Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Uses Pseudo “Open Source” to Fight Against GNU/Linux and the GPL

Shotgun
Like a gun that turns against its owner



Summary: Microsoft deceives on "open source" and uses it to exclude or to poison (with software patents) GNU/Linux

MICROSOFT IS UP to no good, but this is hardly news. The news can be broken down as follows.

Microsoft Tries to Make Silverlight be Perceived as "Open Source"



We saw this before and we are seeing it again. It was last mentioned with examples just over a week ago (Microsoft's /opensource page trying to associate Silverlight with "open source"). Now we see Microsoft joining forces with Rupert Murdoch and issuing a press release which is summarised like this:

World’s Premier Social Portal Works With Microsoft to Launch Open Source Kit for Silverlight Developers


When Microsoft puts the "open source" label next to Silverlight, then it's known that the company renders the term almost worthless and deceiving. Silverlight is blocking GNU/Linux users (out of Web sites) whilst Microsoft is falsely claiming that Silverlight cross-platform, which it is not. As we will show in a moment, Moonlight is neither a Silverlight clone nor is it safe for GNU/Linux users to touch. It's the type of thing which Microsoft's Partner[sic] Group calls patent trap (or "poison pill"). We already know how close Gartner is to Microsoft.

Microsoft Shuts GNU/Linux Users Out of NASA



The above example comes from MySpace, which is a private entity, but what about NASA? There was a similar deal/arrangement with NASA recently, bragging about an open source platform (not really open), which helps totally exclude GNU/Linux users -- or users of any open source platform for that matter -- from access to NASA data. As Matt Aslett put it, "it would appear unfortunate that while the data will be hosted on an open source platform individuals with an open source desktop are not going to be able to view it."

This case involves national assets, much like the Library of Congress [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11] where Microsoft pulled similar stunts with Silverlight. Since Microsoft's Silverlight is not catching on, Microsoft actually paid this government/federal section to pick up a patents-encumbered technology that excludes those who are not customers of Microsoft, thus denying them access to national assets that they own (library).

More Poison Against the GPL



Here is a new publicity stunt with Microsoft's 'poison pill' licence. Last month we explained what makes the MS-PL so problematic (it's incompatible with the GPL, by design) and it is hard not to see what is happening here.

Regarding this Microsoft publicity stunt, Miguel de Icaza has already enhanced some PR efforts for his good friend Scott Guthrie from Microsoft (even though it's a Windows technology) and so have Microsoft fans like Gavin Clarke.

“Let’s remember that with an increased investment of $100 million, Microsoft essentially pays some Novell wages.”For a sobering reality, the comments in LinuxToday are worth a look. These comments are ranging from "Senor Microsoft de Icaza is all giddy...." to "Miguel == MS" -- a comment that states: "I remain convinced that Miguel De Icaza and Nat Friedman are on the Microsoft payroll (probably using some shady accounting tricks to hide it). Ximian (now known as "Novell") are a Microsoft cancer infecting Linux and Open Source and should be eradicated."

Let's remember that with an increased investment of $100 million, Microsoft essentially pays many Novell wages. Nat Friedman actually worked for Microsoft prior to his days at Novell. In our daily links we've recently tried to show who is really is by adding video interviews. Miguel de Icaza wanted to work for Microsoft before starting his Free software endeavours in the late 90s. A lot of what he has built recently did more harm than good, notable examples being promotion of Microsoft technologies at the expense their competition, the "superb" OOXML remark, and even him telling off European regulators who watched over Microsoft's abuses.

Here is a recent video where de Icaza expresses his feelings about Microsoft. He is still totally ignoring the FAT/TomTom situation and saying nothing about what it means to trust in Microsoft, the risk of Mono, and so on.

Quoting from Microsoft's very own evangelism 'bible', one of the commenters in LinuxToday writes:

http://www.linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2009-03-31-029-35-OS-NV-0007

Every line of code that is written to Microsoft's standard is a small defeat; every line of code that is written to a Linux standard is a small victory.

You want to destroy Linux? Just continue to use MONO or begin using ASP.NET. After everything Linux is dependent on MONO and ASP then watch the other shoe fall: updates cut off, licenses reversed, and lawsuits for infringement begin.

De Icaza is doing EVERYTHING he possible can to make Microsoft technology dominate on Linux. Microsoft's past history and current examples of unethical and illegal behavior doesn't seem to phase him.

It is time to consider that he is a STEALTH Microsoft employee who does NOT have the best interests of Linux at heart.


