SEVERAL years ago we gave some examples where Microsoft bribes people or pays them a reward for a service after the act, e.g. attacks on ODF [1, 2]. It is a special type of bribe, reminiscent of "revolving doors" to use a more familiar vocabulary.
Mono, a project led by former Microsoft staff (the CEO) and a Microsoft MVP (the CTO), is getting funding from former Microsoft executives at Ignition Partners [1, 2]. It's like a bribe being passed by proxy, or a "man-in-the middle attack".
Mono Working Close With Microsoft, Gets $12M USD
Xamarin, the company behind the controversial Mono software platform that was born by Miguel de Icaza and Nat Friedman when the Mono developers got let go from Novell, has announced a series-A financing round worth twelve million USD. They're also continuing to work closely with Microsoft.
Xamarin announced its first round of funding today, which amounts to $12MM USD from Charles River Ventures, Ignition Partners, and Floodgate. There's a Xamarin blog post about this series-A round.