Mainsoft(R) Launches Visual Studio .Net(R) for Linux(R) Developer Program

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 24 /PRNewswire/ -- Mainsoft Corporation, the cross-platform development company, today announced the availability of Visual MainWin for J2EE Developer Edition, a.k.a. Grasshopper, a freely available Visual Studio .NET plug-in, which enables Visual Studio developers to quickly develop Web applications for Linux. Technical articles and community forums are available at no charge to developers who register at http://dev.mainsoft.com .

Mainsoft also announced today it has extended its collaboration with Mono, an open-source development community that is developing an open source version of the Microsoft(R) .NET development platform. With Grasshopper, Visual Studio .NET developers can contribute enhancements, class libraries and fixes to Grasshopper's and Mono's shared open source runtime. Visual Studio Developers Want Linux

According to a recent study by Evans Data Corporation, one in five developers using Visual Studio .NET as their primary IDE have written an application for Linux. The study also indicates that more than half of the Visual Studio .NET developers surveyed have used open source components in their application development.

"Already, cross-platform development is a powerful reality among our ISV customers, who use the high productivity of Visual Studio software to develop enterprise applications once and deploy them on multiple platforms," said Yaacov Cohen, Mainsoft's president and CEO. "Grasshopper encourages wide-spread adoption of Linux development among Visual Studio developers, who can easily move, or 'hop' across Windows, Linux and other Java-enabled platforms." About Grasshopper

Grasshopper is the first Visual Studio-based IDE for Linux. It enables individual developers to develop, debug and deploy Web applications and Web services for Windows, Linux and any Java-enabled platform using Visual Studio software, C# and Visual Basic .NET. Grasshopper is designed for individual developers and for small user group deployments. Access to enterprise features such as multi-CPU capabilities and fully-featured J2EE servers, including WebSphere(R), JBoss(R) and WebLogic(R), are available in Visual MainWin for J2EE Enterprise Edition.

Mainsoft is also launching a Linux Zone for Visual Studio developers, populated with how-to articles and interactive forums that make application development for Linux and Java-enabled platforms faster and easier for Visual Studio developers. Visual Studio Developers and Mono

"Forging a direct line of communication with Visual Studio developers is essential to building a robust open source community," said Miguel de Icaza, Mono's project leader.

"We welcome Mainsoft's years of experience working with Microsoft developers to pursue our shared goal of promoting cross-platform Linux development, much faster than was possible."

Grasshopper exposes Mono's open source ASP.NET and ADO.NET class libraries to the Visual Studio developer. For the first time, .NET developers can use Visual Studio software to add class libraries, bug fixes and enhancements to the open source runtime. These enhancements will be incorporated into both the Mono project and Visual MainWin for J2EE.

Mainsoft's engineering team has worked with Mono for the past two years, contributing to the ongoing development and testing of Mono's ASP.NET, ADO.NET, XML, Visual Basic and .NET core class libraries. Grasshopper is a significant "leap" forward in Mainsoft's and Mono's shared objective, to make it easier for .NET developers to write applications for Linux. About Mainsoft Corporation

Founded in 1993, Mainsoft Corporation, the cross-platform development company, enables businesses to develop mission-critical applications with Visual Studio software and deploy them natively on J2EE, UNIX(R) and Linux(R) platforms, dramatically reducing development costs and time-to-market. The company is a first-mover in cross-platform development. Its world-class research and development team has created patented cross-platform products that solve critical problems facing independent software vendors (ISVs) and IT organizations. Many of the world's largest ISVs including Siebel, Computer Associates and IBM Rational, use Mainsoft's products to extend the productivity of Microsoft Visual Studio, deploying more than $1 billion worth of software annually on multiple operating systems. For more information, visit http://www.mainsoft.com. NOTE: All trademarks, trade names, service marks, and logos referenced herein belong to their respective companies.