Announced today, Mono for Android widens the scope for mobile developers who use Microsoft's .Net framework--Novell released a similar product, MonoTouch, for Apple iOS devices in 2009. Mono is the open-source implementation of Microsoft's toolset, designed to make it possible to run .Net applications across multiple platforms.

"We developed Mono for Android to give both individual developers and businesses a way of sharing their code across multiple mobile platforms, increasing efficiency and reuse of their C and .NET expertise across the board," Novell developer platforms chief and Mono project founder Miguel de Icaza said in a statement.

Read more of "Novell releases Mono for Android toolset" at ZDNet UK.