This makes sense. From the very start, Mono was intended to be used for creating desktop applications for GNOME. Java has been lousy for the desktop starting with the decision to use a least common denominator window kit. AWT specifically excluded widgets that were not natively available on every platform Java ran on. The idea was that they would blend in better this way. The result was a sub par window kit that was only as good as what was available on the worst platform. Sure, we got SWT later, but that still has problems of its own.
The fact that Java is not terribly useful for creating desktop applications is irrelevant. Its strength in server side applications has long been established. Not to mention, Java has kind of become a de facto standard for a lot of corporate development and those applications are very rarely distributed. Public distribution of applications written in a particular language says almost nothing about the level of usage. There are plenty of other good languages that are not commonly used for desktop applications so I don't understand why this is particularly newsworthy. It's not every day that you see desktop applications being developed in Python or Ruby either.
The fact that Java is not terribly useful for creating desktop applications is irrelevant. Its strength in server side applications has long been established. Not to mention, Java has kind of become a de facto standard for a lot of corporate development and those applications are very rarely distributed. Public distribution of applications written in a particular language says almost nothing about the level of usage. There are plenty of other good languages that are not commonly used for desktop applications so I don't understand why this is particularly newsworthy. It's not every day that you see desktop applications being developed in Python or Ruby either.