Bonum Certa Men Certa

Miguel de Icaza Groomed by Microsoft with MVP Award



Summary: Mono for breakfast? With a Microsoft most valuable professional in charge of Novell's GNU/Linux desktop, this could be inevitable

Joining the Microsoft CodePlex Foundation was a stepping stone in Miguel de Icaza's long road to Microsoft, where he was interviewed for a job just over a decade ago. In more recent months we saw him announcing the removal of GPL code from a project that is valuable to Microsoft, which funds many of the wages at Novell nowadays (Novell is not self sustaining and part of it increasingly seems like a takeover target for Microsoft).



In an open letter, we've asked Microsoft to just hire de Icaza and take him away from GNU/Linux, but instead they have just given him a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional award. He is very valuable to them. He seems happy about it and the .NET crowd is happy about this too (watch Twitter responses).

Thanks to everyone that participated in the campaign to nominate me for a C# MVP award, when I got back to Boston I found on my piles of email that I am now part of the program.


Novell's de Icaza's close colleague, Nat Friedman, has decided to leave Novell. Friedman will not return to Microsoft but he will not be focused on Free software, either. It seems like a case of Fog Computing fever, just like with de Icaza's colleague at the CodePlex Foundation, Sam Ramji, who admitted that the Foundation was determined to promote Mono and Moonlight.

More information on the subject can be found in:



On to something a little different, Jason from Mono-Nono got around to finding and writing about a subject that we tackled almost 2 days ago. It's about Planet GNOME promoting Microsoft software (yes, again, as de Icaza did this repeatedly too).

Silverlight Promotion on Planet GNOME



[...]

Note that you are directed to press the “Click to Install” button, which does not exist. Oh, Novell – truly it is all worth it for the wonders you have wrought. You are indeed bringing Linux users around the world the Real€© Microsoft€®™ Experience. I had nearly forgotten the endlessly retarded bullshit one had to deal with just by turning on the computer when running Microsoft Windows – and 800X that hassle when running Internet Explorer – but Novell is bringing it all to Linux! Huzzah!

And, so what if it causes a minor stir in the community – who cares what it took to get where we are today anyway? This is truly important stuff! Damn the principles, full speed ahead to Redmond!


There is also a little something about the recent DirectX/OpenGL debate, which makes a comparison and warns the SVG community (they are already concerned about Microsoft's presence). Jason writes:

What bizarro world indeed where people are going crazy over Microsoft’s latest whatever and actively denouncing competitors? (Some bizarro world-residing promoters of Banshee and Tomboy mayhaps?)

The thing I like the most about the article is not only does it lay out reasons for preferring an Open Standard, it lists and documents how Microsoft promotes DirectX (like all their products):

1. Network effects and vicious cycles 2. FUD about OpenGL and Vista 3. Misleading marketing campaigns

I note with some interest that Microsoft leaving the OpenGL Architecture Review Board is noted as a FUD tactic. This one of the flip sides of having Microsoft “get on board” with you – if they leave it sends a powerful negative message. Pay attention SVG Working Group.


The SVG Working Group should take a sobering look at how Microsoft corrupted ISO. Simon Phipps from Sun wrote: "While it's great to see Microsoft finally joining the SVG WG after all these years, let's not forget (as this article does) that they were involved at the beginning and it was their unforgivable NIH attitude in rejecting the decision of the WG not to use Microsoft's contribution that has kept vector graphics from being a web technology for a decade. Imagine what could have evolved by now had they not listened to their greed and control-lust and instead worked with everyone to perfect web vector graphics. Even still I can't help myself wondering if they have joined the WG to snuff it out by over-activity."

Likewise, there is danger when Microsoft proponents like Miguel de Icaza are allowed to have influence on GNU/Linux. Microsoft must be laughing over this while it's also working to get GNU/Linux sued [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

“You got nothing to lose. You don't lose when you lose fake friends.”

