title: How does Mono work
body: <p>I have used C# in Visual Studio with .NET, and I have played around a little with Mono on openSUSE Linux, but I don't really understand how it works.</p>
  
  <p>If I write an app in Windows on .NET, how does this relate to Mono? I can't just execute an a Windows .exe file on Linux without Wine, so it doesn't help me execute apps developed in Windows.</p>
  
  <p>Is the purpose purely to have a .NET library equivalent on Linux (and others) to make cross platform development easier? For example, if I was a business and wanted to reach Linux customers, but really wanted to use .NET, then Mono should be my choice? Or is there something more that I'm missing?</p>