10.21.10
How Mono Helps Microsoft DirectX, With Contribution From VMB_ware
Paul Maritz (VMB_ware CEO, formerly Microsoft)
Photo by Robert Scoble
Summary: Several Microsoft executives who run VMB_ware continue to work on projects which, along with Novell’s projects help empower and spread Microsoft APIs
ACCORDING to this new article from IDG, VMB_ware and Novell are currently negotiating the price which VMB_ware will pay for SUSE (along with Mono and Moonlight based on some other reports). VMB_ware is run by executives who used to work for Microsoft and it may soon have power over Microsoft APIs inside GNU/Linux, including Gallium3D which appears to promote DirectX at OpenGL's expense.
IDG makes it sound as though the sale to VMB_ware is almost a done deal. To quote:
The Wall Street Journal is reporting rumors that VMware may buy Novell’s SUSE Linux OS business, though Atachmate is competing for the est of the company’s assets.
VMware and Novell have agreed on everything but price, according to the WSJ, which cites unnamed analysts as saying the tools built to help Linux administrators manage virtualized OSes will strengthen VMware’s own VM management apps.
We are beginning to wonder what VMB_ware may plan to do with Microsoft-taxed SUSE, Mono, and Gallium3D. These assets can help VMB_ware help Microsoft. To quote a conversation from yesterday, there is evidence to suggest Mono is now linking/embedding some Gallium3D.
Very informal discussion ought to be assumed (it is an IRC discussion, thus nothing polished):
| jimbo_ | I read a week or 2 ago about VMB_Ware pushing DirectX | Oct 20 19:33 |
|---|---|---|
| schestowitz | Any news on that? | Oct 20 19:34 |
| schestowitz | gnufreex and Diablo-D3 raised the issue | Oct 20 19:34 |
| jimbo_ | you might find it interesting to note that Moonlie is using it | Oct 20 19:34 |
| schestowitz | I just published the logs | Oct 20 19:34 |
| jimbo_ | the gallium3d thing | Oct 20 19:34 |
| Diablo-D3 | Im completely fine with it | Oct 20 19:34 |
| jimbo_ | so team appologista is also pushing it | Oct 20 19:35 |
| Diablo-D3 | the tracker is only for dx10/11, which is an almost carbon copy of gl3+future. | Oct 20 19:35 |
| gnufreex | It looks like there is no patent danger. I checked. But there is still API control danger. | Oct 20 19:35 |
| Diablo-D3 | and, the tracker itself is almost a carbon copy of how you’d write a future-only gl3 tracker. | Oct 20 19:35 |
| jimbo_ | diablo3d just like .not is a clone of java?  |
Oct 20 19:35 |
| schestowitz | vmware gallium3d? | Oct 20 19:35 |
| Diablo-D3 | jimbo_: -D3, and yes, basically how c# copies java | Oct 20 19:35 |
| Diablo-D3 | jimbo_: except its c++ and LOOKs like d3d9, it just isnt | Oct 20 19:36 |
| jimbo_ | diablo: m$ has patents all over the place on .net | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | anyone trying d3d10/11 with a 9 mindset will write shit | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | sun has patents all over the place | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | also, this is an API | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | the patents being held will be held by companies like AMD and Nvidia | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | remember, gl and d3d both are high level wrappers for vendor-specific HALs | Oct 20 19:36 |
| jimbo_ | JoseX a while back wrote a very interesting piece about how you can patent APIs | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | they dont _do_ anything | Oct 20 19:36 |
| schestowitz | APIs can have patent traps | Oct 20 19:36 |
| Diablo-D3 | schestowitz: not without having the patent invalidated | Oct 20 19:37 |
| schestowitz | jimbo_: yes, beat me to it | Oct 20 19:37 |
| jimbo_ | schestowitz  |
Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | like, I can write an API that uploads s3tc to a video card | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | they cant sue me | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | Im not decoding it | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | the video card is | Oct 20 19:37 |
| gnufreex | Microsoft has one OpenGL patent they bought from failing SGI | Oct 20 19:37 |
| gnufreex | Rest are expired. | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | gnufreex: except it applies to _running_ GL | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | as in, what happens on the video card | Oct 20 19:37 |
| Diablo-D3 | there is nothing being done usefully in software, for performance reasons | Oct 20 19:37 |
| jimbo_ | anyways, about to head out with friends | Oct 20 19:38 |
| jimbo_ | just thought I’d pass along the info about moonli and gallium3d | Oct 20 19:38 |
| schestowitz | Diablo-D3: APis alone are not the infringement, but writing for them may be | Oct 20 19:38 |
| jimbo_ | moonlie | Oct 20 19:38 |
| schestowitz | link/ | Oct 20 19:38 |
| schestowitz | ? | Oct 20 19:38 |
| schestowitz | SVN/GIT? | Oct 20 19:38 |
| jimbo_ | hold on, gotta re-search for it | Oct 20 19:38 |
| Diablo-D3 | schestowitz: but we’re not writing for them | Oct 20 19:38 |
| jimbo_ | yea, it’ll be in git in the configure.in | Oct 20 19:38 |
| Diablo-D3 | AMD and Nvidia and Intel did | Oct 20 19:39 |
| schestowitz | Maybe VMB_ware will just buy Mono | Oct 20 19:39 |
| Diablo-D3 | remember, all this shit runs on the card | Oct 20 19:39 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[gotunandan/@gotunandan] RT @cassidyjames So, OS X Lion App Store = !Ubuntu Software Center, Mission Control = Gnome Shell, Multitouch Gestures = UTouch… what … | Oct 20 19:39 | |
| jimbo_ | http://github.com/mono/moon/blob/master/m4/gallium.m4 | Oct 20 19:40 |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: m4/gallium.m4 at master from mono’s moon – GitHub .::. Size~: 38.95 KB | Oct 20 19:40 |
| jimbo_ | that’s the gallium3d detection code | Oct 20 19:41 |
| jimbo_ | configure script code | Oct 20 19:41 |
| jimbo_ | http://github.com/mono/moon/blob/master/configure.ac | Oct 20 19:41 |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: configure.ac at master from mono’s moon – GitHub .::. Size~: 72.32 KB | Oct 20 19:41 |
| jimbo_ | that’s their configure.ac which uses it | Oct 20 19:42 |
| jimbo_ | phoronix also talked about it | Oct 20 19:42 |
| jimbo_ | iirc | Oct 20 19:42 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[flameeyes/@flameeyes] Did #Canonical not trademark #Launchpad? Now we’re going to get confusion between theirs and Apple’s :/ | Oct 20 19:42 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[tekk/@tekk] okay !rmsgnulinux, I know you’ve been waiting forever for 1.2.5 kde but right now I’m working in a kde 3.5.12(trinity) package for ya \o/ | Oct 20 19:42 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[schestowitz/@schestowitz] Open source moves into the enterprise at NZ organisations http://ur1.ca/24rip Not just NZ, but this is NZ-based site | Oct 20 19:42 | |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: Open source moves into the enterprise at NZ organisations | Computerworld NZ .::. Size~: 44.47 KB | Oct 20 19:42 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[eff/@eff] Geotag, You’re It! https://eff.org/r.2tv Android and iOS respect your geolocation settings. Check them! | Oct 20 19:44 | |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: Geotag, You’re It! What Your Smartphone Might Be Saying Behind Your Back | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse .::. Size~: 26.49 KB | Oct 20 19:44 |
| *scientes (~scientes@c-76-28-168-154.hsd1.wa.comcast.net) has joined #techrights | Oct 20 19:45 | |
