Bonum Certa Men Certa

Novell Promotes an OOXML Web Equivalent on Behalf of Microsoft

Silverlight puke, barf



We have already seen on numerous occasions how Novell essentially markets Microsoft's OOXML while everyone else slams it. But OOXML may be just the tip of the iceberg.

We have not mentioned Microsoft's Silverlight in a while, but it's a seriously ill lock-in which needs to be tackled as soon as possible. Antitrust regulators are already looking into it, but they seem to be lagging, almost falling behind the curve. Novell is a major part of this problem.

“...OOXML may be just the tip of the iceberg.”Like Microsoft Office, which Microsoft might try to make synonymous with OOXML (for marketing purpose using "open" on the one hand while dissociating and hiding the tight relationship between those two), Silverlight supports Macs and Windows PCs but not GNU/Linux. This is deliberate, so it is not a case involving technical deficiencies or impossibility. Expect the same from Microsoft's XPS.

In many ways, therefore, OOXML (not ISO OOXML, but the 'thing' which Microsoft will continue to implement further, undocumented) can be equated to XAML. It's the same darn mess and a case against Free software. It also brings us to yesterday 'news' (vapourware morelike).

Microsoft has been trying to create Silverlight hype recently (self-fulfilling prophecies it would hope). It has been saying that Silverlight support would triple and it is now "teasing" people with what they call "big" deals to be announced. Reconsider the Nokia-Silverlight story and its effect on Linux.

From the news:

Microsoft teases mobile developers with 'big' Silverlight deals



[...]

Scott Guthrie, corporate vice president of Microsoft's developer division, told the company's ReMix 08 conference the goal is to run Silverlight "everywhere".

He did not name names, but promised more deals in the months ahead.

[...]

It sees ubiquity as key to Silverlight's success, and it is gunning for the player and its runtime to match Adobe Systems' Flash in market- and mind-share and on PC and mobile platforms.


"Ubiquity as key," eh? Novell to Microsoft's rescue! Once again.

"At Microsoft I learned the truth about ActiveX and COM and I got very interested in it immediately."
   --Miguel de Icaza
Scott Guthrie has a friend (almost colleague) at Novell, whose name is Miguel de Icaza. Miguel&Novell is [sic] helping Microsoft in its fight against Adobe, which happens to be a new member of the Linux Foundation. This ought to show you just how close Microsoft and Novell have become, despite the fact that Silverlight is a case against Linux and the GPL. Remember that Flash is not another Silverlight. They are very different.

Remember again and bear in mind that Microsoft does not support Linux but pretends that it does in order for Web developers not to avoid it. At the same time, Microsoft is likely to have already assigned an OSP to Silverlight and it excludes the GPL, by design. Even Miguel saw this and protested out in the open, yet he continues to work on the very same tool which is intended to sabotage GNU/Linux. From Ars technica (yesterday):

At LugRadio Live this past weekend, Novell developer Miguel de Icaza gave a presentation on Moonlight, an open source implementation of Microsoft's Silverlight web framework. During the presentation, he described the current status of Moonlight and showed some of the ways that it can be used to create richer applications for the Linux desktop.

The earliest work on Moonlight was done in a very short period of time by a group of highly dedicated Novell programmers and Mono community members so that it could be demonstrated to the general public at the Paris MIX 07 event. Moonlight later received Microsoft's backing as the official Silverlight implementation for Linux.


Of course Microsoft supports a case against GNU/Linux, which is done independently from Microsoft (i.e. no expenses), always playing catchup, and putting users at legal risk (or forcing them to forge software patent deals with Microsoft). It's the same scenario with Novell's OOXML translators. Novell believes it's a mutual relationship. Or is it?

"We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger….If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger."

--Jim Allchin, Platform Group Vice President, Microsoft

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
 
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025