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02.15.09

Moonlight Called “Patent Encumbered“, Crashes Firefox

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Novell, Patents at 12:20 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

“”[...] we know that Microsoft is getting patents on some features of C#. So I think it’s dangerous to use C#, and it may be dangerous to use Mono.”

–Richard Stallman

AS STATED before, Moonlight is not Free software, but it’s actually a lot worse. Moonlight is also a patent trap, as finally acknowledged by CNET.

Moonlight and the patent encumbrances thereto serve as a constant reminder that Microsoft really doesn’t grok the Web, which is about freedom of access and open protocols.

Patent issues (and freedom) aside, Moonlight is also a technical mess, unless the user is a SUSE user, i.e. one is encouraged to use the Ballmer-blessed GNU/Linux distribution, aka “Ballnux”.

As pointed out by one of the few commenters in SJVN’s Web site: “So I made sure Firefox was 100% up-to-date, installed the Moonlight plugin, then Firefox crashes any time I go back to the http://abock.org/moonshine/ site to install the Moonshine plugin.

“I think I’ll stick with my flaky, buggy, proprietary flash video… as unreliable as it is from a linux box, at least it doesn’t make Firefox insta-crash.”

This was written in reference and response to SJVN’s post about Moonshine, which is new. Another usual suspect promotes Moonshine, having done the same for Moonlight just a few days ago. █

Mono GNOME
Don’t let Mono and Moonlight tarnish GNU/Linux

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2 Comments

  1. SR said,

    February 16, 2009 at 8:18 am

    Gravatar

    So, what exactly are the evil differences between proprietary Flash and proprietary Moonlight? I’m not seeing it.

  2. Roy Schestowitz said,

    February 16, 2009 at 8:30 am

    Gravatar

    See this explanation from last year.

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