● 07.11.10

●● Mono Demoted to “Proprietary Software” Status

Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Mono, Novell, Open XML at 4:58 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz

Summary: OpenSUSE classifies Mono-based applications correctly (as proprietary)

IN OUR previous post we cited an audiocast which goes back to around the time of the Novell/Microsoft deal. All 3 people on the show — Jeff Waugh included — were against this deal.

“These days, especially after the MCP was released, Mono is very much like “open core”, which means that it is proprietary but often marketed as “open source”.”We found it somewhat interesting that Jeff Waugh criticised the Novell deal because in 2007 he was having flamewars here; he acted as a Novell apologist and defender of Mono. He even went as far as justifying acceptance of OOXML, despite the fact that in the said audiocast they said that Microsoft had bought Novell’s support of OOXML very cheaply (given the prospective rewards).

Anyway, the above is mostly anecdotal, but nonetheless, it’s worth documenting. These days, especially after the MCP was released by Microsoft, Mono is very much like "open core", which means that it is proprietary but often marketed as “open source” (as long as you buy from Novell you are ‘safe’).

Novell finally classifies Mono correctly

openSUSE’s software manager lists Mono apps under Proprietary Applications Pattern:[...]I’ve been using openSUSE for quite some time now, but this is definitely the first time that I’ve noticed this ( though probably because I tend to use zypper or the 1-click install rather than entering YaST).

Watch the image which verifies it. Maybe it’s an accident, but Mono is now co-developed by Microsoft. Mono is not closed-source, but it is proprietary. █

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