Yesterday we mentioned a setback for Mono and now is the time to elaborate a little.

Faith in Mono is hurt not because of technical limitations, but because of legal implications (and complications). Other than the fact that .NET can 'lock out' Mono as it evolves (the technical aspect) there is the issue of patents and -- even worse -- an SCO-like claim of stolen code. And that's the thing Novell is betting its business on -- Mono.

Remember that Novell has Mono 'IP protection' for 4 years (however unnecessary such a 'protection' might be); nobody else has it, not even Linspire and Xandros. This does not, however, cover cases where Microsoft can claim that it saw similar blocks of code in both implementations, both of which are available for public viewing now. As we have seen before, Microsoft is never reluctant to make unspecific claims either, just in order to create FUD and deter customer, thereby stifling the adoption of Free software.

Matt Asay has already weighed in on this matter.

Far-fetched? Well, not if you look at Microsoft's history. Microsoft is playing to win, and it seems to believe the only way to win is if open source loses. This is myopic, but the company refuses to get LASIK.

As we said yesterday, Miguel de Icaza isn't particularly excited either and here are his own words.

The source code is released under a new license they are calling the Microsoft Reference License, this is not an open source license.

He does not talk about the dangers that this move by Microsoft poses.

Related articles:

• Microsoft's Open-Source Trap for Mono



• Is .NET on GNU/Linux a Trojan Horse?



• Open Source Evolutionary



• OpenSolaris, Gobuntu, and be careful who you kiss



• Miguel, Mono and Microsoft