04.25.08
Mono-free GNOME: “Roughly the Same Functionality”
Image contributed by Beranger
Mainly by accident, yesterday I arrived at the following old article. It speaks about GNOME being “written — hopefully — in Mono and C#.” As we pointed out before, a similar article was corrected just recently, several years after it had originally been published. The article stated that GNOME was to be written in C#, but Miguel or somebody else probably felt compelled enough to ‘correct’ that article several years later by contacting editors.
Anyway, here is the opening paragraph from this other long article bearing the headline: The Upcoming GNOME Monarchy of Mono
Unix was originally all about not being… Multics. If Mono is to follow a similar nomenclature (just for the kicks), we have to talk about Mono’s upcoming ‘monopolization’ and ‘monarchy’ in the next generation of the Unix programming land. Your see, if everything goes well, in 2 to 3 years most new Gnome user/desktop applications will be written –hopefully– in Mono and C#. Update: Miguel deIcaza replies.
This update from de Icaza contains a clarification about GNOME and Mono, namely:
On Gnome and Mono
I am sure that there will be multiple editions of the same piece of software (One in C#, one in Python, and one in C ;-), so for those of you who for some reason do not want to run Mono, you will always have some C code you can run with roughly the same functionality.
What does “roughly the same functionality” actually mean? Is there a C implementation of Moonlight, for example? Given that only Novell is claimed to have ‘bought’ Mono ‘protection’ from Microsoft (the filings reveal this), does that mean that only those not using Mono are ’safe’ and are promised to have roughly — whatever that means — the same functionality in GNOME? This relates to our old writings about second-class citizenships [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. It was only days ago that we spotted C# getting promoted in the GTK Web pages.
The main question asked here is not whether GNOME will be getting inherently dependent on Mono. The question is: how hard will it practically be to avoid Mono in GNOME? Or asked differently, how disconnected will the Free desktop pragmatically remain from Microsoft’s software patents? The excuses pointing to ECMA and the RAND are always somewhat comical because these are of course incompatible with the GPL. █
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.
stevetheFLY said,
April 26, 2008 at 11:48 am
Oh, you’re such an asshole. Get your finger out of yours and code something useful. How about starting with ‘a C implementation of Mono’? ;D
Note: comment has been flagged for arriving from a possible incarnation of known (eet), pseudonymous, forever-nymshifting, abusive Internet troll that posts from open proxies and relays around the world.
stevetheFLY: 80.132.128.196
eet: 80.132.139.19
Andre said,
April 26, 2008 at 1:11 pm
I am surprised, I still miss the mono-free gnome fork.
cojee said,
July 7, 2008 at 7:57 pm
I am so glad we have decent people in this world, that help clue in people like this fly guy , and make it obvious he needs some soap for that potty mouth. IT just makes him look really ignorant, and in the processs nobody pays him any attention whatsoever, because when they read his , they tune out so he has achieved nothing but contempt from his fellow users.
I am so very glad fedora livecd has come to its senses, and removed mono entirely; maybe its a test case I dont know as its still on liveDVD faik ?, but hey,- go fedora…but as a result of this gnome/gtk, I think Ill be saying go kde,,or something else.
This is yet more proof of the twisted tale involving patent encumbered technology and those in our midst willing to sell linux out for their own agendas. I dont mind leaving gnome and gtk, because there are ample choices out there and nowhere do I need to say ‘roughly anything’, because I can switch right now and get ‘better functionality’. Dont need ya gnome .