Even as Microsoft touts the open availability of the underpinnings of its .Net initiative, open-source advocates are working to make sure .Net isn't a Microsoft-only technology. Ximian, a Boston company that works on the Gnome user interface for Linux, is scheduled to announce Monday a software project called "Mono" intended to compete against Microsoft.Net, according to sources familiar with the plan. The move, if successful, could increase the importance and popularity of the Microsoft.Net software-as-a-service strategy while undermining Microsoft's control over the software itself. But analysts caution that .Net itself is a nascent technology, and any attempts to clone it are likely to be even more immature.
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