[clug] Mono in Linux

[Nathan O'Sullivan]

> You're right in that Java and Mono as open source projects are just as
> open to patent threats form 3rd parties. But the difference is that
> Sun owns the Java technology, but Novell doesn't own .NET technology.
>   
Technology is such a nebulous term. There are three types of IP: patent, 
copyright, trademark.

Novell own the source code (copyright) to Mono. They presumably own the 
trademark "Mono" in a computing context.

They don't own the standard on which Mono is based, but Mono is not a 
completely compatible implementation in the first place. It tries to be, 
but that's just by choice. Its not like the Java situation where they 
need to be compatible with the spec to call themselves "Java".

We know they dont hold any patents related to Mono. We know that 
Microsoft claim they have patents related to implementation of the ECMA 
standard and the BCL. We dont know if those patents threaten Java, are 
invalidated by prior work, or even what they are.
> Yes, Microsoft could turn around and sue Novell (as soon as the
> agreement expires) and all other users of Mono today. They might
> choose to only sue users who have not purchased licenses from Novell,
> we don't know.
>   
Novell-Microsoft agreement to my knowledge only covers Novell's 
customers, so that agreement doesnt affect the majority of us anyway.
> The problem is that there is no way for end users to escape this if
> Novell does not remove those patents from Mono because they themselves
> are covered. In fact this is most likely Novell's game. Force people
> to buy licenses from them in order to get patent protection, and if
> users don't then they will let Microsoft sue them. Novell is not an
> open source company.
>   
Which comes back to the "what are these patents" question, doesnt it?

Whether Novell is an "open source company" (or Sun, for that matter) is 
a whole other kettle of fish but if a) Mono was widely used and b) 
Novell tried this, then a fork would spring up. To me this is whats 
great about the GPL, this Novell-Microsoft-Sun etc battle doesn't need 
to affect the rest of us.
> Certainly, Novell could then modify Mono so that it does not violate
> Microsoft's patents (just like any other project) but because .NET is
> controlled by Microsoft, this would break interoperability.
>   
In the context of linux and GNOME in particular (which is what we're 
talking about right?) actual compatibility with the Microsoft 
implementation isnt particularly relevant, since the GNOME-Mono stack is 
GTK# and other open-source libraries written in C#


Ultimately the problem I have with the GNOME-Mono bashing is that it its 
a patent-fairy FUD approach to what came from a technical problem: the 
Java GUI story has sucked on linux, and from what I can see isnt really 
getting any better. Some people dont like that, which is fair enough, 
but there still doesnt seem to be a credible alternative for the massive 
number of programmers who are working everyday in statically typed 
bytecode languages.

Regards
Nathan