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Ximian to Change License for Mono
A Commentor writes: "According to news.com Ximian is changing the license to Mono from GPL to a variant of the XFree license. Apparently this is due to a partnership with Intel." Update: 01/28 15:03 GMT by T : There's a story at NewsForge as well, where RMS weighs in firsthand on the license choice.
Microsoft stands to gain the most from this. Now they can write closed libraries and charge for them. Of course if anyone wants to be able to use any .net services under Linux they will have to purchase the libraries, which will probably cost more than a retail copy of Windows XP.
"Our products just aren't engineered for security,"
-Brian Valentine,VP in charge of MS Windows Development
OK, I know that I'll get flamed to death for it (well if I provided an email). But, I really had a revelation reading Stallman's last GPL style rant about Word attachments. He really makes it difficult for reasonable people who agree with him on many fundamental things (I agree that Word attachments are bad).
It is clear that Stallman and the GPL are not really about freedom. I want the right to view, port, and tweak code. We agree there. But, I do not want the right to force others to let me view, port and tweak their code. Stallman disagree's there. At one time I had the deluded notion that the GPL was all about making certain that those who contributed to Open Source didn't try to just steal from it outright and wanted to provide more protection than the BSD license. But, it is quite clear that the agenda is bigger than that. It is that there be no closed code at all. The viral nature of the GPL isn't there as a side effect of trying to protect Open Source. It is there to deliberately attempt to eliminate closed source. That is a foolish endeavor in and event.
Please folks, don't be paranoid. BSD licenses represent true freedom. So what if someone tries to rip off your BSD software and do a closed modification. It is more likely, you will get credited in that instance whereas a GPL stealer will attempt to hide from GPL responsibilities. I fail to see a single incidence the BSD code modified and closed the has hurt the BSD community.
Maybe some people's feelings got hurt when MS used the BSD code for their networking implementation. But, looking at the big picture it got networking more standardized and interoperable. BSD was not directly hurt at all. With the desktop monopoly of closed software it is almost impossible for one to make headway with a low level GPL innovation. At best a corrupted twisted half assed version will be released by microcrap and everyone will suffer. OTOH, a BSD innovation can easily become a standard in both closed and open source communities.
Please, down with the GPL...
... or perhaps flamebait?
How can a professional journalist be so irresponsible as to write things like:
Ximian, a company working to improve the Linux operating system for ordinary computer users, has made a philosophical shift in a key new open-source software project that now will be governed by a less restrictive license [emphasis added].
and:
Mono would allow Linux and Unix systems to host Web services and to tap into Web services on other servers.
no-one complains, as a matter of fact, hundreds of thousands of developers have downloaded the .NET SDK and/or the VS.NET RTM release.
.NET and Mono instead of political crap as to which license is 'true Open Source' and 'because it's now XFree I won't touch it'.
.NET platform equivalent on Linux, support Mono, otherwise BECAUSE Linux won't have a .NET equivalent, the platform will die.
Perhaps people should focus more on what you can DO with
You can all crawl towards DotGNU, but it is in the early stages of development and will come too late. If you want a
Never underestimate the relief of true separation of Religion and State.