"As we talk to Mono users, it has become very clear they want enterprise developer support from Novell," said Miguel de Icaza, Novell vice president of engineering and founder of the Mono project, as Novell yesterday introduced the Mono Kickstart program to provide for the first time developer support to organizations using Mono - the comprehensive open source development platform based on the .NET framework that allows IT and independent software vendor developers to build Linux and cross-platform applications (MacOS X, IBM S/390 and Sun Solaris) using popular programming languages such as C#, Java and VB.NET.

"Mono lets us create quality solutions for mixed-platform environments quicker than ever before," said Scott Waddell, managing partner of CustomerDNA, a leading provider of relationship marketing software and services. "Access now to developer support from Novell via Mono Kickstart will only accelerate the availability of productivity-enhancing, cost-saving and process-improving applications to users of all kinds."

The Mono project is a community initiative sponsored by Novell, which hopes as a result of the Mono Kickstart program to make it easier to build and develop applications on Linux and other platforms, by allowing developers to get software to market faster and more cost-effectively.

Mono Kickstart includes 25 developer support incidents along with one server or 50 desktop licenses for $12,995. Additional developer support incidents, server licenses and desktop licenses can be purchased separately. There is more information at http://www.mono-project.com/kickstart.