Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Interjects Itself into Free Software Using Novell

Got Microsoft



Summary: A roundup of new cases where Microsoft imposes its presence and dependency using its people at Novell

AS mentioned in the previous post, Jason from the Mono-Nono Web site was unimpressed by this latest Mono promotion from Novell. Along the lines of the epic "Got Milk?" slogan, Novell's marketing team publishes "Got Mono?"



Also discussed was the upcoming Monospace Conference on October 27 – 30 in Austin, Texas. The conference teaches .NET software developers and organizations how to use the Mono framework and Microsoft .NET to leverage existing investments in skills and applications on a broader array of platforms for a broader array of opportunities.


Here is another new post from Miguel de Icaza, who currently endorses a site that attacks Boycott Novell (Miguel also says that Richard Stallman is "misinformed since he refuses to use the web").

As usual, I will be talking about Mono. But since Mono is an giant universe, I would like to know what the audience would like to hear about.


He carries on ignoring the technical/legal problems and as the Mono-Nono Web site correctly points out, there is no real comment on the betrayal of Novell and Moonlight (due to Moblin [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]).

I’m just wondering when Team Mono is going to comment on Microsoft bringing Silverlight to Moblin?


Moblin's likelihood of software patents is a real issue and Silver Lie's inclusion is not good news to GNU/Linux. As Groklaw put it, "may I ask why *you* would want a proprietary, binary-only app on your Linux?"

The Novell employee who created and maintains Tomboy has announced version 1.0 of this principal Mono injection vector and Novell exploits SUSE's mainframe domination to spread Mono into more servers along with Microsoft software.

It seems simple: The recently released Mono Extension of Novell SUSE Linux Enterprise Server (SLES) 11 allows Microsoft Visual Studio users to generate SUSE Linux versions of their Windows applications that run on ASP.NET.


Not just mainframe servers are being infiltrated by Microsoft. Web servers too (Apache to be precise [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17]) have Microsoft push its proprietary software into them. This new post from a Microsoft employee shows how Microsoft pushes its own stuff into Apache, just as observers warned from the very start.

What we've done is a Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) Channel for AMQP. Our goal is to provide a first class AMQP experience for the .NET developer. And, since this is an Apache project we're talking about, all our code is obviously open source.


DotNetNuke, a Microsoft-esque 'ripoff' of PHP-Nuke, is another case of countering LAMP servers. Like Novell, DotNetNuke received a special place at Microsoft's table (the CodePlex Foundation [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]). Amid some changes at the top come the following comments from Groklaw, regarding this article which is titled "Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation leader soaks in stinging critique."

“Behind the scenes (private correspondence) we already see how Groklaw is being smeared for its criticism of Miguel and Mono.”Pamela Jones writes: "Let me guess. After that, we will be favored with Gartner reports on how the GPL is no longer the most popular license; rather Microsoft's "OSI approved" licenses are now the most popular. And so Microsoft takes one more step toward its announced goal, that FOSS applications run on Windows instead of the Linux kernel. Miguel is serving on the board of this foundation. Get the message?"

There is also Black Duck Software, which is derived from Microsoft to privately track software licences and funnel in everything from CodePlex as it already does. This trajectory was long coming [1, 2]. Regarding another article about the CodePlex Foundation, Jones writes: "Let me speculate: the business challenge of how to pretend to be open source without actually playing by the rules? Remember the old joke? How many Microsoft employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb? None. Microsoft redefines Darkness (TM) to be the new industry standard.."

Behind the scenes (private correspondence) we already see how Groklaw is being smeared for its criticism of Miguel and Mono. Some of the smears are more public and Miguel's friend Jeff Waugh calls me a "motherfucker" in support of an attack site which “faux” 'open source' people have created against Boycott Novell. Their attempt at a shotgun wedding with Microsoft/proprietary software is not working out.

Going back to the issue at hand, there is also the LiMo/Samsung phone which needs to be avoided because it's part of a software patents racket. Fortunately, as the following new article implies, LiMo gets its behind kicked by Android, so this Microsoft-taxed phone from Samsung is unlikely to gain much traction.

The idea of an open source software platform for mobile devices hasn’t made much commercial headway yet - as sales for Google’s Android system attest - but Samsung Electronics is about to give it a try.


Samsung's deal with Microsoft is similar to Novell's, so Samsung's failure would be wonderful news for GNU/Linux and a disaster to Microsoft's plan against it.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 07/09/2026: Music Composition, Free Stuff, and Self-hosting Git Repos
Links for the day
Silent Layoffs, Cool-down, and Cool-off: How GAFAM and IBM Operate (the Law Doesn't Apply to Them)
Laws? What laws?
 
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
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 06, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 06, 2026
People Who Enforce the GPL Banned From Linux Foundation Board (After Bribes From Prolific GPL Violators), Now They're Banned From Giving Talks at Events
about the "LF" ('Linux' Foundation)
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: The Slop Plagiarism 'Holy War' (Hype, Scam, Scheme), Burning CD-Rs, and Hardcopy Mono
Links for the day
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part IV - Insufficient Resources in the Face of Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) by Lawyers
it's about 120KG
OpenStreetMap is the Future, Dictatorship is the Past
OpenStreetMap helped us check maps for transport, various overlays with addresses, and there was 0% reliance on GAFAM or "Google" anything
How Strikes at the European Patent Office Are Seen by Striking Staff in Berlin, Germany
We have some more EPO scandals to cover later this year and next year
Association for Computing Machinery Cites Techrights in Relation to GemText and Gemini Protocol
published yesterday, Open Access
Links 06/09/2026: More XBox Trouble (Microsoft Unrest, Many Silent Layoffs This Month), John Duffy as Next USPTO General Counsel
Links for the day
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Avoiding 'Smart' 'Phones' and Setting up Gemini for the First Time
Links for the day
Links 06/09/2026: Sabotage by Slop and "What Happens If 'Open' 'AI' Dies?"
Links for the day
How Back Doors Became the 'Normal' or 'Norm'
"We also allowed a lethal monoculture to fester"
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America
We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan
Links 05/09/2026: "Let’s Stop Buying New Phone" and 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Drowning in Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Polarization, Warped Maps, and Emacs rectangle-number-lines
Links for the day
Software Freedom, Even If Difficult to Attain Due to Outside Pressure, Does Make You Happier
Peer pressure and opinionated employers can make friends and staff more miserable if they dictate bad software
You Can Run GNU/Linux on a Desktop/Laptop for 1,000+ Days Nonstop
To me, the long uptime is a way of "marketing" GNU/Linux as robust and stable
Profiting From Global Warming (and Making More Money the More You Cause Warming)
Unregulated bank and pyramid scheme
SLAPP Censorship - Part 172 Out of 200: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Complicit in the SLAPPs by Inaction (Didn't Even Study Any Evidence, Only Wasted Time and Budget)
"SRA placed into special measures due to 'disappointing standard of leadership'"
China Does Not Need American (US) Products Like GAFAM's
China has abundance of technical things it can leverage to preserve its autonomy
RMS Didn't Make Enough Backups
Making backups is important
Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter)
One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Fireflies, Shore Pine, and ASCII Art
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 04, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 04, 2026