Bonum Certa Men Certa

Miguel de Icaza “is Basically a Traitor to the Free Software Community,” Says Richard Stallman

Miguel de Icaza
via Wikipedia



Summary: Strong words from the revered founder of the Free Software Foundation and more Microsoft/Mono news

Microsoft has lost its key pseudo-source person, Sam Ramji, and discussion about this carries on because a replacement will be needed. Some people honestly say that board member of Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation Miguel de Icaza is a likely candidate. Having already been criticised by the FSF before (de Icaza mocked them too), he should not be surprised to find this report from Software Freedom Day at Boston. The author quotes Richard Stallman as follows:



Miguel de Icaza “is basically a traitor to the Free Software community” This was in response to my question about the new Microsoft “Open Source” labs. He went on to say that Miguel’s involvement in the project doesn’t give much confidence as he is a Microsoft apologist. The project looks to be concerned with permitting “Open Source” programs to work on the Windows platform and thus divert valuable developer time away from free platforms such as Gnu/Linux.

Mono framework is not so much of a problem, but C# shouldn’t be used in core apps as legal problems would be hard to work around. Recommends uninstalling any apps using C#.


These words about Miguel de Icaza are harsher than anything we have seen from Stallman in the recent and distant past. The FSF has also formally explained why C# is a problem. Like many others, we have already explained why the CodePlex Foundation is yet another trap. Among our posts on the subject:



The less informed commentators use an invalid comparison to a company which does not attack Free software, namely IBM. Here is another new article on the subject. It's from Linux Magazine and the headline is: "Speculations About Microsoft's Open Source CodePlex Foundation"

Newer CodePlex takers include a Gold Partner of Microsoft called Telerik, which has been working with Novell [1, 2, 3]. There is also Gaia in the news: "The Carbon Project today announced the beta release of Gaia 3.4 for Mono, a powerful free platform designed to support Spatial Data Infrastructure (SDI) users."

“Mono is basically a Microsoft product made and maintained outside the Microsoft labs.”
      --Omar
If that's not enough, Novell also brings .NET to Apple's product line at the moment, using MonoTouch [1, 2] which Novell marketing people are actively promoting, accompanied by partner blogs. There is also a bunch of new videos that promote MonoTouch, which gets demonstrated on a Mac PC [sic].

At FS Daily, Omar argues that "Mono is basically a Microsoft product made and maintained outside the Microsoft labs." For peer confirmation he asks: "Am I right?"

lozz responds by saying: "You're not wrong. Novell is already so close to Microsoft that many people automatically think of this trojan entity as M$-Novell.

"Mono developers are more dangerous to GNU/Linux than a court full of patent trolls."

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 09/09/2026: Going Out, Smartphone Addiction, Mapping the Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 08, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 08, 2026
Linux is Sabotaged by Botspam and Bloat (de Facto Denial of Service Attack in "Intelligence" Clothing After Rust in "Security" Clothing)
Linux is becoming orphaned, devalued and diluted by GAFAM slop
Switzerland No Longer Wants Microsoft's 'Swiss Cheese' (Back Doors)
Switzerland's patience with Microsoft is wearing thin
Debian is Not a Community, Many Debian Developers Work for Large Companies Including GAFAM (US)
"Community" sounds like friendship and amicability
Links 08/09/2026: Slop Companies Attack Some More Sites, Nvidia Bribes 'Linux' Foundation for Some More Openwashing and for Saying Slop is "Secure"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: Ultra Introverts, BlackBerry Bold in 2026, and Laughing at LLMs
Links for the day
Microsoft Layoffs in October 2026
Microsoft is a market leader. In NDAs.
Links 08/09/2026: "The Green Revolution Has Failed Africa" and Palantir/Microsoft Harming NHS
Links for the day
Microsoft's Silent Layoffs Are the New Normal at Microsoft
Microsoft has a ton of layoffs all the time, but the media isn't mentioning those as no WARN notices get issued
SLAPP Censorship - Part 175 Out of 200: Implicit and Explicit Coalition Against the UK's SLAPP Industry
SRA recognises the problem
Further Transparency Problems at the EPO
The EPO was never meant to be profitable
Gemini Links 08/09/2026: "Everything Must Go", Announcing Perigee, and Presentations in a Browser
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 07, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 07, 2026
Alleged Manager at IBM Says "[t]here are likely to be a lot (and I meant, A LOT) of RAs before December."
"We’re getting pressure from above to put some team members on PIPs."
Links 07/09/2026: Amazon Cargo Plane Crash, .org/.net/.com Domains Considered Risky
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Cheese, Text-based Life, and Icons in Swaybar
Links for the day
Freedom, Not Fame, is His Goal
pursuit of money can be not only tiring but also involve abandoning one's freedom
Links 07/09/2026: Slop Trashes Memory of Parton, Flock Surveillance Infuriates Everyone
Links for the day
Getting Better After 20 Years
Exactly two months from now this site is turning 20
EPO Hiding Cocainegate and Abandoning Transparency (Even Access to Very Basic Information is Denied)
The EPO isn't just becoming like a private for-profit corporation. It's also becoming more secretive.
Richard Stallman Has Resurrected Lost Updates
We didn't ask about it
SLAPP Censorship - Part 174 Out of 200: Cascading Scandals and a Path Towards Much-Needed, Long-Awaited Reform
Reform the UK's law, not "Reform UK"
EPO's Gema Requena Sempere (PD People) Contacted Regarding Children With Disabilities
In the coming week we may be in fruitful contact with some media regarding EPO scandals
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Music Composition, Free Stuff, and Self-hosting Git Repos
Links for the day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 06, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 06, 2026