Distribución Contaminada

Story: How GNU/Linux Gets Contaminated with Software Patents from the Back DoorTotal Replies: 10
Author Content
tuxtom

Feb 15, 2008
6:27 PM EDT
I don't see GNU/Linux being contaminated at all...it is a particular distribution...or a popular, yet unecessary, set of software...that may be contaminated. Few distros out there are 100% pure GNU/Linux. As well intentioned as the article may be, I call FUD.

I'll start getting scared when they try to rename vi notepad.
wjl

Feb 15, 2008
7:31 PM EDT
Quoting:I'll start getting scared when they try to rename vi notepad.
LOL... and 'sudo' to 'runas'?
dinotrac

Feb 16, 2008
5:24 AM EDT
Looks like Roy is at it again.

I trust his list about as much as I trust Microsoft, especially when I see a lot of mono development tools that can't possibly be required by applications.

Don't know about his installation or if it's base gutsy, but to call everything on there required because it happens to be on there is simply disingenuous.

For example, monodevelop requires libmono, but applications don't require monodevelop. it could be deleted without affecting anybody except for C# developers.
dinotrac

Feb 16, 2008
5:26 AM EDT
One more thing...

Roy goes into some paranoid rant about Google complicity and makes the statement that a story warning about patent implications in OOXML wouldn't be listed in Google news.

However, popping ooxml into Google News Search, reveals that story as the fifth item.

It ain't that hard to get it right, Roy -- you should make the effort.
bigg

Feb 16, 2008
5:48 AM EDT
I really wish he'd stop attacking GNOME. Maybe Mark Shuttleworth is in with Microsoft. I have no way to know. However, on my Arch gnome desktop, the only thing that relies on mono is tomboy. Issue the command

pacman -Rs tomboy

and you are free of mono:

bash-3.2# pacman -Qs mono bash-3.2#

Maybe he needs to find a new distribution. I see from the comments that Fedora is the same as Arch. Tomboy being installed by default is hardly a heavy reliance on mono.

Oh, sorry, just realized that then he wouldn't have anything to get people worked up about, hence no story. So what if he needs to trash a perfectly good free software project in the process.
schestowitz

Feb 16, 2008
6:07 AM EDT
dinotrac, it's not me who made that claim. See the reply. In fact, I contradicted that claim which was made by a reader.

tuxtom, you said: "I'll start getting scared when they try to rename vi notepad." I hope you realise that software patents are the issue, not assimilation. This is a case of serving Microsoft the 'smoking gun'.

bigg, the checks were not performed by myself. I am also a part-time GNOME user. The issue is just a small minority, not GNOME.
bigg

Feb 16, 2008
6:33 AM EDT
I'm not arguing with what you reported. I'm saying that you should place the blame on the Ubuntu devs, not on GNOME.

At the very least you should report the influence of mono on several of the most popular distributions, and then describe the steps to remove mono completely, as I did above for my chosen distribution. If it can't be removed without completely messing up the system, say that.

FTA:

"These ‘Monopendencies’ could soon turn GNOME into MONOME, making it virtually impossible in due time to use basic applications without Mono somewhere in the dependecies tree."

But that is specific to Ubuntu, and does not apply to many other distros. I have no use for mono, and would never consider developing an app using it, or running an app that has mono for a dependency. However, even using the GNOME desktop, it is trivial to avoid mono completely by issuing a single command.

You would do the free software world a lot more good by explaining what you see to be a problem with mono and then telling them how to avoid it. Presenting this as a problem with GNOME does nobody any good. It's a matter of contributing vs criticizing.
jdixon

Feb 16, 2008
8:26 AM EDT
> However, even using the GNOME desktop, it is trivial to avoid mono completely by issuing a single command.

And it's even more trivial by using a KDE based distribution.
dinotrac

Feb 16, 2008
8:53 AM EDT
>dinotrac, it's not me who made that claim. See the reply. In fact, I contradicted that claim which was made by a reader.

My bad, then. Sorry.
tracyanne

Feb 16, 2008
12:09 PM EDT
@Roy see my comments on Mono here http://lxer.com/module/forums/t/26806/
schestowitz

Feb 17, 2008
6:55 AM EDT
Thanks. tracyanne.

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