Bonum Certa Men Certa

Reader's Article: Microsoft's Empty "Community Promise" (Mono) is a Sham

Mono, ECMA, Microsoft



...or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Look at the Wookie.

Misdirection is a curious thing, and in the hands of Microsoft "evangelists" (such as Miguel de Icaza), it's positively dangerous.



Apparently, de Icaza is slavering [1] over Microsoft's recent announcement [2] that they "will be applying the Community Promise [3] to the ECMA 334 and ECMA 335 specs".

That's nice.

So now the pro-MONOpolists have three things to cheer about:

1. Poisoning Free Software with Microsoft's IP (and paradigm) 2. The ECMA RAND /price/ guarantee 3. Microsoft's misleading "covenant"

Let's look at these in more detail.

First, if we naively assume there are in fact zero "IP" risks involved in implementing C#/CLI, that still leaves the question of why should the Free Software community help spread Microsoft's standards, regardless of how "safe" any of those standards might be?

After all, Microsoft is the self-declared enemy of Free Software, they think it's "a cancer", and that GNU/Linux is "Microsoft's number one competitor". Their criminal and unethical behaviour alone, over the last three decades, should be sufficient reason to not want to help them, but given the very obvious conflicts of interest here, I'd say it's patently obvious there must be a catch. Microsoft is not the sort of company that helps its competitors ... ever, not unless it can work some nefarious angle (embrace, extend, and extinguish).

Historically, and still to this day (OOXML), Microsoft uses its proprietary, reinvented "standards" to try to squash all competition, by tying those "standards" to software that's bundled with nearly all PCs, by OEMs, under financial coercion [4] [5].

Bear in mind that this devious "standards" tactic is the key weapon Microsoft uses to protect its monopoly.

Is this something we should be helping them with?

“Microsoft is not the sort of company that helps its competitors ... ever, not unless it can work some nefarious angle (embrace, extend, and extinguish).”The second point, and I'll make it brief since there's very little to discuss about it, is that the ECMA RAND is only a guarantee of fair price (parity). It has nothing whatsoever to do with Microsoft's rights to sue you for patent violation. A classic misdirection used by the pro-MONOpolists.

The final, and most pertinent point, is that Microsoft's so-called "Community Promise" is just another misdirection, because its "truths" are incomplete, in some cases questionable, and in yet other cases wholly irrelevant (essentially non sequitur).

Here's a simple analysis:

The "covenant" (and the RAND) do not apply to large portions of .NET (e.g. ASP.NET, ADO.NET and Winforms). This is significant because it means .NET programs which utilise these components will not be (legally) interoperable with systems running Mono. This means there will be great disparity between C# programs on Windows and their ports on GNU/Linux, and this fact will be abused by Microsoft to promote Windows as the "better" system. It will also have the effect of attracting Mono developers over to Windows, who may subsequently abandon GNU/Linux. It may even represent an actual "IP" risk, if de Icaza and friends are not entirely vigilant (or possibly if they're complicit with Microsoft's anti-Free Software agenda. At this point, anything's possible).

The "covenant" conveniently ignores these essential details.

Microsoft also makes a big deal out of its claim that this "covenant" is "legally binding". Well, is it? Not really. It's not legally binding in the sense that an actual patent grant is, since that is an explicit contract with a named party. It may become legally binding ... if used as a challenge in court. But of course it does actually need to be tested in court /first/. If you were, for example, Red Hat, would you want to be the guinea pig? Oh how Microsoft would love the opportunity to squash that piggy.

In fact, it's debatable whether they'd even be covered by this "covenant" at all, since (in Microsoft's own words) "The CP applies only if the implementation conforms fully to required portions of the specification. Partial implementations are not covered" ... and "The Community Promise applies to all existing versions of the specifications". So this raises the questions what is covered, and exactly how feasible is it to implement this "full specification" under Mono (or DotGNU, or any other unlicensed implementation)? Even more importantly, what will not be covered in the future, as and when the specifications change?

Oh yes, Microsoft also make a big deal about their claim that these rights are "irrevocable", but they fail to clarify that these "irrevocable rights" only apply to the standard as it stands today. And we all know how Microsoft loves to "extend" things, don't we?

So in summary, Microsoft's "promise" is worthless, irrelevant, and entirely misleading. I'm sure it'll bring a brief moment of euphoria to the pro-MONOpolists, who will now believe they have a new argument to support their aspirations to poison Free Software with Microsoft's toxin, but in the long term it amounts to nothing. Nothing but trouble, at least. ____ [1] http://tirania.org/blog/archive/2009/Jul-06.html [2] http://port25.technet.com/archive/2009/07/06/the... [3] http://www.microsoft.com/interop/cp/default.mspx [4] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=200... [5] http://www.birdhouse.org/beos/byte/30-boot...

