Debian is Not Including Mono by Default, Yet

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2009-06-16 13:54:51 UTC
Modified: 2009-06-16 13:54:51 UTC

Summary: Refutation of common misconception that irreversible moves have already been made

A FEW DAYS ago we wrote about ongoing discussions in the Debian project -- mostly a controversy that arose when some new push was made to put Tomboy inside. According to the leader of Debian, this supposed inclusion of Mono by default is only under "under discussion". Contrary to some reports, this is not final and people can still enter this debate.

The Debian GNU/Linux distribution may include Mono in its default install, with the project leader Steve McIntyre telling iTWire today that "there's a chance that it might do, but it's under discussion at the moment."

The fight for Mono is often a principles-driven fight -- not one which revolves purely on legal and technical considerations. To give a new example, this new blog post shows that Mono is not even necessary. Better programs exist for GNOME (GTK), which do not rely on Mono.

There's again a whole slew of arguments going back and forth about mono.

Me, I don't use mono-based applications anymore. I used to be a Blam! user, until I found Liferea. I used to be an f-spot user, until I switched to digiKam. The reason, in both cases, was that the mono-based applications were much, much slower than their non-mono-based alternatives.

The person above is a Debian developer. It is his reasonable and moderate argument where he expresses no special interest in Mono. So why enter this uncertainty in the first place? ⬆

Comments

eet

2009-06-16 20:49:03

Debian is contemplating to include Mono by default because Debian developers are not the cowardly paranoiacs as which Linux geeks often are portrayed. Good to see that the cool lives on! Linux hasn't arrived where it is today by Torvalds thinking about 'potential patent-traps' -- no, he coded and dealt with problems when they arrived!

Fear and hate get you nowhere!
lazarus

2009-06-16 21:31:42

I don't think anyone really understands that including mono by default means that OEMs will balk at shipping computers with linux installed. Microsoft just has to threaten them with a lawsuit, and bingo! No more linux pre-installed. Unless maybe if it's Novell's MS-linux.

Microsoft doesn't need to sue users. They can use their stealth patent claims to control OEMs.
Roy Schestowitz

2009-06-17 07:10:32

Yes, it can go like that.
Dante

2009-06-18 17:46:57

I'm an end-user, plain and simple. I have two almost identical apps, Banshee and Rhytembox. Now, can someone please tell me why Rhytembox uses 25mb of my 1500Mb memory, whilst Banshee uses a full 500?

Oh, Banshee has a nice cover fetch feature. It also has a nice optional (not installed by default) service that creates a smart playlist. (which I didnt install during my testing)

Honestly, to me? The legal disputes dont bother me. The fact is, mono software, whilst normally beating some of it's companion software in some areas, is far too resource heavy for me to use. Just because I have excess computing power dosent mean I want a app in a language that's very resource heavy.

Considering Ubuntu is going to possibly be putting in Banshee in 9.10, I want nothing to do with it. This isnt poltics for me, this is me saying 'Hang on...why?' I've switched to KDE now and am quite enjoying my desktop. Sure it's more resource heavy then a non-mono-laden GNOME, but it's less the a mono-laden one. Goodbye, GNOME. Hello Kubuntu!

