Bonum Certa Men Certa

Poisoning Mobile Linux With Microsoft Staff and Mono

Rat poison



Summary: How Microsoft interferes with the success of Linux-powered platforms, notably using entryism and software patents

MICROSOFT is losing the mobile race. It's not even a contender anymore. The Register's pro-MAFIAA and freedom-hostile Andrew Orlowski blocked comments when he linked to reports that we mentioned last night about Nokia's threat from Microsoft. Elop seems to be 'pulling a Maritz' (not Putting on the Ritz) by considering en masse dismissals and a Microsoft deal. But not only MeeGo seems to be at stake (Novell's Mono team is also trying to put Mono in it). The emerging market leader, Android, is also being harassed by Microsoft.



“The emerging market leader, Android, is also being harassed by Microsoft.”The king of Android (and formerly a Java promoter at Sun), Eric Schmidt, helped create what's probably the most commonly used distribution of Linux. Schmidt's role at Novell is still noted by a lot of Web sites which speak about his departure from Google's throne (latest examples can be seen at [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7]). Android is now under patent attacks by Microsoft and some allies of Microsoft, so the fact that Novell helps Microsoft must not give him much comfort.

The main vector of attack against Android seems to be patents. Most major distributors of Android already pay Microsoft for Linux, for alleged software patents they would never name. To make matters worse, Novell is trying to put Mono inside Android and friends of Microsoft (the writer is Wallace McClure in this case) are currently offering free promotion of .NET/Mono for Android in a two-part series [1, 2]. It can help infect Android with Microsoft patent traps that later the monopolist will use, even after warnings. Watch this new piece from SD Times (occasional Mono booster):

Furthermore, a new set of .NET controls for Android comes in beta version optimized for MonoDroid. As soon as Novell releases a full version of MonoDroid, the Android Edition of Resco MobileForms Toolkit will go live in full version.


Mono is becoming a real pain in the bum and it is a joint product of Microsoft and Novell (Mono codebase includes bits from both companies).

Docky is one popular Mono project that we wrote about before (it extends others but gets extended too) and its developer works for Canonical now, helping to port a Vala project to C (Unity). Over at Identi.ca, "Toros" says that he got "elementary Wingpanel and Plank dock (Docky rewritten in Vala) in action (screenshot)," which means that there is hope for a move towards C as well.

“Such people carry the baggage of Novell influence even after leaving the company, experience suggests.”As one last item of interest, consider this new press release about former Ximian staff becoming a Vice President: "Over the past 20 years, Mancusi-Ungaro has held senior marketing positions in technology companies ranging from start-up to leaders in their respective markets. He is best known for his work at open source start-up Ximian, which was acquired by Novell. During his tenure as director of marketing for Linux and Open Source at Novell, he was a leader of Novell’s worldwide Linux and open source marketing efforts, developing and refining Novell’s approach to marketing open source technologies in the enterprise space and serving as key company spokesperson on open source issues and direction. While at Novell, Mancusi-Ungaro developed Novell’s Lizard Blizzard strategy and was one of the co-founders of the award-winning openSUSE project. He also held senior marketing leadership positions at Lotus/IBM, Webhire, Deltek Systems, and Health Allianze. Mancusi-Ungaro holds a bachelor’s degree in physics from Hamilton College."

Chris Mellor said about it that "Greg Mancusi-Ungaro joins the Enterprise deduplicating data protection array vendor after stints at Novell and Ximian, which was bought by Novell. Attachmate bought Novell in November last year." Another news site said that "Sepaton Inc. named of Greg Mancusi-Ungaro VP of marketing. Mancusi-Ungaro previously worked at Novell, Lotus/IBM, Ximian, Webhire, Deltek Systems and Health Allianze."

Such people carry the baggage of Novell influence even after leaving the company, experience suggests. There is this tendency people have to use what's familiar from the previous employer or former colleagues and amid new memories of IPX, one must also consider Novell history in relation to other moves between companies, e.g.:

The company clearly lists its management team, which includes financial and technology veterans who previously worked at Paine-Webber, Novell and US Internetworking.


The Microsoft-backed Novell is turning out to be a lot of trouble. That's what makes it so necessary to keep track of Novell's folly. Based on its latest announcement, Novell brings to market nothing but proprietary software. Gone are the days of 2005 when Novell truly dabbled in some FOSS. Novell is now batting for Microsoft and it causes real damage to Linux (not SLE*, which pays Microsoft).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Later on Elon Musk Wonders Why Large Nations Block His Pet 'Social Control Media' (Incitement/Radicalisation) Platform...
This isn't a question of "censorship" because there's a call to kill
Science and Academia Under Attack, Imposters Inheriting or Aggressively Seizing the Top Roles
Academia has turned into a bad place
 