Analysis by Slated



"The shepherd drives the wolf from the sheep's throat, for which the sheep thanks the shepherd as his liberator, while the wolf denounces him for the same act, as the destroyer of liberty. Plainly the sheep and the wolf are not agreed upon a definition of the word liberty; and precisely the same difference prevails today among human creatures." ~ Abraham Lincoln

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Changing One's Name Won't Change One's Past
People who have earned a bad reputation are not magically "entitled" to reset
People Who Assault Women Are Not Victims of "Distress"
It seems like an American tradition. In a country with almost 50 presidents, not even one was a female.
Adoption of Gemini Protocol Still Growing
Gemini Protocol is being obscured by the media - it doesn't help that Google 'hijacked' the word "Gemini" - but people still manage to find out about it, download a client, and use it
Brett Wilson LLP "Takes it Personal" (Character Assassination, Not Professionalism). Everybody Can See That.
On behalf of violent men
 
Illegally Hiding (or Demanding Secrecy Around) Illegal Requests or Attempts at Extortion
unlawful communications like threats
Microsoft's Halloween Documents and systemd, Wayland, Etc.
Maybe one day Wayland will be widespread. Or maybe not.
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: BOFH Archive, Updating Old Palm PDAS, and Nginx vs Slop Bots
Links for the day
Ubuntu is Becoming GAFAM-Like
What does that say about Canonical and Ubuntu?
Slopfarms Which Take Real Articles About GNU/Linux and Turn Them Into Copycats Which Are False
Even before the LLM hype those were quite common
The Firm That Picks on Techrights is Accustomed to Working With Criminals
Techrights never did anything illegal. So why is it being picked on by people who work with criminals?
Microsoft Said the Mass Layoffs Were for "Investment" in "AI", But It's Also Laying Off the "AI" and "Copilot" Staff
Months ago we showed many so-called "AI" people were getting the boot and this time it's the same
DryDeadFish is Dead, Long Live DryDeadFish
We kept checking, hoping it can recover from some temporary technical issue
For Quite Some Time Already Microsoft Attracts Crackpots, Scams, and More
Occasionally we talk about the situation at IBM as there are many parallels
Links 14/07/2025: Chatbots Broken Again, McHire LLM Shows Limits of the Hype
Links for the day
Slashdot Media Turned Linux Journal Into a Slopfarm and Now Slashdot Actively Promotes Anti-Linux Slopfarms
Yes, "no-nonsense" apparently means actual nonsense
Links 14/07/2025: Arresting Photographers, Threats to Revoke US Citizenship Over Criticism
Links for the day
More EPO Leaks on the Way
We hope that Mr. Rowan will actually try to refute what we say and show, not merely point the finger at the messengers
Decommodification is a Corporate Strategy Against Communities
systemd is led by Microsoft and hosted by Microsoft
copyleft.org 'Hijacked' by the People Who Attack the Person Who Created Copyleft
So far there's nothing "tasteless" in copyleft.org, but that can change at any time in the future
Asking People to Take Down Articles and Videos Only Makes These More Popular and "Viral"
If you do something bad, one of the worst things you can possibly do it try to silence those who speak about it
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 13, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 13, 2025
Two-Thirds Towards FSF Goal, Richard Stallman to Give Talks in Europe
There are 67 left before reaching the target
Gemini Links 14/07/2025: Politicised Tech and "Leaving GitHub"
Links for the day
Pissing Contests and Pissing Off Everyone
people who came from Microsoft are trying to vex and divide the community
Microsoft Repeats the Mistakes Made by the EPO After We Exposed a Major Microsoft/EPO Scandal 10 Years Ago
That scandal was all over the media, not just in English
The Demise of LLMs
We've just checked BetaNews again. They've dropped all the slop and went back to human authors.
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Sonpo Museum of Art and FCEUX
Links for the day
Links 13/07/2025: UnitedHealth's Censorship Campaign, Australia Wary of China
Links for the day
Firing Away With Nonsense
Or fighting fire with fire
Links 13/07/2025: Climate Crisis, GAFAM Poisoning the Water
Links for the day
Turns Out LLMs for Code Don't Save Time and Don't Improve Quality
Neither legal nor useful
The Microsofters Will Have an Obligation to Compensate Us
This story isn't just about Microsoft. It's also about corruption, there are many women victims, there is abject "abuse of process", and many more scandals to be illuminated in years to come.
Reproducing at the EPO Instead of Producing Monopolies for Foreign Monopolies With Their Price-Fixing Cartels
Does the EPO recognise the need of well-educated Europeans to bear kids?
Valnet Inc. Dominates Real (Not LLM Slop) GNU/Linux Coverage in 2025
And likely in prior years, too
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Fund Raiser Goes on
Later this month we'll expose another OSI scandal
EPO Staff Representatives Issue a Warning About Staff's Health and Inadequate Care
Even the EPO's own stakeholders (money sources) are openly protesting against what the EPO became
Links 13/07/2025: Partly Assorted News From Deutsche Welle and CBC
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/07/2025: Board Games and Battle Styles
Gemini Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 12, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 12, 2025
Plunder at the Second-Largest Institution in Europe
cuts, neglect, health problems, even early deaths
Links 12/07/2025: Political Developments, Attack on Opposition, Climate Actions
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: Melodic Musings and Small Web July
Links for the day
Links 12/07/2025: Jail in China for Homoerotica, South Korea Discriminates Against Old Workers
Links for the day
If Only Everything Was Rewritten in Rust, We'd Have No More Security Issues?
Nope.
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025