06.26.12
Posted in IBM, Mandriva, Office Suites, OpenDocument, OpenOffice at 10:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: An interview with the Open Source Relations Manager of Mandriva, one who is boasting a pivotal role in the free office suites space
MR. Charles-H. Schulz is prominent in the Free/open source world and he is no stranger to Techrights. 4 years ago we wrote about him in relation to ODF advocacy and a year later we interviewed him. Recently, Charles got an appointment at Mandriva and last week he also got married. We decided to catch up and learn more about Mandriva, Openoffice.org, and LibreOffice.
Techrights: Please explain to us your role in Mandriva.
Charles-H. Schulz: My official title is “Open Source Relations Manager”. My role is to help with the general open source strategy of Mandriva SA, and that implies several levels of involvement, either with the community or with the corporate level as well.
How does one go about transitioning from a corporate-centric model into a community-based one?
The answer is both simple and complex at the same time. Let’s define the terms here for the sake of clarity. A corporate centric model of open source governance, or better, a corporate centric model of FOSS project is a model where one corporation defines the project, is supposed to reap the benefits out of it, has a weak governance structure, and where most of the contributors are individuals who contribute to the project are individuals who are employed by the said corporation or by its affiliates.
“It’s a model that allows for a diversity of stakeholders to get involved at various levels of the project, from the contributor to the leadership.”A community-centric model is not a model where there are no corporations around. It’s a model that allows for a diversity of stakeholders to get involved at various levels of the project, from the contributor to the leadership. It is also a model where the governance structure tends to be more defined, because the project is actually much more independent and does not rest on one sponsor for most of its resources and contributors.
So how do we transition from the former to the latter is by assessing what the main sponsor can offer, and by setting up a governance structure that allows a diversity of contributors to get involved. The resources question here is crucial. What do we need? How many servers? What’s the migration process? And of course, what’s the governance, and how do we make the new project truly independent from the former sponsor (regardless of the friendly or unfriendly relationship with this sponsor)?
I think the keyword here is “contributor”. If you have enough contributors outside the main sponsor who are coming from diverse affiliations, then you have a sustainable project.
That’s the kind of questions we have been studying on the 19th of June in Paris together with the Mandriva Linux community representatives. I think the results are very encouraging, and that we manage to make sense of what we want to do, how we are going to do it and why we do it; now we are entering the actual phase of work, and we’ll try to keep this committee work effective while trying to involve the community at large on specific areas.
What office suite does Mandriva use by default and why?
Mandriva uses LibreOffice by default. And if you ask why, it’s simply because it’s the best free office suite ever.
You have had experience ushering a community from one project (OpenOffice.org) to another (LibreOffice) amid times of uncertainty and great risk. Are these are parallels to this case?
I think there are, although here we have the main sponsor, Mandriva SA, who is very open about the reasons why it can no longer sustain a Linux distribution project on its own, and therefore is working directly with the community to make an independent project emerge. That’s the main difference. There are parallels though that tend to be more subtle: What we’re trying to achieve, just like with the transition from Openoffice.org to LibreOffice, is a culture shift from “it will get done by someone else” to “we must do it”. In other words, there is the same demand and urge to set up a fully meritocratic system.
How is collaboration between OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice coming along?
You mean between Apache OpenOffice and LibreOffice? Because Openoffice.org is dead, and it had several children. The collaboration is limited on practical terms because of the licensing differences, but we are rebasing our code on the latest Apache OpenOffice in order to be able to have a cleaner licensed base. Right now, we must still deal with the LGPL v3, and while it’s a great licence it cannot change over time; so we have embarked in a relicensing effort towards MPL v2 and GPL v3+ and we are looking forward the interesting switch at Apache OpenOffice from the Openoffice.org codebase to the Symphony codebase; there will certainly be some code we might be able to reuse. Although, when you come to think of it, it’s funny to enter the Apache Incubation Process with one software you’re inheriting, and to use a different software you’ve also inherited just after the incubation process is completed 
Mandriva was once one of the most used (if not the most used) distributions of GNU/Linux. Where would you position the distribution on those terms in 2012?
