Not to go too far, but Microsoft is probably used by most people out there

We cannot choose one desktop over the other - Gnome or KDE - because there's users for both code bases.

I was interested in Java the beginning, but the problem with Java is you do have to switch your platform.

Well Microsoft really does develop some really interesting technology.

Every piece of software written today is likely going to infringe on someone else's patent.

Not to go too far, but Microsoft is probably used by most people out there

The software patent problem is not limited to Mono. Software patents affect everyone writing software today.