04.28.07
Novell Fights Red Hat, Fights for Mono While Microsoft Fights Free Software
Some things are too obvious be ignored. Novell continues to woo Red Hat system administrators and engineers. This is not the first time that the rivalry between the two companies is made appparent by such articles and press releases. They usually come from Novell’s direction, but not the other way around.
Novell South Africa in association with SmartSource (Novell’s locally-appointed training partner) has announced the local release of the ‘Migrating from Red Hat to SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10’ training course…
One might ask, why does Novell not reach out to Windows developers? They can probably get them to ‘switch camps’ amidst this wonderful cusp of adoption. That’s where the answer gets tricky and bizarre. If you enter Novell’s Linux realm, you may as well familiarise yourself with .NET and some related Microsoft-esque skills. Novell’s new strategy shows that the company is determinded to boost the use of Mono. As we have explained before, this leads to a plethora of serious legal and technical barriers.
Will Mono ever win developers’ affinity? With corporate support, it seems likely, but not necessarily desirable. A Mono competition has in fact just ended and the winners announced in the local Canadian press.
Mainsoft announced the winners of the “Race to Linux 2.0.” Jointly sponsored by Mainsoft, IBM, and Novell, the Race to Linux 2.0 challenged .NET developers to take three open-source ASP.NET 2.0 applications from Windows to Linux using their cross-platform tool of choice (e.g. Mono, Mainsoft’s Grasshopper 2.0 Technology Preview, PHP, or Ruby).
A Canadian software developer has won an international programming competition aimed at changing perceptions about the challenge of porting .Net applications to Linux.
This is truly an achievement for enterprises that migrate from Windows to Linux, but shouldn’t an open language (not encumbered by patents) be encouraged?
Also in the press:
Steve Ballmer reveals his fear of Free software in an short writeup with an ambiguous (if not altogether deceiving) headline:
Microsoft’s Steve Ballmer on the Dangers of Open Source Software
[...]
[Ballmer:] “If somebody came to you and said you have a new competitor that has no price and has no cost structure you might stay up a night or two on that one.”
Last but not least, Novell wins some awards. None of this is to do with GNU/Linux though.
Sergio Casselle said,
April 28, 2007 at 2:28 am
How pathetic can you get, when you have to dedicate a whole web site to fight a company that defends, promotes, and improves Linux? What kind of moron can actually promote such division amongst Linux advocates? Let me see…. you and the rest of the dumb ass “purists” that live in la-la land.
Damn, I truly hate stupid people like yourself. Do something constructive for Linux, and stop this brainless proposition to shut down, probably, the best Linux distro out there.
David Mohring (NZheretic) said,
April 28, 2007 at 4:44 am
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22Sergio+Casselle%22
How pathetic can you get, when you don’t even have the guts to use your real name or even use a single unique Google-able pseudo-identity? What kind “Linux Advocate” can just ignore the issues raised by the Microsoft Novell patent deal ( which even required the Free Software Foundation to add specific clauses into the new GNU GPL license )? Let me see …
You, Segio Casselle, are just *behaving* like just another run of the mill Microsoft Astroturfer.
Damn, I truly hate gutless people like yourself. Do some research and come up with at least an attempt at a logical argument, and stop this pathetic astroturf sniping.
David Mohring
http://www.google.com/search?q=%22David+Mohring%22+Linux&num=100
Aka NZheretic
http://www.google.com/search?q=NZheretic+Linux&num=100
I have repeatedly raised the issue of Microsoft software patents and Mono for *years*.
http://www.linuxjournal.com/article/6833#comment-8120
Now four years since that above post, Microsoft is now using the same threat or take-this-license tactic used by the SCO Group when it tried to sell it’s Linux licenses.
Compare the situation with Mono with the legal issues with development and deployment with technologies based on the Java Standards. Sun has granted access to the specs, test kits and granted the full rights to develop competing products under the JSPA . Open Source Implementation of the Java Standards, such as the GNU GCJ compiler, GNU Classpath and Jboss are secured from being sued by SUN or any of the JCP members for just reimplementing the full and complete JCP’ed standards. That includes the right to use any technology that the JCP members hold patents on.
Now SUN is even GPLing their implementation of the Java runtime and libraries. It’s a much more secure future developing on top of a Java Standards based Foundation than it is with the legal minefield that MONO represents.
Hell, it’s even much more safer to use any other technology other than MONO. Choose Javascript, Python, Ruby , Perl ( the latter has decades of prior art ) or even plain C, C++ or even Common lisp.
Microsoft itself has sent the message, “USE MONO AND MICROSOFT WILL TREATEN YOUR CUSTOMERS WITH LAWSUITS”.
No amount of astroturf will undo the damage that Microsoft itself is doing to MONO.