“What we will end up seeing in 2012 and onwards, is a great community powered distribution that’s separate from the company itself; and the company offering a range of Linux-powered products and platforms for the enterprise and the education market.”Let’s face it, the Mandriva Linux distribution was for years the most widely used distribution around. It’s not the case anymore. Several changes happen in the GNU/Linux distribution market and Mandriva never really caught them. It’s not so much that the distribution became outdated: if anything, using Mandriva today, or its fork, Mageia, shows just as advanced, beautiful and user-friendly the distribution is. But the alignment between a sound corporate strategy and the community side of things was never really thought of until now. What we will end up seeing in 2012 and onwards, is a great community powered distribution that’s separate from the company itself; and the company offering a range of Linux-powered products and platforms for the enterprise and the education market. So if anything, you’ll see more of Mandriva as a corporate distribution, and more of the Mandriva Linux community as a community distribution; there is no fork here, but a friendly and productive relationship with no exclusive reliance on each other.
Congratulations on the wedding. Have you gotten the wife using GNU/Linux yet?
Oh, when I met Melissa she was already using the Gimp on Windows. She’s a very creative individual, and a few months after the beginning of our relationship, her old laptop broke. I introduced her to GNU/Linux; she used various distributions: Ubuntu for a long time, but also Mandriva, and now she’s a very happy Fedora user. I should also add that she created all of our wedding decorations, from the menus to the walls,
with the Gimp; she’s a poweruser of the Gimp and there are several community members, including me, who approached her asking whether she’d be interested in providing video tutorials for the project. █
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01.18.11
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mandriva, Microsoft, OIN, Patents at 2:26 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Original image source
Summary: A Mandriva derivative/fork joins the OIN while many more companies huddle around Linux organisations such as the Linux Foundation
THE GNU/LINUX system is growing very strong, very quickly. OIN too is growing strong with a new addition almost every week and a former Novell employee, Joe Brockmeier, has been trying to explain how OIN works, including its blind spots, e.g.:
OIN, in other words, isn’t a magic bullet for companies that are doing business on top of Linux.
Mageia joins OIN based on very few reports (Mageia is a new and thus obscure distribution).
As we explained before, the Linux Foundation and the OIN are closely related and the Linux Foundation too is growing at an incredible pace (we covered this in the daily links). The most jaw-dropping addition was Broadcom (just earlier this month) and IDG said that “IP management company Protecode and Timesys both joined this week, and Cybercom and GoAhead will join Broadcom in announcing their own membership next week.”
“Hopefully,” wrote Groklaw, “they are also going to join Open Invention Network.”
The addition of Protecode shows that the Linux Foundation is really not selective, however even if Microsoft joined the Linux Foundation or the OIN (it is said to have been invited), that would not jeopardise the GNU/Linux world; to the contrary — it would probably defang Microsoft to a high extent. █
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06.10.10
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Google, Mandriva, Microsoft, Novell, Open XML, Patents at 5:28 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: What becoming a “partner” of Microsoft actually means based on history and based on the present
WHEN someone becomes a partner of Microsoft, this often means that Microsoft will exploit the peer while pretending to be a friend. There are hardly any exceptions to this rule, as anyone who is a Microsoft watcher ought to know by now. To trust a predator is to simply ignore its inner instincts and that’s what Microsoft is — a predator.
As the SCO case comes to an end the WordPerfect case resumes. We last wrote about it in March-April [1, 2].
According to Groklaw, “Novell Appeals in Microsoft Antitrust Litigation on WordPerfect Claims”:
Novell has filed a Notice of Appeal in its antitrust litigation against Microsoft. That’s the case about its WordPerfect claims. Despite Microsoft prevailing on its motion to dismiss, for technical reasons I’ll explain a bit in a minute, I want you to read what the judge said Microsoft did to Novell:
Microsoft did not just withdraw a charitable helping hand; rather, Microsoft allegedly first cooperated in an effort to improve its own product, subsequently misled Novell into relying on information provided pursuant to that cooperation, and then withdrew its cooperation after Novell reasonably relied on Microsoft’s representations.
