[ale] ximian and mono

[John Wells]

My thoughts exactly.  

Why encourage Microsoft (and those disillusioned
users) by playing their game?  Frankly, it casts an
unflattering light on the open source community...if
we have such lofty ideals, such better ways of doing
things, then why the hell are we jumping aboard the
Microcrap train?

It's really just bowing to Microsoft's corporate
muscle.  "ok, we can't beat you".  

Far better to wait in the wings while .NET and the
whole Passport system goes down in flames.  It will
eventually, if their past security success is any
indicator.

My bet is Icaza is not as in control as you might
think.

John




--- Wandered Inn <esoteric at denali.atlnet.com> wrote:
> Regardless of whether it's a good thing or not, I
> don't want passport or
> anything like it if M$ is the keeper of the data.
> Once more, they want
> to keep your credit card information in something
> they refer to as
> 'wallet.'  Just what we all need, M$ holding your
> wallet.
> 
> This company that proliferates viri, doesn't know
> how to properly setup
> DNS servers, is going to keep my personal and
> financial data?  I think
> not.
> 
> Now I've not even touched on the fact that M$ can't
> be trusted to do
> anything fairly with any company, why in the hell
> does Icaza think
> they'll work with him in any other way.  Makes you
> wonder if he's
> getting some of that M$ stock.  It's been getting
> quite a bit cheaper as
> of late...
> 
> 
> Mel Burslan wrote:
> > 
> > Wondering if Miguel de Icaza has an
> under-the-covers deal from
> > Microsoft. Otherwise, he may not have overlooked
> such an obvious threat
> > to the project/community he is spearheading.
> Please read the article
> > below if you have not already.
> > 
> >
>
========================================================
> > NICHOLAS PETRELEY:   "The Open Source"   
> InfoWorld.com
> >
>
========================================================
> > 
> > MICROSOFT'S BAIT AND SWITCH
> > 
> > AS I SAID last week, I believe that Miguel de
> Icaza's
> > enthusiasm for porting the Microsoft .NET
> development
> > environment to open source as a project called
> Mono to
> > be naive and potentially dangerous to the
> open-source
> > movement. (De Icaza is the leader of Ximian Gnome,
> an
> > open-source desktop environment for Linux and
> other
> > versions of Unix.) I consider it even more
> dangerous
> > now that Microsoft has decided to work with Ximian
> to
> > create the open-source port of .NET. This leads me
> to
> > suspect that Microsoft is engaged in a
> bait-and-switch
> > scheme to finally wipe out the threat of open
> source.
> > 
> > There are two elements of Microsoft .NET crucial
> to
> > Ximian and Mono's success: .NET, the e-commerce
> > development environment; and .NET, the
> infrastructure
> > to manage Internet e-commerce security. At issue
> is
> > the latter portion of .NET, which is part of
> Microsoft
> > HailStorm. HailStorm includes an e-commerce
> > authentication service called Passport.
> > 
> > Ximian's effort reproduces only the development
> > environment in open source. It does nothing to
> > reproduce or replace Passport. The FAQ published
> by
> > Ximian underlines the significance of Passport,
> even
> > if it understates the consequences (see
> > www.go-mono.com/faq.html). Because the Mono
> > development environment has hooks for using
> Passport,
> > people wonder whether their e-commerce
> applications
> > will depend on Passport. The appalling answer
> winds up
> > being, "We do not know at this time whether the
> > Passport protocol is documented and whether we
> will be
> > able to talk to passport.com."
> > 
> > Microsoft is already promoting Passport
> aggressively by
> > making deals with the likes of American Express,
> eBay,
> > and VeriSign, among dozens of other popular
> e-commerce
> > sites. So for Mono to be of any use in developing
> > open-source e-commerce applications, Mono will
> have to
> > support Passport.
> > 
> > There's talk about alternative technologies to
> > Passport, but technology is not the issue. Unless
> some
> > entrepreneur creates a company to kill off
> Passport
> > with a cheaper, better service, Mono will be a
> > covenant with death. If Ximian encourages
> open-source
> > developers to write e-commerce applications that
> > access Passport, it actually hands Microsoft the
> key
> > to killing off open-source e-commerce once and for
> > all. Once Passport has a foothold, Microsoft can
> > update Passport and the .NET run-time environment
> to
> > break all those e-commerce applications built with
> Mono.
> > 
> > Businesses that saved money by building their
> sites on
> > Mono would suddenly lose money waiting for a
> solution.
> > Most likely they would fire the open-source
> developers
> > and switch everything back to Windows. And Ximian
> can
> > do exactly squat to prevent this future. Ximian
> may
> > re-create an open-source version of the first
> > iteration of the .NET run time, but Ximian cannot
> make
> > .NET itself open source. So as long as Passport
> > succeeds, the future of Mono rests with Microsoft,
> not
> > Ximian.
> > 
> > Nick is the founding editor of VarLinux.org
> > (www.varlinux.org). Reach him at
> nicholas at petreley.com.
> > --
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> 
> --
> Until later: Geoffrey		esoteric at denali.atlnet.com
> 
> "Great spirits have always found violent opposition
> from mediocre minds.
> The latter cannot understand it when a man does not
> thoughtlessly submit
> to hereditary prejudices but honestly and
> courageously uses his
> intelligence." - Albert Einstein
> --
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