Mono for Android allows native apps with Microsoft tools
updated 03:10 pm EDT, Wed April 6, 2011
Novell intros Mono for Android
Novell partly broke with its loyalty to Microsoft on Wednesday by launching Mono for Android. The plugin lets those steeped in Microsoft's Visual Studio write native Android apps, starting with C# or .NET code and moving it to Android's usual Java code. The resulting apps will work in a simulator and can be posted to Android Market.
Developers need to pay for a subscription to get the full development kit. A standard Professional Edition costs $399 per developer per year. Enterprise developers have to pay $999 per year, and a five-user Enterprise pack costs $3,999 each year.
Mono has developed a reputation for serving other platforms and already provides a way of using Microsoft tools to write iOS, Linux, and Mac apps. Microsoft's attempts to sue Android device users like Barnes & Noble and Motorola have shown its general resistance to any help for the OS. The Windows developer also has a cross-licensing patent deal with Novell it has used to intimidate Linux developers and which might be used as pressure on Novell itself.
