[sf-lug] Windows and Linux OS to work together

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Adrien Lamothe (alamozzz at yahoo.com):

> Microsoft's .net is their method of controlling web services. Novell's
> project MONO (acquired from Ximian) was an insurance policy against
> that; now Microsoft will have some (if not all) control over it.

The Novell Beagle file-search utility is built on the Mono runtime, and
also Novell ZenWorks, Novell iFolder, and others.[1]  It's always been
suspected that Mono is perilously at risk from Microsoft patent
encumbrances, and the Ximian/GNOME people were repeatedly warned about
this by experts, but elected to ignore that advice.

So, as I said, "protection" money.

> I've always seen the Ximian people as being closely aligned with FSF;
> maybe this isn't so.

Actually, FSF was prominent among the many parties that warned de Icaza
and the Ximian/GNOME folks about the patent-litigation risk they were
recklessly courting.

[1] Partial list:
http://www.mono-project.com/Companies_Using_Mono#Who_uses_Mono.3F