Expand .NET Beyond Windows "It'll take cross platform expansion for Microsoft to compete fully against vendors such as IBM, Oracle, and Sun in high-end enterprise accounts. This is not to suggest that .NET won't be successful if it never moves beyond Windows—it will. However, the degree of this success and the subsequent ability of Microsoft to push into high-end markets is ultimately tied to this eventuality. And this is unlikely to happen anytime soon. Microsoft developers should assume that .NET will be officially tied solely to the Windows operating systems for at least the next three years. The best they can hope for is an unofficial clone of .NET from third parties (such as Mono) that will approximate, but will likely not fulfill, complete compatibility for several more years."