[Someone]

"However, C# uses the convention that capitalized "fields" are actually properties, and lowercase ones are true fields."

If only. In http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/ms229043%28v..., Microsoft advocates:

"The PascalCasing convention, used for all identifiers except parameter names, capitalizes the first character of each word"

[cmircea]

The UI in MonoDevelop / Visual Studio will show the differences during autocomplete. Also, fields should NEVER be public in a class.