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Posted in Deception, GNOME, GNU/Linux, Interoperability, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Patent Covenant, Patents at 3:52 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“I saw that internally inside Microsoft many times when I was told to stay away from supporting Mono in public. They reserve the right to sue”
–Robert Scoble, former Microsoft evangelist
A few hours ago we mentioned de Icaza's very telling confession. He knows that Novell acted selfishly. He is also aware of the implications of using Mono (he knew this all along). One of our readers, Woods, had the following useful pointer to add.
=> de Icaza's very telling confession | ↺ useful pointer to add
Microsoft indemnifies Novell Moonlight users
[...]
“We should have stayed with the open source community,” de Icaza said but added: “That’s better than saying we might be infringing but we are going to stick it to the man… I think we’ve done as well as we could.”
Note the defeatism. Elsewhere on the Web, in PC Authority in fact, Microsoft’s Novell-style and Novell-inspired taxoperability program receives a closer look. For a change, a respectable publication does not blindly praise Microsoft for opening up. It acknowledges that a patent trap exists therein.
=> Novell-style and Novell-inspired | taxoperability program | ↺ does not blindly praise Microsoft for opening up | a patent trap exists therein
Microsoft’s patent pledge is perhaps more worrying. It has promised not to assert patent claims against developers working on open-source projects, but the cover does not apply to commercial distributors of those projects, so distributors like Red Hat are still very much at threat. In broader terms, it undermines one of the basic tenants of open-source — that the user can, within the licence requirements, do whatever they like with the software — since the user is only free from the threat of patent claims until they start charging money.
Ultimately, Microsoft’s sincerity is in question, with many speculating that its true motives remain hidden. If Microsoft is genuine, only consistent good deeds will counter its history and silence the critics.
Judging by the latest news, there is no consistency in good deeds. Either Microsoft back-stabbed de Icaza (exploited him) or he knowingly did what just brought him large sums of money (wealth triumphs freedom). █
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