Ouch. Bad doggie. Microsoft didn’t prevail because it was clean as the driven snow, in other words. It prevailed on a theory of what the contract covered that is so convoluted, I can barely explain it to you, although I will try, and because as a result of that theory, the judge ruled it was too late to go to court over what happened. I wanted to remind you, in case some of you have forgotten, that it’s not historically unmitigated good news when Microsoft decides it wants to partner with you.
“Partner with you” usually means “exploit you”. Microsoft attracts users, but not computer users. It attracts employees who are users — people who use other people. I happen to have personal experience with such people (not involving myself directly, but I discussed this with a friend who is a victim today); Microsoft employment turns them into arrogant users who think that they can exploit other people and get away with it. Judges have said so too, having looked at extensive evidence.
It was rather bizarre when Tuxera publicly stated that Microsoft would be a great partner. While it would be wise to boycott exFAT and products that use it (and refuse such products from anyone who brings them over and thus pressures a peer to buy from Microsoft), it is sometimes impractical. This trap from Microsoft is a vicious one because it means that people who swap USB devices (even cameras) may rely on or require Microsoft exFAT patents. It’s the same with exchange of documents sometimes (so exFAT is just like OOXML in some ways, therefore both should be avoided at all costs). Malik’s network of sites advertises exFAT this week and so do other Microsoft-sympathetic sources. The latter notes:
Tuxera has licensed the appropriate technology from Microsoft so companies deploying exFAT are entitled to use the technology enabled by the filesystem. The company has not named any partners who have licensed the technology for Android, but it is likely we will see exFAT on Android devices down the road.
Hopefully not. Better yet, Google ought to work hard to abolish exFAT, which mustn’t be anywhere near an industry ‘standard’. It should be considered an antitrust offence.
Speaking of Microsoft partners, Ulteo had a little announcement to make and some readers were concerned because of the Gaël Duval link (Mandrake founder). But the thing is, Ulteo has always been Windows-oriented in its newer path (adjunct to Windows function after attempts to just be a GNU/Linux distribution). Ulteo will sooner or later find out that Microsoft “partnerships” are a one-way relationship. Many companies found that out the hard way. These are partnerships of desperation or gullibility, disguised as a marriage of convenience. █
“An analogy [of Microsoft] would be the owner of a toll bridge, which is the only bridge across a river, paying the owner of land to deny access to a site where a competitive bridge is partly built.”
–Judge Robert Bork, former US Supreme Court nominee
“Their documents display a clear intent to monopolize, to prevent any competition from springing up. And they have used a variety of restrictive practices to prevent that kind of competition.”
–Judge Robert Bork, former US Supreme Court nominee
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05.25.10
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mandriva, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Xandros at 2:29 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Mandriva gets rid of Beagle in the 2010.1 (Spring) release
SOME moments ago, as the log at the bottom shows, we found out that Mandriva had removed Beagle from the latest version of its GNU/Linux distribution (one of my favourite distributions). This is encouraging news which comes right after Ubuntu's removal of F-Spot and Fedora’s removal of Mono as a whole. Two years ago we warned Mandriva that it had created an unnecessary Mono dependency in OpenOffice.org and Mandriva responded by fixing it.
“This is encouraging news which comes right after Ubuntu’s removal of F-Spot and Fedora’s removal of Mono as a whole.”Mono dependents are fine, but probably not in a default installation of a GNU/Linux distribution.