| jimbo_ | http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2010/Jan-07.html | Oct 20 19:47 |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: Pixel Shaders for Moonlight – Miguel de Icaza .::. Size~: 14.13 KB | Oct 20 19:47 |
| jimbo_ | that shows they are indeed using it | Oct 20 19:47 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[tekk/@tekk] !rmsgnulinux if anyone doesn’t know, trinity is the kde3 continuation project. Hopefully we may become a go-to distro for kde3 lovers =3 | Oct 20 19:47 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[schestowitz/@schestowitz] #HP announces #Palm Pre 2 with WebOS 2.0 http://ur1.ca/24rl9 “1GHz Palm Pre 2, as well as a major WebOS 2.0 update” !llinux | Oct 20 19:47 | |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: HP announces Palm Pre 2 with WebOS 2.0 – News – Linux for Devices .::. Size~: 55.63 KB | Oct 20 19:47 |
| jimbo_ | vm_bware might be buying mono/moonlie as an injection vector | Oct 20 19:48 |
| jimbo_ | for gallium3d | Oct 20 19:48 |
| jimbo_ | piggyback on other patent trojans | Oct 20 19:48 |
| jimbo_ | you can probably find more info about this | Oct 20 19:49 |
| jimbo_ | this is only a start | Oct 20 19:49 |
| jimbo_ | but I find it highly suspect | Oct 20 19:49 |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[nhi/@nhi] ♻ @eff: Geotag, You’re It! https://eff.org/r.2tv Android and iOS respect your geolocation settings. Check them! | Oct 20 19:49 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[nhi/@nhi] ♻ @schestowitz: #HP announces #Palm Pre 2 with WebOS 2.0 http://ur1.ca/24rl9 “1GHz Palm Pre 2, as well as a major WebOS 2.0 update” | Oct 20 19:49 | |
| -TRIdentica/#techrights-[schestowitz/@schestowitz] Sheesh! When Will Folks Acknowledge GNU/Linux Has Arrived? http://ur1.ca/24rlo Linux dead? 2000 called, wants headline back… | Oct 20 19:49 | |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: Geotag, You’re It! What Your Smartphone Might Be Saying Behind Your Back | Privacy Rights Clearinghouse .::. Size~: 26.47 KB | Oct 20 19:49 |
| jimbo_ | too much of a coincidence | Oct 20 19:49 |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: HP announces Palm Pre 2 with WebOS 2.0 – News – Linux for Devices .::. Size~: 55.63 KB | Oct 20 19:49 |
| TechrightsBot-tr | Title: ur1 Generator .::. Size~: 1.93 KB | Oct 20 19:49 |
| jimbo_ | good night | Oct 20 19:49 |
| *jimbo_ has quit (Quit: Page closed) | Oct 20 19:50 | |
Assuming there is intent to just promote Microsoft APIs, OpenSUSE ought to escape Novell/VMB_ware by forking and breaking away from Novell trademarks (VMB_ware has no real development communities). There is an OpenSUSE Conference (OSC) these days [1, 2], but apart from that, almost nothing is going on at OpenSUSE anymore. Andreas Jaeger has just announced a new release of OSB, but that’s about it:
The openSUSE Build Service – OBS – is now officially at release 2.1. We’re delighted with the improvements in this release, including an enhanced web interface, integration with online code management systems and better access controls.
More here:
Tomorrow the openSUSE Conference is beginning in the always-wonderful Germany for a three-day event about the openSUSE project and free software in general with a variety of hacking sessions, birds of a feather sessions, and surely some Nürnberg beer along the way. Sadly due to some last minute scheduling changes and only getting back from San Diego yesterday, I on the behalf of Phoronix will not be in attendance at the German conference, but there is openSUSE news to report today: version 2.1 of the openSUSE Build Service has just been released.
In order for OpenSUSE to secure a GNU/Linux direction, its developers may have to get dissociated from Novell before it’s sold to the Microsoft executives who run VMB_ware. It seems as though they are quite interested in the Mono part, which is Novell’s crown jewel (in its own eyes at least). █
