02.09.11

Microsoft’s President Elop is Allegedly Killing Linux Inside Nokia/Intel, Just When MeeGo Gets Android Compatibility (Updated)

Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft at 11:14 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“Where are we on this Jihad [against Linux at Intel]?”

Summary: The sociopaths from Microsoft seem to be harming Intel’s and Nokia’s main Linux push (MeeGo) by abolishing its development

THE SITUATION seems rather familiar. Big hardware companies are moving towards Linux and people from Microsoft soon intervene, trying to stifle further development of this kind. A few days ago we wrote about the Mono issue that the FSF recognises and explained how Microsoft/Novell put Mono inside everything Linux-powered, including MeeGo (which is planned for in-car systems, sub-notebooks, phones, and just about everything compact). A new interview which we linked to yesterday has Richard Stallman elaborating on Mono:

Question: Many see Mono with its patent issues as possibly a big problem for GNU/Linux and Free Software; do you think using, developing and contributing Free Software written in Mono is better or worse in the long run for a user’s freedom than using proprietary software?

Stallman: That’s a comparison between growing apples and eating oranges. Instead of responding in those artificial terms, I will explain the issues of C# and Mono.

Mono is a free implementation of C#. Programs can’t be “written in Mono”; they can be written in C#. If you have a program written in C#, it is better for you to run it using Mono (free software) than to run it using Microsoft .NET (proprietary software).

When you write a program, I recommend that you choose a language other than C#. If you write it in C#, then its use in the free world could be threatened by Microsoft’s patents. So write in some other language, and avoid the problem. This is true whether your program is meant for release as free software, or meant just for private use as private software. (If it is meant for release as proprietary software, you should refuse to participate regardless of the language used.)

MeeGo’s Mono problem is now the main issue right now. A lot has also been said about the role of Microsoft’s President, Mr. Elop, who is now the CEO of Nokia. See for example the following posts:

According to yet another update, the ‘new Nokia’ (which is run by Elop) suddenly feels different about its crown jewels and its behaviour becomes suicidal. It sure seems like Yahooism (giving all traffic to the Google scraper called Bong [sic]). Will Elop adopt the rubbish Vista Phony 7 [sic] or will he carry on with the current direction, along with Intel? The former editor of Linux Today asks: “Nokia: Losing Faith in MeeGo?” Elop losing “faith”? Well, no. He has Microsoft “faith”. It’s a mindset system. The piece says:

Topping the rumor list: that Nokia may drop the MeeGo platform in favor of another operating system.

If true, this would be a huge blow to the MeeGo project, which has not enjoyed much progress in the mobile sector. Nokia contributed its Maemo platform to the MeeGo initiative, along with Intel’s Moblin operating system, so if effectively one-half of the founding team abandons MeeGo for another OS, that could spell the end for MeeGo’s future chances of success.

Fueling this rumor is Elop’s direct mention of MeeGo as one source of Nokia’s troubles.

“We have some brilliant sources of innovation inside Nokia, but we are not bringing it to market fast enough. We thought MeeGo would be a platform for winning high-end smartphones. However, at this rate, by the end of 2011, we might have only one MeeGo product in the market,” Elop’s memo read.

[...]

But if one of the project’s founders has lost faith in the platform, how can anyone else but their faith in MeeGo?

MeeGo is actually a wonderful, standards-based platform which could soon inherit all the applications from Android, so what’s the matter? MeeGo is a lot more compatible with desktop GNU/Linux than Android will ever be and hypePhone [sic] after Steve Jobs’ departure is starting to suffer from “fragmentation”, which is the term Apple and Microsoft used against Android. To quote the new allegations:

Today may be remembered as the day the iOS platform became fragmented like Android. The announcement today by Telenav that its GPS app has been released for the Verizon iPhone may carry unexpected ramifications for apps on the iOS line of products.