The good news is that, as time goes by, GNU/Linux is advancing in many areas and vendors that sold out to Microsoft (decided to pay Microsoft for Linux, unlike Mandriva) are going extinct. Novell will probably be sold shortly and Xandros (which includes Linspire) is hardly ever mentioned in the news anymore. Presto is mentioned here and Xandros is mentioned here, but it’s more of an historical mention. █
| DaemonFC |
schestowitz: Mandriva is moving away from Mono a bit |
May 25 07:43 |
| schestowitz |
How so? |
May 25 07:44 |
| DaemonFC |
2010.1 will replace Beagle with Tracker |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
Nice |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
Good proof? |
May 25 07:44 |
| DaemonFC |
yes |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
Page/screenshot? |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
Just in case |
May 25 07:44 |
| DaemonFC |
http://wiki.mandriva.com/en/2010.1_RC |
May 25 07:44 |
| Techrights |
Title: 2010.1 RC – Mandriva Community Wiki .::. Size~: 61.51 KB |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
I want to verify to avoid mikstakes |
May 25 07:44 |
| DaemonFC |
Tracker is now replacing Beagle as document search engine. |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
DaemonFC: thanks |
May 25 07:44 |
| schestowitz |
what mono is left in it then? |
May 25 07:44 |
| DaemonFC |
the runtime itself and F-Spot I believe |
May 25 07:45 |
| schestowitz |
no tomboy/gnote? |
May 25 07:45 |
| DaemonFC |
oh, forgot about that |
May 25 07:46 |
| DaemonFC |
doesn’t say anything about getting rid of Tomboy, 2010 had it |
May 25 07:46 |
| DaemonFC |
Beagle uses a hell of a lot of resources though |
May 25 07:46 |
| -BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[nsisodiya] Now searching for a girl assistant for various task at my company. btw operation was successful and I am OK. |
May 25 07:47 |
| DaemonFC |
it’s not uncommon for it to sit there and take 80 MB of RAM just for itself while indexing |
May 25 07:47 |
| DaemonFC |
Tracker usually takes more like 30 |
May 25 07:47 |
| DaemonFC |
those little mono applets here and there gang up on you, take up way more resources than they’re worth |
May 25 07:48 |
| DaemonFC |
Tomboy takes about double the memory of Gnote |
May 25 07:48 |
| schestowitz |
Recoll took gigabytes |
May 25 07:49 |
| schestowitz |
The index |
May 25 07:49 |
| schestowitz |
Not the program |
May 25 07:49 |
| schestowitz |
For my home dir |
May 25 07:49 |
| DaemonFC |
I have to wonder what the hell these distributions are thinking when they needlessly pile these things on |
May 25 07:49 |
| DaemonFC |
makes it useless on older PCs with less than 1 GB of RAM |
May 25 07:49 |
| DaemonFC |
and while there are equivalent programs that use half the memory all over the place |
May 25 07:50 |
| DaemonFC |
Beagle is like WinFS for Linux |
May 25 07:53 |
| -BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[zoobab] With multiple patents, stronger patent rights can have the perverse effect of stifling, not encouraging, innovation http://ur1.ca/038r1 |
May 25 07:55 |
| Techrights |
Title: Fast forward >> – The H Open Source: News and Features .::. Size~: 37.78 KB |
May 25 07:55 |
| DaemonFC |
hmmm, Indiana University isn’t mirroring the RC |
May 25 07:56 |
| DaemonFC |
nor is Purdue |
May 25 07:56 |
| DaemonFC |
those have always been the fastest mirrors for me  |
May 25 07:57 |
| *Diablo-D3 (~diablo@pool-64-222-232-11.port.east.myfairpoint.net) has joined #boycottnovell |
May 25 07:57 |
| MinceR |
beagle isn’t like winfs for linux. beagle actually exists. |
May 25 07:57 |
| DaemonFC |
MinceR: part of WinFS ended up in Windows 7 |
May 25 07:57 |
| DaemonFC |
as “libraries” |
May 25 07:57 |
| DaemonFC |
more irritating than helpful |
May 25 07:58 |
| MinceR |
that describes m$ products in general |
May 25 07:58 |
| DaemonFC |
“You can’t save here you idiot!” |
May 25 07:58 |
| DaemonFC |
 |
May 25 07:58 |
| -BNtwitter/#boycottnovell-[zoobab] Absolute power has corrupted the MPEG-LA absolutely http://ur1.ca/031fu |
May 25 07:59 |
| Techrights |
Title: Nero Files Antitrust Case Against MPEG-LA .::. Size~: 30.37 KB |
May 25 07:59 |
| DaemonFC |
so they end up making you scroll through C:\Users\<user name>\My Music for example |
May 25 07:59 |
| DaemonFC |
you can’t just click Music and Save |
May 25 07:59 |
| DaemonFC |
so I redid it all so that the actual folders are in my favorites |
May 25 07:59 |
| schestowitz |
Let me see, hold on…. |
May 25 08:00 |
| DaemonFC |
and it ends up “My Documents” “My Music” My Pictures” etc. on top of “Music” “Documents” “Pictures” |
May 25 08:00 |
| DaemonFC |
still aggravating and no way to turn it off |
May 25 08:00 |
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05.21.10
Posted in Finance, Mandriva, Microsoft, Novell at 12:41 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Novell’s end as a publicly-traded company seems inevitable based on the plan to have an auction
VERY recently (earlier this week in fact) we wrote about a takeover of Novell.
Shareholders pay attention to the news and the stock is moving a lot [1, 2, 3]. This volatility is ending with Novell being down today (along with the rest of the market), having gained a little when takeover news come in and share price fluctuated.
The latest news about Novell is important enough an event to be ranked high inside the digests, especially at Reuters where the latest turn in this story seems to have begun.
As many as 20 bidders are interested in buying U.S. software company Novell Inc (NOVL.O), which has put itself up for sale and is this week accepting bids, the Wall Street Journal reported. [ID:nN19268405]
Here are a couple more digests [1, 2].
Up to 20 bidders interested in Novell
As many as 20 bidders are interested in buying software company Novell Inc, which has put itself up for sale and is this week accepting bids, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The original report is here and it says:
As many as 20 bidders are interested in buying software company Novell Inc (NOVL.O), which has put itself up for sale and is this week accepting bids, the Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday.
Resultant coverage includes:
• Calls Sold on Novell Inc.
• Novell Accepting Acquisition Bids: Report
As many as 20 companies are interested in acquiring software vendor Novell, and this week marks the deadline for potential buyers to submit bids, according to a published report.
• Novell seeks new suitors
Novell, which put itself on the block some months ago, has sought expressions of interest from suitors by the end of the week, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal.
• Report: Novell to accept bids this week for sale
Citing “people familiar with the matter,” the newspaper said a group of finalists probably will be picked from bidders whose proposals are due this week.
• Novell to solicit buyout offers this week, report says
• Novell Draws 20 Bidders
• Novell Accepting Bids This Week: Report
• Suitors Line Up For Novell
• Twenty interested parties likely to bid for US software maker Novell
• Novell Acquisition Bids Going Public
Up to 20 firms, mostly hedge funds, are considering trying to take over the software company.
• Report: Novell accepting bids from up to 20 companies
Novell are expected to select a number of bidders as “finalists” and then hold an auction amongst that group. Novell declined to comment to the Wall Street Journal on the matter.
Based on that paragraph/sentence, it seems like a sale is inevitable.
An ex employee of Novell, Matt Asay, spins it a little with the headline “Novell: 20 chances to reinvent itself” (idioms side, hedge funds cannot invent much, except structure or liquidation).
Regardless, Novell needs to go private so that it can make the hard decisions it has been wanting to make since at least 2002, when I was there. Novell’s pressure to grow while under the fierce spotlight of Wall Street prompted its ill-fated engagement with Microsoft, which has delivered short-term revenue while destroying long-term value and goodwill within the open-source community.
The VAR Guy too defends Novell, which is expected given his relationship with the company.
