This rant seems like it's more about the difficulty of compiling & configuring open source tools on the Mac than it is about Mono in particular.<p>For a non-specialist programmer like me, almost no open source tools Just Work on the Mac. My experience is very often similar to the one described in the rant.<p>In contrast, I can get work done with Ubuntu. When I need a new library, I install it, and it usually Just Works.<p>But, I have a Mac, I like my Mac, and I don't want any other kind of laptop. So, I'm starting to think that the right way to get the broadest range of stuff done on a Mac is to have OS X run the nice hardware and Apple's vanilla productivity applications, then run open source tools and libraries in a VMWare-hosted Linux installation. (Also have a Windows installation, for the apps that Windows runs best: Photoshop, PowerPoint, and a few niche apps I need that will never be ported.)<p>In the meantime, my current world Parellels, ssh+screen, and occasionally a MacFUSE mount, let me get a lot of work done. I've learned to just route around the kind of hassles this guy describes.