[0] http://jacob.peddicord.net/blog/2009/06/12/mono-v-vala-fight/

I use GNOME. GTK and GNOME are not the problem, maybe just a small subset of the associated work.

“Developers, developers, developers, developers…”

I’m surprised why Boycott Novell exhibits so much Gnome love, when it’s Gnome that is engaging in all these shenanigans about C#, Mono…

So ya, I’ll stick with Java/C/Python/Others.

Microsoft wants you to like them, they want to be seen as your “open source buddy”. I don’t think you will ever again hear statements like were made when they told the press about Linux patent infringement ever again. They will talk about it internally, and if more memos slip out, but otherwise you won’t hear it. They know they’re in trouble, and they won’t let PR slip out like that again if they can help it because it makes them seem like they aren’t open source buddies when that happens.

That’s because it’s true that they aren’t. You’re not using Windows, that’s a problem. Bad Roy, bad. Your paycheck is supposed to be mailed directly to Microsoft, what were you thinking?

Mix in some hard facts about what kind of company Microsoft is, their patent threats against Linux, and in general an extreme disgust of everything Microsoft can easily form. This is surprising?

It’s a mindshare war, but if you’re on the fence trying to decide about who to work for and what platforms to support, looking and the licenses, patents, and the general ethicalness and niceness of the platforms you are considering is important for your well being. No one wants to see their work be in vain due to the strings that happened to be attached to it.

In a similar vein, Microsoft uses the TomTom settlement as ‘proof’ that more companies need to pay for FAT patents. It is done behind the scenes.

Microsoft will keep going after whoever is the biggest. ASUS is the first to really spread netbooks? Windowsified. Ubuntu is the most popular desktop OS? Injected.

I just wonder how big the payments/kickbacks were for all this Microsoft software pushing. Not that that was the case with Ubuntu but it could be and of course wouldn’t be surprising.

They’re simply trying to keep themselves entrenched in the market, like they’ve stated they want to keep “critical mass”, so any spread of their “platform” which includes Windows and .NET/Mono will do one of two things:

a) help others migrate away from them
b) help others migrate towards them

But even if you try to pick which Mono will do, for them either one of these may be much better than

c) no compatibility, dump one or the other

Because then they can’t even keep *any* kind of Microsoft dependency around.

So free OSes have gotten to the point where Microsoft has entered a phase where it needs to play nicely with these competitors by doing a or b, because c apparently is resulting in dumping Microsoft more often than not in the face of competition with free software.

In other words, they’d like you to keep at least your Exchange server around, instead of dumping the entire integrated Microsoft system for an all-free one.

Any way, like aeshna23 mentioned, if you’re so concerned with patents then who’s API would you use for your system, one coming from a company which has attacked Linux for patent violations and has attacked Linux-using companies, or companies which are much more open and nicer in general and have legal claims to that openness? Java or Mono? OpenGL or DirectX? etc

What are we doing? Do we need Microsoft to fragment and create endless disruption in Linux sucking and diverting our energy? Hell no!
Can’t you see we are doing it ourselves? Microsoft don’t need to spend a dime. Stop handing a gift to Microsoft.

Red Hat’s Fedora to stop using mono for legal reasons? That is not the reason. Red Hat is a profitable public company whose obligation is to it’s shareholders and investors. Fedora is used as a base for their RHEL product and because of this Fedora has a different target audience than that of, say, Ubuntu. This is the fundamental reason for the decision, not for legal reasons. I don’t know what Red Hat’s or Fedora’s game is but this is flaming the issue. There are many vocal Linux users that are taking this bait not knowing what the implications are. You are destroying Linux yourselves people.

To Microsoft: Sit back and watch the show.