Mono Position Statement

[Jonathan Carter (highvoltage)]

Hi Darren

Darren Bell wrote:
> Our company also takes the potential threat of patents seriously.  As
> such we stand by the position of the SFLC, FSF and RMS in that Mono is
> just too dangerous.
> 
> We are therefore going to look at switching from Ubuntu to Fedora.
> 
> The threat is too great to ignore.  I wish the UTB would reconsider this
> as more harm will come to Ubuntu rather than good.

Not that I'm in any way an expert on software patents, but isn't that
like giving in to terrorists? Why should Ubuntu (or anyone else for that
matter) give the patent trolls (because the type of companies that would
cause trouble for mono users *are* patent trolls) what they want?

I think it's perhaps better to step on someone's toes and when they want
to make a big deal about it, take them on on the issue instead of being
increasingly scared of the big patent trolls hiding under your bed.

You know that Microsoft recently attempted to patent the double-click?
Would you have also stopped using pointing devices and software that
supported double-clicks if they were awarded the patent?

-Jonathan