06.13.10
Novell Turns MeeGo Into Another Ballnux
Summary: Novell is pushing Mono into new places and projects, including MeeGo which is now talking about OpenSUSE Build Service as well
RIGHT about now Novell is trying to portray itself as a guardian/protector/saviour of Linux. In reality, Novell pollutes GNU/Linux with Microsoft encroachments such as Mono, which have people code for Microsoft rather than for GNU/Linux. A day ago we found out about another Mono project created by what seems like a Novell apologist (right after the Novell deal had been signed he wrote: “Boycotting openSUSE/SLED is the most damaging thing to do to open source adoption instead of Microsoft supporting the openSUSE system.”)
Dubbed SparkleShare, Bons is building his project using Mono, GTK+, and Git.
The same developer helps Novell’s version of MeeGo, which is full of Mono [1, 2, 3, 4]. Yes, he is involved in the Novell project that changes MeeGo, based on Novell’s Meeks (it’s a recent post about Evolution, which is also owned by Novell). Here is another thing which Novell is doing to MeeGo:
The openSUSE community has announced the releases of version 1.8 and 2.0 of the openSUSE Build Service. [...] The MeeGo developers are particularly excited since they use the openSUSE Build Service within their project and so they also have a write-up as a result of the new OBS and some of the features they had requested.
Here is the original post from MeeGo. What are they getting themselves into? It was only days ago that Novell advertised its Microsoft-taxed SUSE (Ballnux). Does MeeGo want to be taxed by Microsoft as well? Because that’s where Novell is leading Nokia and Intel. A few days ago, a former Novell employee who is back to being a journalist advertised some more of Mono, probably ignoring the problems already highlighted by the FSF. Mono is means for Microsoft to control developers and also to charge money for distribution of GNU/Linux. Novell seems to be using MeeGo as a “host” (in the biological/technological sense). █
Needs Sunlight said,
June 14, 2010 at 5:56 am
The position taken by Novell leadership in their contract with Microsoft is hugely irresponsible and flipping the bird to thousands of open source programmers and contributors. Any code that Novell touches is seriously tainted. From a legal perspective, there is a paper trail back to M$. From a technical perspective, promoting half-assed technologies and turning a blind eye to technical failures is a way of life and does not stay restrained to one branch of code for long.
Novell has also been very divisive and counter productive in helping M$ fight open standards and helping discredit ISO. Projects like OpenOffice.org have suffered at their hands and the employees at Novell spent considerable effort harassing Sun and OpenOffice.org, pushing toxic code and trying to derail improvements in ODF support.
Look for more of the same anywhere Novell or other branches of Microsoft turn a blood-shot, jaundiced eye towards established software projects.