11.27.07

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IBM’s Standards Vice President Asks About Mono-free Linux

Posted in GNU/Linux, IBM, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Patents at 10:26 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Will C#/Mono (for OOXML translators) in OpenOffice.org enter IBM’s Lotus Symphony? What about SUSE? IBM, watch out.

Our past coverage of Mono concerns (e.g. in [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33] was centered around the knowledge that Microsoft is playing patent games. It has already proven (as far back as May) that it is willing to show its patent teeth. Bill Hilf has said on numerous occasions that Microsoft was prepared to bite as well (consider the most recent interview [1, 2, 3]). Given what we already know, it should be hard to approach Mono without some degree of caution.

It was actually very curious (almost telling) to find out Bob Sutor’s new interest in a Linux distribution which does not contain Mono.

Speaking of patents and IBM, Big Blue too has its share of sins and this new patent is a classic example of this. It reached Slashdot yesterday.

Imagine this scenario. You’ve just received the latest Hollywood blockbuster in the mail from the DVD rental service of your choice. You’ve popped the popcorn, poured a tall glass of your favorite beverage, and settled back to watch the film on your flatscreen TV. 15 minutes or so into the movie—right as the action is building to a crescendo—the movie fades to a commercial. For the next minute, you’re forced to watch the commercial as the fast-forward button has suddenly stopped working.

This brilliant idea is owned by IBM. The last time Slashdot spotted an obnoxious patent from IBM, Bob Sutor chimed in and said the the patent had just been rubbished. And speaking of this patent, Microsoft has a similar one: (the devil whom we know remains far worse than the one we used to know in 70s)

Microsoft has patented the idea of inserting fresh advertisements into old recordings on personal video recorders, to ensure you see today’s ads even if you’re watching a recording from last week.

See? Who said patents do not promote innovation and help human kind? That’s sarcasm by the way. █

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