Background: I have been toying with Mere Mortals .Net framework for a bit over two years, but have only recently gotten serious about .Net. I am about to start a major .Net project and felt obligated to look at other frameworks, since the landscape has changed a lot in the last two years. Of the half-dozen I looked at, Mere Mortals and StrataFrame seemed the best suited to my preferences and needs.

As my trial version of StrataFrame runs out and I am forced to consider whether to continue with Mere Mortals or switch to StrataFrame, I would like to present a few observations about the differences between the two and would appreciate comments about these differences. I hope others who are considering frameworks might also benefit from reading your comments.

There are other important differences not listed in this posting. For the sake of others who read this thread later, I would like to post separate threads for other differences to keep the discussions directed and manageable.

A fundamental framework difference

Mere Mortals bases its Business Objects on MarshalByRefObject, whereas StrataFrame bases its BO on MarshalByValueComponent.

I know that Marshal by Ref has some advantages for remoting over Marshal by Value, but is that relevant to choosing a framework? Are there other differences between Ref and Value that are relevant?

I can drag and drop an SF BO from the toolkit to a form, but I can’t do that for an MM BO. I believe that is because the SF BO is a component whereas MM BO is an object. Are there other differences between basing BOs on Object and on Component that I should be aware of?

…Jim