01.01.10
Novell’s Christmas Presents for Microsoft
Summary: Another look at what Mono, MonoTouch, and MonoDevelop are up to this week
THIS morning we wrote about MonoDevelop, Moonlight and Mono in relation to Ylmf OS, ending with the first comments from this Linux Today thread . It is no secret the readers of Linux Today are no fans of Mono. Don Whitbeck, for example, followed up with: “All I see coming out of Microsoft as far as development systems, are ever higher levels of complication and inefficiency. Perhaps the IDE has some nice features from what they have managed to copy from Borland after all these years, but does anyone think they have any goals with open source other than to bury Linux and any other competition?”
“Microsoft is determined to destroy GNU/Linux, so how can one genuinely expect someone from the CodePlex Foundation board to promote GNU/Linux?”Stephen Carpenter went further and said that “Evangelism is War” [PDF] “is why mono has recently become GPL free. It’s a trap for all those newbies desparate for something better than Windows. Ballmer wants you all back on the Microsoft train. His astro-turfer Miguel is doing such a great job. Why else is there any reason to evangelize a proprietary technology when there are good free and open source ones already available? Simple… “Embrace and Extend”. Mono is a trap. Plain and simple. But first you have to embrace it. Then once you’re a microserf again, Microsoft can start making the tail wag the dog.”
Carpenter goes too far by calling Novell’s de Icaza Ballmer’s “astro-turfer”; he is not a TE even when he behaves like one. He is, however, on the board of Microsoft's CodePlex Foundation, by choice*. This creates a conflict of interests that not even he can deny.
Microsoft is determined to destroy GNU/Linux, so how can one genuinely expect someone from the CodePlex Foundation board to promote GNU/Linux**? It would be contradictory. It’s almost like expecting the Pope to preach Islam.
What Novell is doing right now ought to remain simple. It promotes not necessarily Windows but the Windows development framework/s. MonoTouch is a good example of Mono being used to support proprietary, DRM-laden platforms the Microsoft way. We wrote about this in:
- CodePlex Foundation Loves Software Patents and What MonoTouch Means to Microsoft
- More Thoughts About the Microsoft CodePlex Foundation: New Links
- Novell, Microsoft, and the “Microsoft Hater” Daemonisation Label
- Novell Helps Microsoft Zune and CodePlex Foundation Helps Novell
- “Mono Mania” Carries on and Evolution Includes Mono
- Novell VP Brushes Off Microsoft’s Attacks on GNU/Linux, Promotes .NET
Here is some news about MonoTouch:
Novell speeds up iPhone app dev in MonoTouch 1.4
[...]
The other key item, also related to speed is that MonoTouch compiled releases are now also smaller. According to Novell, MonoTouch 1.4 actually compiles apps that are 30 percent smaller than previous releases.
As the iPhone continues to gain in popularity, the need for enterprise .NET type apps no doubt will grow. That growth will likely also continue to fuel demand for MonoTouch.
It is clear that Novell has lost its GNU/Linux focus. The company is currently busy bringing Microsoft software and APIs to Apple (and other platforms). To Novell, “[Microsoft] Evangelism is War”. █
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* Glyn Moody calls it “the Board that didn’t bark.” Novell’s de Icaza could decline an invitation to join (unless he invited himself), but instead he proudly announced his appointment while mocking the FSF. Later he mocked Richard Stallman, who had stated the obvious.
** Some say that Microsoft announced the CodePlex Foundation prematurely in order to distract, right after it got caught attacking GNU/Linux with patent trolls [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6].
