Bonum Certa Men Certa

gNewSense Abandons Ubuntu, Microsoft's Mono Agenda Revisited

sudo apt-get remove mono-common



Summary: gNewSense is shifting to Debian codebase, shafting Mono, and the debate about Mono and Moonlight reaches new levels

THE FSF has already taken a stance against the use of Mono and the SFLC has shown that Moonlight is not acceptable from a legal perspective (the latest “promise” from Microsoft has at least 10 holes in it).



gNewSense, the distribution which Richard Stallman is currently using, has already removed Mono [1, 2] and gNewSense developers are now "dropping Ubuntu" (not our words) and moving to Debian, just like MEPIS did. From the site's updated FAQ ("modified on December 23, 2009, at 09:42 PM"):

13. Will gNewSense 3.0 be based on Debian instead of Ubuntu, and why?

Yes, because:

* Debian separates free and non-free software better, so it's easier to make a fully free derivative out of it. * Debian supports the architectures we want to support (e.g. MIPS). * it suits our infrastructure better (easier development).


Since Gobuntu never materialised [1, 2], this means that there is no longer a truly free/libre variant of Ubuntu.

gNewSense's reasons are known (see above). In the case of MEPIS, the reasons had to do with infrastructure too. One cannot help wondering if Ubuntu's increasing reliance on Mono also had something to do with this decision, even subconsciously.

To quote a conversation that came up an hour ago in our IRC channel (the full log will be posted tomorrow):




kecskebakDid anyone listen to the latest Ubuntu UK Podcast?Dec 27 13:25
kecskebakTalking about Silverlight / MoonlightDec 27 13:25
kecskebak"At last a real Microsoft Open Source application..."Dec 27 13:25
kecskebak"Watch the Winter Olympics on Ubuntu" Yeah, right...Dec 27 13:26
oiaohmGodDec 27 13:26
oiaohmIts not really open source while MS hold the cards to revoke the licence.Dec 27 13:26
oiaohmSome of the ubuntu guy are legal morons.Dec 27 13:27
kecskebakThat's a typical Ubuntu attitude to software freedom, sadlyDec 27 13:28
oiaohmProblem is most of them have no clues what freedom is.Dec 27 13:29
oiaohmSo will have to learn the leason the hard way.Dec 27 13:29
kecskebakI think the attraction of GNU/Linux in the UK is it crashes less or you don't have anti-virusDec 27 13:31
kecskebakThe software freedom part is seen as rather eccentric and for geeksDec 27 13:31
kecskebakAnyone who believes in anything in the UK tends to be regarded as rather suspiciousDec 27 13:31
kecskebakThat's why Richard Dawkins gets a kicking in the pressDec 27 13:31
oiaohmSoftware freedom is about data protection kecskebakDec 27 13:32
oiaohmI want to be able to access anything I create in the future.Dec 27 13:32
kecskebakYes - that's precisely why I moved from Flash to InkscapeDec 27 13:32
oiaohmIf you don't have direct control over the software you don't have direct control of your data so you are in a invisable jail with your data held hostage.Dec 27 13:33
amarsh04ms-publisher has been a real trap that wayDec 27 13:33





Regarding the text of the new Moonlight covenant, Groklaw writes: "So Moonlight is being framed as a proprietary product, then, I gather." Groklaw highlights what it calls an "interesting bit" from the covenant, namely: "“Moonlight Implementation” means only those specific portions of Moonlight 3 or Moonlight 4 that run only as Conforming Runtimes within a Conforming Host on a Personal Computer and are not licensed under GPLv3 or a Similar License."

One of our readers, Brandon, has written a long post to explain Microsoft's "Mono/Moonlight Agenda". To quote just a portion (it is a very detailed analysis):

Many relevant points are brought up in this section. James Plamondon states (infamously) that “Every line of code that is written to our standards is a small victory; every line of code that is written to any other standard, is a small defeat.”

This would imply that by using the C# standard (ECMA 334 & 335), Microsoft receives a small victory. An example of defeat would be lines of code written in Java, C++ (Standardized, C++98 or C++03 for example), Python, etc.

The second paragraph explains that they want to use psychological, economic, and political weapons to convince people to adopt their standards. Often I hear a lot of business talk about wanting to use Microsoft because most of their customer base is Windows machines. Other excuses for sticking with Microsoft has been the FUD “Total Cost of Ownership” studies that falsely prove Microsoft is cheaper or that GNU/Linux is more expensive.


Some days ago we wrote about Novell's removal of GPL-licensed code from MonoDevelop [1, 2]. Why is Novell still against the GNU GPL? Its ally Microsoft hates the GPL with passion, so this may not seem so absurd a move after all.

In defence of the GPL, Groklaw writes regarding Glyn Moody's article and Google's highly-cited document: "The GPL would mean there'd be no need to work hard to avoid fragmenting. If you choose a license that can fragment, you will get fragmenting, because proprietary desires are sure to come into the picture, as they did with UNIX. That's exactly what is wrong with Apache. It's open, until it isn't."

At this stage, Mono too is being closed. It's not so surprising considering the fact that Novell calls itself a "mixed source" company. It's false marketing [1, 2].

Recent Techrights' Posts

Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025