Mono?!?

[Max TenEyck Woodbury]

On 06/01/2012 09:58 AM, Conan Kudo (ニール・ゴンパ) wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 1, 2012 at 12:28 AM, Max TenEyck Woodbury 
> <max at mtew.isa-geek.net <mailto:max at mtew.isa-geek.net>> wrote:
> 
> On 06/01/2012 12:40 AM, Conan Kudo (ニール・ゴンパ) wrote:
> 
> > You realize that Microsoft has a legally binding irrevocable  agreement
> > to not assert patents on .NET implementations that comply with the
> > standard, right? Mono falls under that. I wouldn't worry about patents
> > when it comes to Mono. We're more likely to have problems on the Java
> > side of things than with Mono.
> 
> No, I do NOT 'realize' Microsoft has a legally binding irrevocable 
> agreement ....
> 
> I have heard that such a thing exists, but with the recent debacle by
> Oracle and tSCOg's treatment of 'irrevocable agreement"s, I do NOT
> trust them to not find a way to get around such a pronouncement. 
> In fact I expect that they could simply ignore any such promise if they
> found it convenient to do so and that they will do so eventually. 
> Further, there are enough weasel words in that pronouncement that I
> think they plan to get nasty anyway.
> 
> I realize ANYBODY can sue ANYBODY, but I prefer to stay clear of tar
> pits like MONO when I can.
> 
> (There is also an indication that .NET is a dead letter and MONO will
> become unnecessary.)
> 
> 
> Oracle could sue because its legal agreement for patents requires that 
> the implementation is derived from Oracle's completely and must be under 
> GPL. Other independent implementations are not protected. Microsoft's 
> protects all implementations that comply with published standards.

You have that wrong.  Google made no such agreements.  Oracle sued
anyway on the basis of copy right and patent infringement.  They lost on
BOTH counts, but it still cost Google tens of millions of dollars in
legal fees
and it still has a ways to run.  I can't afford that.  I suspect that
anyone
who is not operating on Google's scale can.

Worse, Sun LIKED it that Google was trying for compatibility.  Oracle
bought Sun and the situation changed dramatically.  Microsoft does NOT
like the competition and has pulled stunts like their end-run to MosAid to
get around binding promises.  Relying on ANY legal pronouncement by
Microsoft is even worse than relying on their technical pronouncements.