Saving What's Left of Decent and Independent Journalism on the Web: We increasingly (over time) try to make local copies (hosted on our server) of important documents; it's hard to rely on third parties
Brian Fagioli's Latest "Linux" Article Appears to be Fake: Another form of plagiarism/ripoff using bots?
FSF Has Made It Halfway to Its Target (Funding Goal) a Week Before Christmas Day: $400,000 definitely seems reachable now, especially if they extend the "deadline"
[Meme] The Master Churnalist: Speaking of press releases being passed off as "journalism"
Spamnil's TFiR: Still Pretending Press Releases Are 'Articles' (TFiR 'Originals' as Plagiarism or Fluff): Same as last year
Links 18/12/2024: Zakir Hussain Dies, TuneIn Layoffs: Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Karate Love and Advent of Code: Links for the day
Windows (or Microsoft) Has Become the "One Percent" (Market Share) in Chad: How long before it falls below 1%?
Arvind Krishna, IBM's CEO, Will Eventually Suck Up to Donald Trump Like His Predecessor Did or the Watson Family Did With Adolf Hitler: Literally Hitler
Being a Geek Need Not Mean Being Sedentary: "In the past 18 months," Berkholz writes, "I’ve lost 75 pounds and gone from completely sedentary to fit, while minimizing the effort to do so (but needing a whole lot of persistence and grit)."
GAFAM Kissing the Ring of the Mafia Don: "resistance" to dictatorship and defenders of democracy?
Slop Spaghetti From the Chef, Second Time Today: Fresh slop ready out the oven!
IBM - Like Microsoft - Lies About the Number of People It's Laying Off (Several Tens of Thousands, Not Counting R.T.O. "Silent" Layoffs and Contractors/Perma-Temps): How many waves of silent layoffs have we seen so far at IBM this year?
Links 18/12/2024: EU Launches Probe Into TikTok (At Last!): Links for the day
Links 18/12/2024: Doha/Qatar Trafficking, Bloat Comfort Zone, and Advent of Code 2024: Links for the day
[Meme] Microsoft's Latest Marketing Pitch: "Stop Being Poor; buy a new PC with TPMs"
In South Africa, a Very Large Nation, Web Developers Can Already Ignore Microsoft Browsers (Edge Measured Below 3% in 55 Nations): The dumb assumption you must naively test with Microsoft browsers is no longer applicable in a lot of places
Open Source Initiative (OSI) is the Voice of Bill Gates and Satya Nadella: Not hard to see what they've done with the money
Microsoft Boasts That Its (Microsoft-Sponsored) "Open Source AI" Propaganda Got Cited in Media (That's Just What the Money Did): This is a grotesque openwashing campaign
In Many Places Around the World, Perhaps as Expected, Yandex is Nearly Bigger Than Microsoft (Like in Several African Countries): Microsoft may soon fall to "third place" in search
Keeping Productive This Christmas: We've (pre)paid for hosting till almost January 2026 and fully back on the saddle
IBM and Canonical Leave Money on the Table Because Microsoft Pays Them Not to Compete and Instead Market Windows, WSL, Microsoft 'Clown Computing', and TPMs: Where are the regulators?
Other Editors Who Agree "Hey Hi" (AI) is Just Hype But Won't Say So Publicly as It Might Upset Key Sponsors: Some media would gladly participate in a scam to make money
IBM (and Red Hat) is a Patent Troll, Still Leveraging Software Patents to Extract Money Out of Other Companies by Suing Them: Basically, when it comes to patents, IBM is demonstrably part of the problem, not the solution
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, December 17, 2024: IRC logs for Tuesday, December 17, 2024
[Meme] When the People Who Falsely Accuse You of Pedophilia Turn Out to be Projecting: When you attack something or someone using falsehoods, as happens a lot to Richard Stallman (RMS), there's risk that the attacks will backfire, badly
In Some Countries, Such as Greece, Almost 80% of Windows Users Are on Vista 10 and About 85% Need to Move to GNU/Linux for Security Patches: Vista 11 was a failure
[Meme] They Don't Want the Public to Know What "Responsible Encryption" Really Means: They also blame "China" for their own back doors (because China learned how to exploit those)
The Linux Foundation's Certificate Authority (CA) Significantly and Suspiciously Raises the Number of Certificates It Issues (Quantity Increase/Inflation) by Lessening Their Lifetime in the Name of 'Security' (That Barely Makes Sense!): LE made 3 months the "standard" for most, soon to become just 6 days instead of 6 months?