Novell expects to evaluate initial takeover bids for the company this week, according to The Wall Street Journal. As many as 20 companies have expressed interest in Novell, the Journal said. Of course, The VAR guy has his own opinion of the situation. Here it is…
According to this article in French, Novell was seen as a candidate to buy Mandriva too. From the automated translation we have Novell’s CMO John Dragoon saying: “Some aspects of the company Mandriva are interesting, for sure. We have great respect for its technology, but this is not what might interest us.” The last thing Mandriva needs right now is Novell and its patent relationship with Microsoft. █
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05.13.10
Posted in FUD, GNU/Linux, Mandriva, OpenSUSE at 2:32 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Joe ‘Zonker’ Brockmeier, photo by jimgris
Summary: Mandriva is up for sale; Brockmeier seemingly hopes that Mandriva won’t find a buyer
THE old S.u.S.E.-Mandriva rivalry in Europe might not be the cause for this bizarre piece from Novell’s former booster (he no longer works for Novell [1, 2], which is also up for sale), but either way, here he is commenting about Mandriva’s fate, not wishing them what they want.
Maybe it’s better if Mandriva doesn’t find a buyer
[...]
As a non-Mandriva user, I don’t really have a stake in whether the company succeeds or fails or whether something called Mandriva continues to exist in any form. As a Linux user, I love the variety that exists and having many choices of Linux distros — but I also see enormous wasted effort. Too much work, too few hands. And, especially and unfortunately, too many folks unwilling to compromise on any features or technical decisions when they can just fork or have their own playground — which ultimately results in tons of duplicate work and a fragmented environment.
There are other posts that are jokes about Mandriva, which is one of my favourite distributions of GNU/Linux.
Mandbuntu will initially ship with only one desktop environment/windows manager, the newly reconfigured (just for Mandbuntu) DuXfce. Rumor again informs us that a KDuxE version will be available soon. More rumors from lower level custodial crew claim that the French duck dish theme will continue. The next version will probably be Mandbuntu 12.0 – Peking Duck.
For those who believe that this is bad for Mandriva customers, well… in the worst case scenario it is easy to move from one distribution to another, which actually makes GNU/Linux a much safer choice for businesses. There are more contingencies and control of code, which proprietary operating systems cannot ever offer.
To give one example of a contingency, there is PCLinuxOS (rooted in Mandrake/riva), whose latest version Susan Linton has just reviewed, concluding:
Perhaps trumping all the technical aspects of this distro is a sense of ownership for its users. PCLinuxOS is one of the best examples of the “community distro.” The small band of developers take suggestions and cues from their users very much to heart and even solicit opinions, artwork, and software requests. This is perhaps the key to PCLOS’ success. It allows the community to feel not only involved, but important to development. They all can feel as though they contributed at least in some small way.
Our daily links contain many more reviews of PCLinuxOS 2010 and articles about Mandriva’s situation (it is not the focus of this Web site). I ran PCLinuxOS 2010 on my computer 2 weeks ago and it was splendid. Mandriva users have nothing to worry about, no matter what happens next. █
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04.30.10
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mandriva, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Ubuntu at 6:05 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Rant about Adobe Trash [sic] and what it teaches us about Mono/Moonlight
I have been upgrading to KDE 4.4.2 since last night (not decided on which distribution of GNU/Linux yet) and one thing that ought to be said is that I spent more time getting gnash/flash to function than I spent installing GNU/Linux (current desktop shown above). Gnash is not most trivial to install and some sites that I use strictly require Adobe Trash [sic] Player. Adobe’s installer did not work properly and needed a workaround (command line hack) that I came up with after struggling with it for 1.5 hours. Shame on Adobe.
This morning I also received the following mail from one of our readers, whose message could not come at a better time. Here it is:
What is true for Apple about Flash is true for GNU/Linux about Mono(=Microsoft .Net)
This is in regard with Steve Jobs post yesterday explaining Apple’s position respect Adobe’s Flash.
Notice that Apple took a more radical approach which is to apply a full ban on flash for their platform (except Mac).
In GNU/Linux there is no problem with the existence/availability of Mono:there is problem with those pushing it making it a dependency by default, yet the Mono apologists and Microsoft revisionists cry foul when someone objects that including Mono by default is a really dumb idea and a loosing strategy.
Imagine Apple making parts of its OS for smartphones dependent on Flash?
