First release of DIVA

Maybe "over-reacting" wasn't the best word to choose but I do think my description is correct: You don't like Mono, and thus you look at every new application that happens to be based on Mono with special care.

But let's look at the facts: Muine was hyped one year ago because it was (a) a new "GNOMEy" app, and (b) it one of the first Mono apps. Today, it's not new anymore and it's just anothe Mono app. And today, nobody is talking about Muine, anymore. It became "just another GNOME application."

If new, but non-Mono apps are not hyped that much, it's sometimes their own fault. They still have the tendency to choose "Hackish" names, websites designs approprite for the 80ies, and a sort of "neutral" GUI design that only a minority cares about because it doesn't fit into GNOME/XFce on the one hand, nor into KDE on the other. They also tend to forget to advertise important releases on footnotes, for example.

When looking at the series of Mono-based releases -- Muine, F-Spot, Banshee, DIVA --, I agree this looks not like the usual chaos produced by a bunch of individuals. On the other hand, it might be just the ones we tend to note because Multimedia is a "general interest" topic. (The series lacks a port of Azureus to Mono, btw. ;-) )

I'm also not a fan of Mono. It feels strange. However, despite all wishes, it will even be even more Mono apps in the future:

• There are not many young C developers with time to code apps.
• C++ for GNOME is a in a bad position because too many C++ developers prefer KDE, or make "one-size-fits-nobody" wxWidgets apps.
• Java didn't managed to make friends among FOSS developers. It's (nearly) dead for the desktop.
• Python lacks API stability I was told, and maybe developers regard a mix of Python and C for speed as an "ugly" solution.

The rest of the languages is irrelevant for desktop applications. Additionally, the GNOME board may not fully utilize all opportunities to organize development resources. Thus, we see too many "Look-Ma-I-Made-Another-Editor" releases. The GNOME goals by Vincent are a good exception.

The advantage is that Mono gets advertised on Windows. See, for example, the comments on the WinFuture news page (in German) which emphazise GTK+.

Also, there's such a bloody mass of Windows developers. I guess, if just 5% of them make GTK+/Mono based apps in the near future, they will double the existing amount of Linux desktop apps. Easily.

Thus, we both better get used to Mono soon.

Cheers,
Claus