by kurros on 31 March 2016 at 7:19 pm UTC
edo Mar 31, 2016
seems to be than xamarin is helping them to make it happen (newer C# on unity)
https://twitter.com/AlexSikilinda/status/715584713231048704
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