03.06.08
Will Nokia’s Linux-based Internet Tablets Soon Be Infected by Mono, XAML? What About Qt?
Whose side is Nokia on anyway?
The latest news about Nokia and Microsoft we last covered yesterday and it is worrying to discover that not only Symbian-based handsets will be affected. According to LinuxDevices, Nokia’s Maemo-based (Debian derivative with GTK) Internet tablets — or MIDs as Intel would probably call them — are to be affected as well.
The Finnish mobile-phone giant will add Silverlight support to Symbian S60 smartphones, Series 40 devices, and Linux-based Nokia Internet tablets, it said.
The trouble here is not only the move away from Web standards, but also the licensing restrictions which come with Mono and Silverlight (or Moonlight). Remember attempts to put Mono on LiMo, at spec-level? Curious minds must also consider the possibility that Nokia will try to shove Microsoft’s lockinware or patentware into Qt, which it now owns. KDE ought to keep an eye on Nokia’s recent and future flirts with Microsoft.
Another short article worth mentioning is about Microsoft ‘bribing’ the Library of Congress with what seems like goodwill, but is actually a case of seizing more control.
News Analysis: Does Adobe pay its customers to be customers? Microsoft does.
[…]
I won’t get too smarmy about the deal, which could be viewed as Microsoft paying for Silverlight customers. But Microsoft is paying for a big customer, and one that will deliver lots of payback.
We wrote some more about this fiasco in [1, 2, 3]. We still have the British Library and the Boston Public Library to worry about. They are also among Microsoft’s agents of monopolisation. Hopefully, Nokia will not become one of them. █
Highlight: Novell was the first to acknowledge that Microsoft FUD tactics had substance. Novell then used anti-Linux FUD to market itself. 
Highlight: Xandros let Microsoft make patent claims and brag about (paid-for) OOXML support. 
Highlight: Linspire's CEO not only fell into Microsoft arms, but he also assisted the company's attack on GNU/Linux. 
Highlight: Microsoft craves pseudo (proprietary) standards and gets its way using proxies and influence which it buys. 
Highlight: The invasion into the open source world is intended to leave Linux companies neglected, due to financial incentives from Microsoft. 
Analysis: Xen, an open source hypervisor, possibly fell victim to Microsoft's aggressive (and stealthy) acquisition-by-proxy strategy.
Woods said,
March 6, 2008 at 1:20 am
This is getting ridiculous.
Mono-culturists are poisoning Gnome. Fine. Switch to KDE.
Except now Nokia will be poisoning KDE. Fine. Switch to XFCE.
(disclaimer: this might seem ridiculous now, but so did Mr. de Icaza’s comments on Monoizing Gnome at the turn of the millennia. Not so funny now, is it?)
And now you’ll be worrying how long GTK will be safe. Fine. Switch to plain Xlib.
And now you’re back in the beginning of 90’s and wondering whether you should just get with program, line up with the rest of the sheep and use whatever Microsoft *will* shove down your throat anyway.
Somedays (with news such as these) I feel like I should just get a Mac, earplugs and just hum real loud the rest of the way…
Roy Schestowitz said,
March 6, 2008 at 1:52 am
I’m actually more concerned about Nokia paying Microsoft for patents (e.g. Mono, other previous claims) and Nokia getting paid for its continued pursuit for legalisation of software patents in Europe, in which case buying the N810 is a case of paying Microsoft, not FOSS developers, and moreover harming them with new laws.