I think many of Steve’s motives for rejecting flash are very much valid for GNU/Linux and Free Software to reject dependency on Mono and technologies whose direction is not decided nor lead by the community (in fact it is lead by an entity that is set to disrupt and destroy the FOSS environment).
From Apple’s Web site:
“Sixth, the most important reason.[...]
We know from painful experience that letting a third party layer of software come between the platform and the developer ultimately results in sub-standard apps and hinders the enhancement and progress of the platform. If developers grow dependent on third party development libraries and tools, they can only take advantage of platform enhancements if and when the third party chooses to adopt the new features. We cannot be at the mercy of a third party deciding if and when they will make our enhancements available to our developers.
This becomes even worse if the third party is supplying a cross platform development tool. The third party may not adopt enhancements from one platform unless they are available on all of their supported platforms. Hence developers only have access to the lowest common denominator set of features. Again, we cannot accept an outcome where developers are blocked from using our innovations and enhancements because they are not available on our competitor’s platforms.”
One more thing: It would also be good to substitute the notion of “Mono” by “Mono/Moonlight”: In fact, Silverlight is very much an “attack” from Microsoft to Macromedia/Adobe’s flash in order to try to reclaim their good ol’ Explorer 5/6 times chokehold on the web…
The moral of this matter is that Web standards and not proprietary ones ought to be promoted. We always try to spread Ogg in Techrights (where possible). As more services and even applications become Web based, the risk of a proprietary Web becomes greater; Mono and Moonlight also have Microsoft patent issues. █
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03.13.10
Posted in GNU/Linux, Mandriva, Mono, Novell, Vista, Vista 7, Windows at 5:58 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: Andre Da Costa is still trolling the competition of Vista 7 while promoting this incarnation of Vista in exchange for gifts from Microsoft
OUR dear reader Goblin is the man who exposed a Microsoft AstroTurfer, Andre Da Costa, who also goes by the pseudonym “Mr Dee” in CNET. We have noticed that he is still trolling articles about GNU/Linux. “After he confessed to nymshifting one has to wonder,” wrote Goblin. “Maybe the Da Costa name has become too toxic to use? I see now he’s pimping Window 7 competitions,” he added [1, 2]. The reality behind Vista 7 is still being warped. Also from last night’s conversation:
| _goblin |
Speaking with many non-tech folks who are using Windows 7….all is not well…. |
Mar 12 21:21 |
| _goblin |
the general consensus is “Its just as bad as Vista” |
Mar 12 21:21 |
| _goblin |
looks and works great the first couple of times…..connect to the net, install a few apps and it reveals its true form. |
Mar 12 21:22 |
| Omar87 |
_goblin, let’s hope more sounds like these come to the surface. |
Mar 12 21:22 |
| _goblin |
these comments are coming from “average users” who already had their fill of Vista. |
Mar 12 21:23 |
We are not at all surprised to hear this. On the contrary, many people are pleased with Mandriva, which is one of my favourites (others in the family use it). Another reader commenting on the same superb article from Richard Hillesley points out that:
Anyone else see the irony?
[...]
This paragraph brought a wry smile to my face:
“Miguel de Icaza, at that time a rising star of the free software movement and co-creator, with Federica Mena, of the rival GNOME project, expressed the mixed feelings of many users and developers. “KDE was an inspirational project,” he told Linux Journal, “but at the time, the Qt toolkit on which KDE was built was a proprietary toolkit.”
The fact that he’s working with Microsoft now in producing the wretchedly slow Mono to provide compatibility with .NET and potentially laying Linux open to all sorts of future problems is deliciously ironic.
In terms of Mandriva, hopefully they will survive and flourish again, it still hangs in there fairly high up in Distrowatch. They probably do KDE better than any other distro and have done a splendid job with the now excellent KDE4 desktop.
There is some new Mono software from Novell employees this week [1, 2]. It’s fine for Novell, but it’s a patent fine for the rest.
Mandriva is indeed an excellent distribution. It puts to shame other operating systems, but it just doesn’t advertise as much. Since it is still KDE-centric for the most part, it hasn’t much of a Mono problem, either. █
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