[Fedora-legal-list] http://www.fsf.org/news/dont-depend-on-mono

[Bill McGonigle]

On 06/29/2009 10:42 AM, Jon Stanley wrote:

> As Ajax said, the contingency plan would be "nuke from orbit", just as
> it is for any legally objectionable software in Fedora.

I'm not sure what the time horizon is between Fedora Legal DEFCON
levels, but the mono project's retreat plan is to invent-around, then
break compatibility as needed (with mounting prior-art challenges as a
follow-up).  So one might conceivably see a more pure mono emerge
shortly after such a challenge.

At least for the libraries.

Microsoft claims certain of its patents are _essential_ to implement C#
and the CLI (mono links to a letter from Jim [mumble] from Microsoft in
their FAQ).

OSNews is currently attempting to engage Microsoft in learning the terms
of their RAND license under ECMA rules.  Last I checked they were 30
days in with no response.

-Bill
(writing as somebody who hasn't ruled out hacking up a 'Conflicts: mono'
bogon RPM, for insurance purposes)

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