Corresponding transcripts about Microsoft's standard strategy can be found here and none of this is new, just leaked. The TomTom case was merely a reminder of the harms of Mono [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].

Groklaw: Time to Get Mono and Moonlight Out of GNU/Linux?



As Groklaw put it yesterday, "Perens on TomTom: Be Wary of FAT, OOXML, .NET, Mono, Silverlight." Pamela Jones even did a detailed post to mention this, so it's not just in News Picks.

Ah, yes. Mono. Once again. And OOXML. Might governmental agencies wish to particularly take note of OOXML in light of the TomTom settlement? I would think so. And .NET and Silverlight. Perhaps you can think of others.

[...]

Wake up. Microsoft should be treated like Microsoft.

It is what it is. It is what it always has been.

Microsoft asked recently to be judged by its actions, not its words. OK. The TomTom settlement *is* Microsoft actions. We watched it, and we judge them by it.


Will Novell listen? Not everyone has paid Microsoft for the use of Mono.

"There is a substantive effort in open source to bring such an implementation of .Net to market, known as Mono and being driven by Novell, and one of the attributes of the agreement we made with Novell is that the intellectual property associated with that is available to Novell customers."

--Bob Muglia, Microsoft President

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Richard Stallman (RMS) Announced His Talk Less Than 24 Hours Before It Took Place and Still Filled Up the Auditorium at Sapienza Università di Roma
Photos from yesterday evening [...] It looks like it was a very successful event
Investigative Journalism Protects Society From Corruption, Crimes Against Women, Assaults on Civil Society
"what is the point of men doing military practice to defend a system that is so rotten?"
Swiss pimp usurping reputation of legendary Tissot boss Francois Thiébaud from France (BaselWorld, SWATCH Group SA)
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Paris 'Love Nest' & Debian Outreachy: from Lycée Lakanal to ENS Cachan, Cr@ns, nepotism
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Richard Stallman to Give Public Talk in 3 Hours, Then in the Technical University of Munich (Germany) Next Week
Richard Stallman at TUM on 21.10.2025 18:00, MW2001
 
