Miguel de Icaza wrote:
> Microsoft in this case is doing the right thing: they are assisting
> the Mono group to have an open source implementation that will be
> fully compatible with their implementation
Well well, the big guns are out in full force this weekend, aren't they?
While you're here, please allow me to take this opportunity to ask a few
pertinent (although not entirely impertinent) questions:
1) ... What proportion of Mono uses Microsoft's patented technology,
including that which is is part of the ECMA specifications?
2) ... To what degree do you trust ECMA and the RAND covenant to not
sue, for the use of any Microsoft Intellectual Property?
3) ... To what degree do you Trust Microsoft, either in terms of their
promises; their motivations; or their commitment to a competing platform
like Linux?
> They even took an extra step and will distribute their optimized
> media codecs (as a binary blob) for users. Those that feel strongly
> about not using binary blobs, can just use FFMPEG (this is what is
> supported by default if you compile from source code anyways).
4) ... Do you foresee a point in the future where access to much of the
Web might be impossible, or at least extraordinarily difficult, without
the use of Silverlight, much like Microsoft tried to do with ActiveX and
other proprietary; encumbered; and non-standard technology during the
Netscape years?
5) ... Do you further forsee the likelihood that the binary blobs, that
you speak of, become a hard dependency in order to fully utilise the
future Web, as it will be reborn in Microsoft's image, given the
possibility that Microsoft may develop new proprietary and encumbered
codecs, or enforce their Intellectual Property rights on Free
implementations of existing codecs, such as those used in FFMPEG?
6) ... Therefore do you concede that it is possible, and indeed likely,
that the future of the Web (and in other contexts - office documents and
software development) might end up becoming utterly dependent of
Microsoft's Intellectual Property, and thus effectively controlled (in
essence "owned") by Microsoft, just as they have been striving to do for
so long, and have currently succeeded in other areas, such as the OEM
channel; games development; hardware support; and elsewhere?
7) ... And finally, do you think it is prudent, or even morally right,
for Free Software developers to essentially help Microsoft in their
endeavours to dominate the Web; office formats; and software
development, particularly as Microsoft has continuously expressed so
much contempt and hatred for the principles of Free Software and Open
Standards over the years?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
--
K.
http://slated.org
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| 'When it comes to knowledge, "ownership" just doesn't make sense'
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