Starting flag waved for Race to Linux 2.0
Posted on 8 Mar 2007 at 12:12
In a bid to highlight the ease with which applications can be ported to Linux, the Mono project IBM and Mainsoft will host the 'Race to Linux 2.0'.
Visual Studio developers will have to choose from a list of ASP.Net 2.0 applications at the start of each race and port them using their development environment of choice, such as Mainsoft's Grasshopper 2.0 Technology Preview, Novell's Mono, PHP and Ruby.
The first past the post in each race wins a Nintendo Wii console, while the fastest overall porter takes home $200 in games and accessories. Wii consoles will also be handed out to the fastest port in Mono and Grasshopper.
The resulting ports have to replicate the look, feel, and functionality of the original ASP.NET 2.0 application running on Apache Tomcat on Novell SUSE on an IBM server.
According to a recent survey by The Code Project, there should be a number of contenders for the race: more than a quarter of Visual Studio developers use Linux development tools.
The Mono Project's Miguel de Icaza predicts that the fast-rack route to getting hold of a Wii console is by porting an ASP.NET 2.0 application. 'It is a lot easier to port an application in ASP.NET from Windows to Linux in a record time than it is to keep bidding on EBay for the console and the controls. Been there, been outbidded time and time again,' he wrote.
The race dates are 23, 30 March and 6 April.
More activity on promoting the adoption of Linux will come to light in the upcoming Annual Associate Member Meeting of the Free Software Foundation at the Massachusetts Institue of Technology.
It is casting 2007 as 'Year of the Upgrade', with speakers, including Richard Stallman and Eben Moglen focussing on hardware and compliance issues, as well as the third version of the GNU General Public License.
Most recently, the Free Software Foundation released a paper on 'the road to hardware free from restrictions', building on initiatives to help hardware manufacturers to create Linux drivers and examining barriers such as DRM.
Author: Matt Whipp
advertisement
- Microsoft shows courage at Tech-Ed 09
- PowerPoint and Silverlight: a perfect match?
- Why all the fuss over Windows Explorer?
- Your iPhone has a virus? Well it's your fault
- Motorola pays Lucas for its Droid
- Where are the killer apps for Windows?
- Will you hit the Orange iPhone "unlimited" cap?
- USB 3 first benchmark - it's here, and it's fast
- Why Windows 7 has forced me to worry about security
- How Dixons is (under)selling Windows 7
- The bulletproof Dell that costs an arm and a leg
- Microsoft Office 2010 Technical Preview: Q&A
- Lawnmowers, the TyTN II and one odd insurance request
- There'll never be a bulletproof OS
- How far can we trust apps?
- Five nice touches in Outlook 2010
- Building a better Google
- Beware HP's horrendous printer-driver glitch
- Microsoft debuts free Morro antivirus package
- Getting started with Search Server 2008 Express
advertisement

Printed from www.pcpro.co.uk