MeeGo can beat hypePhone and Android now that it can inherit all applications from Android and be a lot more free/open than both. Only a Linux-hostile CEO would conceivably depart from MeeGo now that there is a new announcement about the Android-to-MeeGo bridge (we posted links about it last night and today).

Meanwhile it turns out that Nokia is cancelling Linux/MeeGo phones while Wafaa says the netbook plans too are off:

Sound a bit morose? Well in a way it is. Basically by all accounts MeeGo is stopping all work on the Netbook UX. Yup, all our hard work is now almost for nothing

Here is another article/post about it.

Well, that was fast. Nokia has reportedly killed the N9-00 MeeGo phone before most people even knew it existed.

It sure looks like our suspicion that Elop will ruin Linux at Nokia gradually becomes more substantiated. That’s how Microsoft’s sociopaths work: either they tilt the competitor towards Microsoft (e.g. Novell, Corel) or they simply take them out of business. Who benefits from such a behaviour? This is not capitalism, it’s entryism. █

Update: A Microsoft booster says that “Former Nokia Exec Claims CEO’s “Burning Platform” Memo a Hoax,” but this may not change some of the other references above. Here is another sceptic.

Share in other sites/networks: These icons link to social bookmarking sites where readers can share and discover new web pages.

Permalink Mail Send this to a friend

If you liked this post, consider subscribing to the RSS feed or join us now at the IRC channels.

Pages that cross-reference this one

What Else is New

EPO Management Looks for New and 'Innovative' Ways to Exploit Scientists and Distract From EPO Corruption

EPO management is desperate for puff pieces, having just produced some greenwashing nonsense (about a dozen press items about this non-event) and now a bunch of self-promotional videos
Before the New York Times Did a Number on Donald Trump It Changed Bill Gates' Tune

When you speak strictly through a spokesperson it often means you're lying and/or hiding something; the Gates enigma remains unsolved more than a year later
Links 28/9/2020: Linux 5.9 RC7, Review of Linuxfx 10.6, OpenSSH 8.4

Links for the day
Speaking Through Spokespeople is a Sign of Weakness, Such as Non-Denying and False Denials (or: Bill Gates Never Denied His Connections to MIT Through Jeffrey Epstein)

Big liars lie shamelessly; the biggest liars lie through proxies and today we examine the evasive tactics of Bill Gates and his associates (who were closely connected to Jeffrey Epstein but refuse to even talk about that, except indirectly)
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 27, 2020

IRC logs for Sunday, September 27, 2020
Accounting for Debconf 19 Travel... in 2020

A deeper look or analysis of Debian expenditures, which grew more than twicefold for travel last year
Don't Let Microsoft Make 'Open Source' Synonymous With Proprietary Monopoly GitHub

Now that the OSI works for Microsoft instead of Open Source (no, GitHub isn’t Open Source; it’s inherently against Open Source) we need to understand the modus operandi and learn from old mistakes
Links 27/9/2020: Puppy Linux 9.5, Nitrux 1.3.3

Links for the day
Public Relations and Tolerance Stunts Are Very, Very Cheap

It's 2020 and people are asked to focus on superficial aspects of corporations rather than anything of substance (like the effects on society at large, notably exploitation and long-term harm)
Open to Everything

It always starts with good intentions...
The OSI's President Apparently Does Not Know That His Own Employer (Salesforce) Works for ICE

The hypocrisy (or double standard) of the OSI’s President is astounding; taking salaries paid in part by ICE budget (Salesforce works for ICE and similarly evil agencies) while protesting in a proprietary software platform of Microsoft (GitHub) about ICE (all this whilst actively participating in it regardless)
[Meme] Communist Tactics

To Microsoft, Linux is communism until Microsoft controls it (and then runs over it to crush it, the typical modus operandi)
OSI President: Most or Half of the OSI's Money (Even Individual Donors' Money) Goes to a Microsoft-Led Initiative