'Open'AI Looks Like a Company Headed Towards Bankruptcy, Not IPO, Losses Grew Almost Tenfold in a Year (Yes, it's Just a Bubble Facilitated by Artificial Hype)
This isn't going to end well, especially not for Microsoft
Apple is Canceling Products, Services, Even Lays Off Staff in Large Numbers Every Few Months
Apple cancelling some more things
Microsoft: Layoffs Are Growth
Orwell would have loved this newspeak
Links 16/09/2024: Verizon Layoffs, 'Tram Driver Olympics', and Anniversary of Mahsa Amini's Death
Links for the day
Gemini Links 16/09/2024: ROOPHLOCH and MyGemini.Space
Links for the day
Invidious Instances Explain What Google/YouTube (Alphabet/Pentagon) Did To Them This Past Week
They're unambiguous about this
Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) on How to Make People Care About Free Software and Why Prohibiting Proprietary Software Would Not Work
"maybe a similar general approach could work with non-Free software as a way of discouraging it from being a successful business."
Please Quit Uploading Event Talks (Especially of Free Software) to YouTube
This is enshittification
Links 16/09/2024: Shrinking Economy, Climate Issues, Soaring Energy Costs
Links for the day
'Former' Microsofter Jason Perlow Left Linux Foundation
The "communication" people from the Linux Foundation are basically scammers
MyGem Launched to Make Adoption of Gemini Protocol (With Gemini Hosting) a Lot Easier
a new week and also a new capsule
Disregard for History is Disregard for (Computer) Science
They're killing the real entrepreneurs and innovators
Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) on His Hobbies and Health
Answering a question from the audience in Germany
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 15, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, September 15, 2024
Gemini Links 16/09/2024: billsmugs.com Becomes rainywhile.net, Zaurus on Internet
Links for the day
[Meme] Wrong Priorities at Universities
Because what matters isn't expertise
Microsoft and the Sunk Cost Fallacy
"Microsoft aims for the sunk cost fallacy"
Turning Away Unwanted and/or Predatory Bots
If no human will ever read it, what's the point serving?
Links 15/09/2024: Complicated Music Licensing Schemes and Dangers of Sleep Deprivation
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2024: Sci-fi London 2024 and Outsourcing to Proton Mail
Links for the day
Links 15/09/2024: French Teachers Quit in Droves, Why 'eSports' are Not Sports
Links for the day
[Meme] Red Hat Staff Must Learn IBM's Dark History (IBM Still Boosts Donald Trump, So No Lessons Learned)
This isn't a subject for humour
Don't Fall for Reputation Laundering and Whitewashing
Remember history, don't pay attention to PR and charm offensives
[Meme] Microsoft as a Joke That Writes Itself
"Microsoft confesses its recent security updates…broke Windows 10 security patches"
GNU Turns 41 in Just 12 Days
Can truth and science be resuscitated, please?
[Meme] Large Language Models (LLMs) Destroy the Web With an Ocean of Disinformation and Misinformation, Falsely Promoted as "Intelligence" by Microsoft et al
"Microsoft bribes the media to say 'Microsoft loves Linux'"
Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Asks People to Stop Calling Large Language Models (LLMs) "Artificial Intelligence" (AI)
"I think that the first step is stop calling them AI"
Even Microsoft Boosters Think XBox is Doomed
"Reports Say Morale At Xbox Is “Very Low”"... a Microsoft booster cited by them
Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS): "There are still people who make it their business to try to stop me from getting invited to speak, and it's a slow process working back from that"
From the talk he gave last month
Very Few Invidious Instances Still Work (for Video Playback)
Google has sabotaged Invidious
Sites Writing Fake News About Linux Using LLMs (Microsoft Hype That Promotes Misinformation)
RMS recently called these "bullshit machines"
Gemini Links 15/09/2024: MINIbase and Pocket Reform Experience
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 14, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, September 14, 2024
[Meme] The Prosecutor and Prosecuted, the Community and Businessmen (Red Hat)
"Social justice is not a corporate slogan or identity politics"
Pushing Nonsense Using the Brand "Linux"
the trademark "Linux" might already lack potency
In China, statCounter Seeing Windows Vista 11 as Falling 2.5% This Month Relative to Other Versions of Windows (Vista 7 Grows Its Gap Over "11")
Vista 7 is bigger!
Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Explains Why So-called 'Cryptocurrencies' Suck and Why GNU Taler is Better
"I've never used cryptocurrency. There were things I found disappointing and worrisome..."
Links 14/09/2024: Verizon's 5,000 Layoffs and China's 'Runaway' Pension Age
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/09/2024: Comparing Costs and Being "Tamed"
Links for the day
Wine Took the Bait (Mono), Soon Starts the Microsoft Circus With the Banhammer
large companies are exercising more control over the thing/s they claim to "donate" to
Links 14/09/2024: Science, War, and Politics
Links for the day
Transcript (and Correction) of Dirk Hohndel's Interview With Linus Torvalds in 2014
A lot of things have deteriorated since then
Microsoft Asia President Ahmed Mazhari Leaves the Company
Even everything they say about Mazhari is just "prepared" quotes from Microsoft itself
This is Not a Sustainable Way to Run Microsoft
This is a downward spiral
Contrary to What Microsoft Claims, Teams Were Cut Yesterday, XBox Sales Have Collapsed, Layoffs Announced at 3AM (in the Morning)
There is actually a lot of media coverage about this, unlike prior waves of layoffs at Microsoft
Last Month Dr. Richard M. Stallman (RMS) Explained Why You Should Delete GitHub
RMS explained why
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 13, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, September 13, 2024
Gemini Links 14/09/2024: LoRa, ROOPHLOCH, and Crafting a Programming Language
Links for the day