--Joan Jett

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Links 13/06/2025: Journalists Targeted by Cracking, China-Japan and Israel-Iran Tensions Grow
Links for the day
 
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: (Not)virtues and Project Yeet Broadband
Links for the day
Links 13/06/2025: US Reduces Nonessential Staff at Baghdad Embassy Ahead of Strikes in Iran, Invasion of California Debated
Links for the day
X11 is Free Software
Whether you agree (e.g. on politics) with the person/s forking it doesn't matter
The More Time Passes, the Better Our Advice on Social Control Media Seems
At the end of the day, any platform you do not control yourself is working for someone else
Twitter (X) is Dying, Now It's Just Like a Mafia-Type Operation of the Man Who Does Nazi Salutes in Public
a form of extortion
UK High Court Blasts Brett Wilson LLP for Misusing "GDPR" After Failed Efforts to Censor Critics Using 'Libel' Claims
No wonder this firm is rapidly shrinking
Recent Blunders in Microsoft GitHub (e.g. Slop-Generated Bug Reports or GPL Violations 'as a Service') Taking Their Toll?
Put bluntly, if you still use Microsoft GitHub, then you're slave to Microsoft
American Imperialism and Microsoft Plagiarism
Techrights will therefore do what Microsoft does not want it to do: it'll write even more about Microsoft
When They Have Nothing Left to Help Advance Abusive Litigation for Microsoft People... Other Than Throwing ~500 Pages of Someone Else's Work Into a PDF
Microsoft is having a very tough year
The Price of Exposing Corruption in Poland (and Elsewhere)
It's easier to participate in corruption than to merely do the right thing and oppose it
Slopwatch and Yet More Holes in 'Secure Boot' (as Usual!), Promoted Inside Linux by the Man We Are Suing
Today's Slopwatch will be short
Gemini Links 13/06/2025: People You've Left Behind, Life Update and OS Changes
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 12, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 12, 2025
Links 12/06/2025: Portland Homeless Deaths Quadruple, COVID Cases Surge in Asia
Links for the day
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part IX: Minimum Wages For You (Experienced Scientist), Alicante/EU Paydays For Me (Unproductive, Corrupt Official)
Does UPRP maladministration extend to the false belief that qualified and experienced scientists can play the role of circus clowns?
"The Liberating Power of Simply Telling People the Truth."
'polite' bullying
Who Imitates Who? Plagiarist as Client (From Microsoft), 'Plagiarism' at the Law Firm?
let's revisit the subject
EPO's Gareth Lord Asked About "Quality and Productivity" or, Put Another Way, Why the EPO Keeps Granting So Many Invalid/Illegal Patents
letter to Lord
EPO's Central Staff Committee (CSC) Scrutinises the Man Who Illegally Grants (and Forces Others to Illegally Participate in Granting) Software Patents in Europe
EPO compels examiners to break the law in the name of obeying illegal "rules" or "orders"
The Latest Rumour Says The Next (as Correctly Predicted Before) Wave of Layoffs at Microsoft is 3 Weeks Away, "Larger Than the First Wave"
Step 2
TV Licensing Used to SPAM Your Postbox, Now It Does the Same to E-mail
First they ask for your E-mail address; then they start nagging you via E-mail
The Toxic Playbook
Either you support Prince Mohammed bin Salman or you're a nazi
It's Possible That BetaNews Got Cracked, But Nobody Talks About It, The Site Contains an Outdated Old Image, No Activity
It's possible that they will never explain what happened to the site and users' accounts
Links 12/06/2025: Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson Dies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/06/2025: Video Game Diegesis and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Why the Militants Have Lost Every Battle Since 2022 (When Attacking My Wife and I in Various Ways, Even Attacking Our Employers)
This takes patience, sure, but at the end most evildoers face the consequences for their actions
Our Priority is Still Tackling Software Patents and Corruption in Patent Offices
Meanwhile we got compliments on our recent articles, which means that they are effective
Politics Will Impact Software Choices
Will those systems respect users' freedom?
EPO: Neglecting Children to Promote American Monopolies by Shielding Them From European Competition
Yesterday the Central Staff Committee at the EPO spoke about another "reform" at the Office
Slopwatch: Another Day, Another Slopfest, LLM Slop Scrapers Slow Down Our Site
We too have some slop issues; this past day this site and the sister site had to answer about 2.5 million requests (not counting Gemini Protocol) and it's slowing things down for everybody
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 11, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 11, 2025