Why I Continue to Believe That at the End Software Freedom Will Win: a short and incomplete list of factors which I believe contribute to the sentiment that we can - and will - win the battles over hearts and minds in the "Tech" realm
Links 17/12/2024: More China Sanctions, GOP Scheming to Prop Up Fentanylware (TikTok): Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/12/2024: The Streisand Effect and Productivity-systems Desiderata: Links for the day
Technology: rights or responsibilities? - Part X: By Dr. Andy Farnell
Links 17/12/2024: More "Tesla Autopilot" and "Hey Hi" (AI) Blunders: Links for the day
Instead of Promoting GNU/Linux (or Ubuntu) Ahead of Vista 10's EoL Canonical is Marketing Microsoft's Proprietary Software: It's like Canonical employs people who work for Microsoft, not for Canonical
Links 17/12/2024: Many Abuses by Microsoft and War Updates From Ukraine: Links for the day
Content Management Systems (CMS) Bloat/ Static Site Generators (SSG) Trouble: some Web site management stories
DEI Room at fedoraproject.org Pretty Much Dead: We're not against diversity but against its weaponisation by greedy people who do not value diversity at all
The "Latest Technology News" at BetaNews is Slop About Slop: This is at the very top of the "news" (front page) at the moment
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, December 16, 2024: IRC logs for Monday, December 16, 2024
Gemini Links 16/12/2024: Invisibles and 20 Years of GNU/Linux on the Desktop: Links for the day
Microsoft's Windows Fell From 98% to Less Than 15% (in 15 Years in Africa): Operating System Market Share Africa
Swaziland: GNU/Linux Leaps to 7.24%, Based on statCounter: Remember that Microsoft had many layoffs this year in Africa
A Birthday Wish: My birthday is a few hours away
[Meme] Definitely Not Your Role Models: Hypocrite Neckbeard Meme
Changes or Variation of Logo at the FSF as 40th Anniversary is Near (Months Away): Next year the FSF turns 40
Mobile Usage Nearly 90% in Maharlika (Philippines)?: Microsoft has become just a footnote
Push Back and Become More Vocal for LLM Abuse and Misuse to Stop: We hope that more people out there (sites too) will call out the people who saturate particular topics on the Web with machine-generated junk
The Media Failed to Hold GAFAM Accountable (and Now It Suffers From It and For It): This recognition of the problem emboldens us to carry on
Botswana: New Highs for GNU/Linux, All-Time Lows for Microsoft: No wonder Microsoft has so many layoffs in Africa this year
Links 16/12/2024: Skinnerboxes ("Smart" "Phones") and Control Social Media Blamed for Fights: Links for the day
Reminder: The Microsoft Person Who Used OpenAI for En Masse GPL Violations Told the Whistleblower to Kill Herself: The evidence (real message)
Links 16/12/2024: emacs, Drawabox, “You Should Have Your Own Website”: Links for the day
In Some Parts of the World, Like Central America and South America, Microsoft is Irrelevant on the Web: Nadella has bet the farm on a Ponzi scheme
[Meme] Microsoft is Not a Country: Reporting crimes is essential for democracy
There's Not Much Time Left for President Biden to Pardon Julian Assange and Signal to Journalists That Exposing States' Crimes or Rich People's Misbehaviour is Lawful: Apathy towards this is part of the problem
Image Fusion is Not 'AI' (LLMs Aren't Either): Such fakes can (and always could) be done by a digital artist, it's just a little more expensive and time-consuming
GNU/Linux at New Highs in Bosnia And Herzegovina: Quite a few Balkan nations show high adoption rates for GNU/Linux
From Scientists to Pigeons: The EPO Has Turned Patent Examination Into a Process Made by Computers and Improperly Trained Staff Which Doesn't Meet the Requirements of the European Patent Convention (EPC): Might as well abolish this entire system if this is the current trajectory
Razik Menidjel Will No Longer be Chief Operating Officer Operations at the EPO: What does the EPC say about slop and should it be updated to deal with trouble such as slop?
Underpaid and Inexperienced Workers Overwhelm the EPO, Granting Many Invalid Patents and Placing Pressure on Veteran Examiners: So-called "production" (giving monopolies) pressure is "compromising the quality of our products" [sic] according to a new report
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 15, 2024: IRC logs for Sunday, December 15, 2024

Debian is Not Including Mono by Default, Yet

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts