Bonum Certa Men Certa

One Last Sellout From Novell (MPEG-LA, Microsoft Patent Traps)

Earrings and girl



Summary: Weeks before its death (as a public company), Novell announces continued plans that favour MPEG-LA and Microsoft, not software freedom

THE DIMINISHING presence of Novell does not prevent the company from promoting Microsoft, which funnelled perhaps hundreds of millions of dollars into Novell in order to receive this kind of treatment. It's a bit like a bribe -- somewhat like the money Microsoft gave to Nokia, which then decided sell out without being acquired [1, 2, 3, 4].



The usual suspect is making some noise about Moonlight, which brings Mono and proprietary codecs with it (hello, MPEG-LA). The FSF's new call for a boycott against MPEG-LA supporters is another subject we'll deal with shortly. Moonlight is just a surrogate of Silver Lie, which would never support WebM. Microsoft is in complete control.

"Moonlight is just a surrogate of Silver Lie, which would never support WebM."The 'Microsoft press' is of course promoting this, but it's not alone [1, 2]. An entity called Telerik, which we mentioned in [1, 2, 3], is also helping this promotion, which is of course invaluable to the monopolist. Some Linux sites fail to highlight the drawbacks [1, 2] and also give coverage to future releases of Mono, which include Microsoft code and patent traps. Novell has been actively trying to pollute Android with Mono, using a product called MonoDroid [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15]. It is speculated that Moonlight too will try to pollute Android, not just with Microsoft patents but also with MPEG-LA patents (Google is currently the main opponent of MPEG-LA and Microsoft is trying to increase the cost of Android, using lawsuits and extortion a la MPEG-LA).

Based on comments that we found in Identi.ca over the weekend, the Mono bullies or Mono lobby continue to act like Scientology. The usual suspects are harassing anyone who dare to say a negative thing about Mono and/or Moonlight, as always. Among the bullies in these discussions we find some Novell employees like this gentleman (who also hangs out in Reddit, smearing Techrights). Hypocritically enough, Mono bullies like to say that they are the victims; they should take a look at their own behaviour. Mono boosters must come grips with the fact that merely naming those who do the pro-Microsoft coding is reasonable for the same reason an attacked party often blames the attacking troop if not the general (people like Microsoft MVP de Icaza) who start this attack, sometimes embodied by a project with the funding of the 'state' (Novell or Microsoft in this case). To quote the Novell/Ximian trooper:

Attacking someone's project often results in that person feeling personally attacked. I should know this as well or better than anyone because I'm one of the authors of the most widely attacked projects in the Free Software community: Evolution, Mono, and Moonlight.


Mono and Moonlight are 'attacked' because they are harmful. They help Microsoft, not Free software. The 'attacks' on them are not personal attacks, unless Mono and Moonlight are two people with feelings to be hurt. Trying to personify them is missing the point.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: Fake Articles About "Linux", Slop Images in VentureBeat, Linux Foundation Spam Made With LLM Slop and Slop Images
The only relief or upside - if any exists - is that the pace of slop was down a bit this week
Richard Stallman (RMS) Talk in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress Will be Remote
This past week RMS received lots of accolades online
Links 28/08/2025: Chatbots Distorting/Fabricating History and Also Driving Suicide
Links for the day
 
Representing and Speaking for Animals
If I ever choose to take this matter to tribunal with animals-centric NGOs on my side, it'll get some press coverage for sure
No, 4Chan is Not Fighting for You by Lawyering Up Against Ofcom (UK)
Don't mistake proto-fascists for people who "fight for you". They don't.
Downlplaying the Impact of "UEFI 9/11" is a Losing Strategy
we won't publish much whilst on holiday
In Many Places in the World Vista 11 "Market Share" is Going Down, Not Up
In some countries Windows is already down to third place or lower
More Microsoft-Connected Layoffs, at Least Third Time This Month! (Also Another Death on Campus)
Microsoft as a "gaming" company is where studios, projects, games, and even developers come to die
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 28, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 28, 2025
Gemini Links 29/08/2025: Poems, Games, and Java 25 Performance
Links for the day
Links 28/08/2025: Greenland 'Interferences' by US and Skinnerboxes to Get Banned in Korean Schools
Links for the day
The Register MS (Run by Microsoft Operatives): Free Software is Putin, Hence Evil and Dangerous
The current editor in chief is an American Microsofter, the previous one went to work for Google (US)
Gemini Links 28/08/2025: Back in Japan and Why "Hacker News" Sucks
Links for the day
A Much-Needed Wake-up Call to Users of Wordpress.com, Blogspot, Substack and All Those Other Outsourced (and Centralised) Platforms
There are several lessons in there
The UEFI 9/11 - Part II - Campaign of Censorship and Defamation Against Critics
In dictatorships, humour serves an important role. It's tragic.
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Resists Software Freedom, Even by Attacking Its Own
The OSI is compromised
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 27, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 27, 2025
Slopwatch: linuxsecurity.com, Slopfarms in Google News, and More
Some readers of ours end up sending us links that are from slopfarms, not realising those are slopfarms
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Katrina Memories and Google Versus Software Freedom
Links for the day
Links 27/08/2025: Police Against Media Freedom in the UK, Energy-Hungry Countries Targeted by China
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows Fell to All-Time Lows in Egypt This Summer, Vista 11 Adoption Decreases While GNU/Linux Increases
Vista 11 is going down rather than up
Links 27/08/2025: Microsoft Demoralises Staff With Slop Demands, Leaving Mastodon Explained
Links for the day
12 Hours Ago The Register MS Published a Fake (Paid-for) Article, But This One for a Change Did Not Promote a Ponzi Scheme
There are also Free software alternatives, but they don't pay The Register MS for "synthetic" so-called 'journalism'
More People Need to Call Out and Put a Stop to Serial Sloppers
Unless slopfarms are stopped, people will read and share Microsoft propaganda made by chatbots
Gemini Links 27/08/2025: Headphones and Tartarus
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft is Terrible (Proprietary Plagiarism Machines Have No Future, LLM Slop is a Bubble)
The slop sceptics/critics are going to have lots of "told you so" moments
GNOME "governance issues, staff reduction, etc." amidst Albanian whistleblowing and women trafficking
Notice the connection to Software Freedom Conservancy (SFC) and GNOME
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 26, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 26, 2025