The OSI has turned from advocate of "Open Source" (a disingenuous attempt to set aside Free/libre software) to advocate of Microsoft and GitHub in just 3 years (since taking Microsoft's money/bribes)
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 26, 2020

IRC logs for Saturday, September 26, 2020
The 24/7 'Tech' Worker (Babysitter of User-hostile Computing) and 'Expensive' Programmer

The rights of workers are being reduced to nothing (many in their older years made redundant), even in an occupation that is indirectly responsible for automating and thus deprecating jobs in many other occupations
Why Techrights is Totally Unexcited About the New Owner of Linux Journal

Linux Journal might soon become an anti-Linux site (veiled hostility) if Slashdot's editorial preferences are anything to go by (Slashdot has just seized control of Linux Journal)
The Cheapening of the Programmer is a Threat to Human Rights of All Computer Users

From the era of computer experts (down to the low level of computing with transistors), mathematicians, physics gurus and respected technicians we've come to orders-following, user-apathetic engineers who are overworked, grossly underpaid, and way too fearful of raising ethical concerns (voicing disagreement can result in prompt dismissal, followed by perpetual unemployment) and this ensures digital oppression without checks and balances
Links 26/9/2020: Wine 5.18, FreeBSD 12.2-BETA3 and Debian 10.6 Released

Links for the day
'Appeal to Novelty' as a Lever for Proprietary Software Monopolies, Bloat (Planned Obsolescence) and More Surveillance

Novelty is generally fine, but in many cases products are developed iteratively (not cumulatively) not to advance society or to objectively improve services, only to increase control over people (because emergent ‘freemium’-like business models nowadays revolve around addiction and subjugation, e.g. ‘brain-farming’ and manipulation of minds)
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 25, 2020

IRC logs for Friday, September 25, 2020
Microsoft Windows is Obsolete

The so-called 'leak' of old Windows code (almost 20 years old) is rather meaningless and useless; the world is moving past Windows, plus old Windows code cannot be used (due to the licence) and is barely used anymore, even in binary form
[Meme] Conflating Critics of Corporate/Class Abuse With Womanisers and Chauvinists (and Now Doing the Same to Influential Women)

It's regretful to see real victims of discrimination having their grievances and legitimate causes hijacked by opportunistic corporate media, which rallies a bunch of Internet trolls while oligarchs sponsor the whole thing, emboldening attacks on critics of powerful people (the likes of Jordan Peterson are a distraction; even women are nowadays being targeted using the very same tricks)
Losing the Battle for Rights/Justice, Freedom/Liberty, and Emancipation Potential

We're losing our most basic rights amid transition to "digital"; too little is being done to push back against this worrisome trend, which necessarily means reduction in both our freedom and our fundamental human rights
Response to Eric Raymond (ESR) on “Last Phase of the Desktop Wars”

Eric Raymond (ESR) talks about Microsoft's "embrace"; but there are many misunderstandings and misconceptions in his blog post, as we'll explain patiently, based on known facts
Links 25/9/2020: Calibre 5.0, Fedora 33 Beta Days Away, Snap Setback

Links for the day
Faking 'Progress' to Distract From True Justice or From a Full, Meaningful Reform

Activism for truly meaningful change doesn't stop at superficialities and cosmetic changes (which merely give a false sense/impression of accomplishment, resulting in inaction); we need to regularly consider how to dismantle injustice, not based on the criteria set by oligarchs-owned media, rallying gullible mobs to appease only big egos
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 24, 2020

IRC logs for Thursday, September 24, 2020
Richard Stallman: New Interview About Privacy (Published This Morning)

“The last few months have put data protection back in the spotlight. During a crisis of this kind, do we have to choose between safety and privacy? We talked about this with Richard Stallman, digital privacy activist and the founder of the Free Software Movement,” RT says
Links 25/9/2020: PostgreSQL 13, DragonFly 5.8.2 and Python 3.8.6

Links for the day
Code of Ethics Versus Code of Conduct in Action

Reprinted from Daniel Pocock's Web site