The FSF have put forward dotgnu.org as a contender to fit the Passport-shaped gap in Ximian's Mono initiative. I'm initially unconvinced. Their project is too unfocused - it portrays itself as a total .NET replacement - and too religious to gather enough mindshare to succeed.

>What do you guys think of Microsoft's .Net and Hailstorm efforts?

>Dangerous stuff. It is often said that the price of freedom is eternal vigilance. Unless we counter them, Microsoft's efforts are not only a threat to Free Software, they are also extremely dangerous tools in the hands of any Evil Government that wants to make their citizens unfree.

These are not the words of a project with its eye on the ball - producing a working, reliable, secure authentication service for a hostile Net and a license-apathetic gaggle of web hackers.