Attacking Richard Stallman Has Become 'Career Suicide'
If you're going to viciously attack somebody, make sure your arguments are rock-solid
Microsoft's Failing XBox Business Has Turned Games Into Funerals
How does it feel to depend on Microsoft?
Yesterday's "Distinguished Lecture" by Richard Stallman Possibly Attended by Close to 1,000 People
The capacity of the place is about 900
Slop Poisons Everything
Imagine wanting to find what Torvalds has just said or what has just been released
Taking Software Freedom 'Mainstream'
interest in Software Freedom must have grown
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 13, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 13, 2025
Gemini Links 14/10/2025: Ada Lovelace Day, Sony CLIE PEG-TG50 Review, Why to Avoid Network Solutions
Links for the day
The EPO's War on Techrights Was a Massive Mistake
The EPO started the SLAPPs after we had published a few hundreds of articles; we've since then published close to 6,000 because the attacks on us emboldened insiders to help us
General-Purpose Computers to Become Growing Area of Coverage
Without them, we have little left for controlling our lives
"They missed a great opportunity to shut up." -Jacques Chirac
Brett Wilson LLP has been trying to cheat the legal system many times
Harassment evidence: Switzerland, overcrowded fitness and yoga centers, incompetence and racism in accident response
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Vincent Danjean & Debian NXIVM collateral, blackmail risks
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
In Sweden This Past Friday Richard Stallman Explained Why Copyleft is Important
And he didn't have to 'bash' BSDs, either
Dystopian Trends in Technology Make Richard Stallman More Relevant Than Ever
It's good to see him attracting vast audiences
IBM Layoffs Due to a Lack of Money and Company Debt Rising by Almost 10 Billion Dollars in 6 Months
IBM didn't buy Red Hat for any ideological reasons; it was a fast "cash grab" for revenue
Forbes Already Stopped Being a News Sites. Now It's a Spam and Propaganda Platform for "Paying Partners" (Companies).
news from Forbes became very scarce
Is the Second-Largest Institution in Europe (EPO) Gradually Becoming More Like a Sweatshop?
Underpaid, unqualified, inexperienced and incompatible people are already recruited to replace veteran examiners
The Register MS Has No FOSS Coverage Anymore
The Editor in Chief is like a Microsoft plant
Links 13/10/2025: "Toasty Subwoofer" and WiFi Speakers "Are About To Go Dumb"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: iNaturalist and Tove Jansson’s Moominpappa at Sea
Links for the day
Microsoft Does Not Deny That Large Retailers Like Walmart, Costco and Target Are Giving Up on XBox (and Not Stocking It)
No doubt XBox is in trouble and rumours suggest that more mass layoffs are imminent
We'll Encourage Richard Stallman to Talk About Software Patents at the EPO Next Week When He Visits Munich (EPO Headquarters)
Go listen to Richard Stahlmann
Arnaud Parreaux lost case defending rogue employer
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Mathieu Elias Parreaux declared bankrupt in Switzerland
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Breakdown of the Rule of Law and Patent Law in the European Union (EU)
The EPO cannot recruit suitably qualified patent examiners this way, let alone retain them
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Good Films, Wizard of Earthsea, Upgrading the Steam Controller's Stick
Links for the day
Leaks and Whistleblowers: Our Plan for Today
Society simply cannot advance when too many people self-censor
It's Not Justice When One Side Denies the Other Side the Ability to Even Speak
At this stage, Brett Wilson LLP is in my humble opinion acting in contempt of the Court
Links 13/10/2025: Australian Catholic University Uses Slop to Libel Students, Canada Threatens to Kill Beluga Whales
Links for the day
How Not to Silence Tux Machines (It'll Only Backfire, Badly)
defending Microsoft while attacking this site
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT and Google News
It seems abundantly clear that Google News and Google in general participates in the slop epidemic
Vincent Danjean (not INTERPOL), Claire Bardel & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Christmas lynchings: Martin Krafft (madduck), Penny Leach (mjollnir) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 13/10/2025: Birthdays and "Committee Unable to Contact Nobel Prize Winner"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 12, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 12, 2025
The Same People Who Attacked Richard Stallman (RMS) Are Attacking Daniel Pocock to Discourage People From Listening to His Information
Pocock is being demonised for the same reasons and by the same people who attack RMS
Your Typical Anti-Richard Stallman (RMS) Cancellist
"About the RMS cancellation"
Richard Stallman (RMS) Has Announced His Talk in Rome Less Than 20 Hours in Advance (and on a Sunday)
Why did he wait until the night before?
We Are Safe in a Modern "Tech" Society, Right?
People are safer if they control their own computing
GNU Tools Cauldron Event in Portugal: Videos Now Available via Invidious
Go have a look
The Way Things Are Going, They May Soon Stop Saying "Web Address" and Instead Say "Chrome Address"
The Web isn't built or based around open Web standards anymore. It's centered around user-agent.
Microsoft as a Golden Cage
"I was laid off by Microsoft and can't find a job. I'm weeks away from giving up my apartment and moving across the country to live with family."
Weekend Discussion About How IBM's Bluewashing of Red Hat Will Cause "Enshittification" for Users
"I worked at a software company that was acquired by IBM so I knew it was game over for RedHat the day they were acquired"
Brett Wilson LLP Getting Sued by Its Very Own Clients, a Legal Story That Has Made the Mainstream News (Law360)
Law360 or Law.com are about as mainstream as one can get in that "sector" (litigation 'industry')
Slopwatch: GNU/Linux Sites That Became Slopfarms and Spamfarms
The Web is a mess and "Linux" or "Ubuntu" sites became part of the problem
Richard Stallman's Talk 25 Hours Away, Aula Magna Palazzo del Rettorato (CU001), Sapienza Università di Roma (Piazzale Aldo Moro, 5)
The talk is 25 hours away and we see some QR code for it
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: Watches, the Depression of 2026, Gamboling with Odds
Links for the day
Links 12/10/2025: 'False' DMCA Claims and Slop Facing Perils Again (the Hype Wears Off)
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Just Lost Privacy Case in Austria and Its Latest Moves Make a Complete Ban Seem Imperative
Microsoft is not a software company, it's a spying agency that uses software to collect data
The Register MS: Microsoft is the Security Expert, Not the Prime Culprit, So Buy More Microsoft
This front page feature is devoid of any actual substance, it's just Microsoft copypasta
Stefano Zacchiroli (Zack) & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Lucas Nussbaum & Debian pregnancy cluster
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 12/10/2025: "Palm Computering", Further Exploration of Slide Rules, and Key Takeaways from The Well-Grounded Rubyist
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 11, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 11, 2025
Tomorrow: Founder of the Free Software Foundation and of GNU/Linux, Richard Stallman, Speaks in Roma (Rome), Italy at 4PM
GNU/Linux is more important than ever in this dystopian world
Microsoft and Apple Are Rare Topics in Geminispace
in Geminispace it's rather safe to assume everyone is into BSD, GNU/Linux, and sometimes retro