[Tfug] MS .NET source code--look but don't touch

[Eric M. Gearhart]

> My understanding (which may be wrong) is that Mono is a 
> re-implementation of .NET (which is legal), not copying of code. The 
> only questionable areas might be the copyright on the APIs and patents... 
>Also I thought that Microsoft had submitted various parts of the system, 
> like C# and MSIL to a standards body (ECMA?) to make them open standards 
> for anyone to implement. Might this cover the .NET APIs? 

Just because parts have been submitted to a standards body like ISO or ECMA, doesn't mean that parts of the implementation aren't patented. Mono should be OK (it's an independent implementation of .NET)... the problem with Mono is that WinForms isn't included in the published parts of the .NET ECMA standard, and an open source equivalent has to be built. Which again raises questions about whether parts of that reimplementation are patented... God I hate the patent system the way it is right now. 

> Isn't Mono backed by Novell? I guess that is a whole other can of worms, 
> but my impression of the patent deal is that Microsoft and Novell are 
> equally afraid of being sued by the other so they agreed to not do 
> anything to each other - i.e. Cold War. 

It should be said here that Microsoft and Novell agreed not to sue each others' CUSTOMERS. They can still sue each other (and conspiracy theorists out there right now think that this is all a ruse and Microsoft is going to sue Novell and other folks down the line somewhere. SCO might have just been a "test scenario" so to speak). 

-- 
Eric 
http://nixwizard.net