Lusotec wrote:
> Hadron wrote:
>> Lusotec writes:
>>> Hans Lister wrote:
>>>> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Why free software shouldn't depend on Mono or C#
>>>>
>>>> Who cares?
>>>
>>> People that write FOSS.
>>
>> Except the people writing FOSS are using Mon and c#.
>
> *Some* people writing FOSS are using Mon and c# and those are
> the ones that should care the most about this subject, even if
> they don't see it as a problem.
Given Microsoft's predatory practises to maintain its monopoly
and neutralise the competition (Linux and FOSS among others), it
is understandable.
[quote]
F. Microsoft’s Deceptive WISE Software Program
“Please give me one good reason why we should even
consider [enabling Microsoft technology to work on competing
systems]. (Hint: any good answer needs to include making more
money and helping kill Unix, Sybase or Oracle.)”
—James Allchin, Microsoft Senior Vice-President [51]
In 1994, Microsoft engaged in similarly deceptive conduct to
combat the growing popularity of the UNIX operating system within
corporate networks. Microsoft faced a choice: whether to “love it
to death (invest a lot of money and kill it slowly) or ignore it
(invest no money on the expectation it will die quickly).” [52]
Microsoft chose initially “to invest in interoperating” with
UNIX, [53] by promoting its Windows Interface Source Environment
(“WISE”), a program that purportedly allowed developers to write
software to Windows APIs and run the resulting programs on
Macintosh and UNIX systems. [54]
Microsoft’s plan was successful. By 1996 Microsoft had captured a
large share of the corporate market. Microsoft then took the next
step in its standard “embrace, extend, extinguish” playbook and
extended the Windows API without copying its changes to the WISE
program. This meant that developers could no longer smoothly port
applications to UNIX and Macintosh. [55]
In public, however, Microsoft continued to lead developers into
believing that this software was still fully cross-platform. [56]
In 1997, Bill Gates noted in an internal email that those
developers who wrote applications for the then-available software
without realizing that it would not port all APIs to UNIX and
Macintosh were “just f*****.” [57]
He was right: Microsoft had successfully extinguished the
cross-platform threat to its operating system monopoly. In a
subsequent antitrust suit, a district court called this move “a
classic ‘bait-and-switch’ tactic.” [58]
[/quote]
http://www.ecis.eu/documents/Finalversion_Consumerchoicepaper.pdf
Thus, I can understand why any embracement of Microsoft software
technologies could result in extinguishment.
--
HPT
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