Comment Re:Ah. I see. (Score 1) 264
Of course Novell bought Ximian before (not before/after) the MS deal for the express reason of acquiring a desktop and .NET company. They get someone that's worked on the desktop, and more specifically, the only company really pushing for MS interoperability through .NET at the time. It was years before the deal, btw. I would hardly call it right "before/after" in any sense of the word.
So, his company was bought before the deal, a years before the deal, his new overlords made a decision about cross-licensing patents and made a deal, and he's at fault? Regardless of what you think of the whole Mono project, you can't really blame someone that didn't have any part in the deal itself for the deal that was made. Novell didn't give him orders to make a deal, because he never made it. Other people at Novell did.
Now, there are a lot of reasons to dislike the Mono project. Legally, it's a bit scary. While I think it will probably be fine, I don't pretend that it's unrealistic for some people to be hesitant on or maybe dislike the direction of the project.
So, his company was bought before the deal, a years before the deal, his new overlords made a decision about cross-licensing patents and made a deal, and he's at fault? Regardless of what you think of the whole Mono project, you can't really blame someone that didn't have any part in the deal itself for the deal that was made. Novell didn't give him orders to make a deal, because he never made it. Other people at Novell did.
Now, there are a lot of reasons to dislike the Mono project. Legally, it's a bit scary. While I think it will probably be fine, I don't pretend that it's unrealistic for some people to be hesitant on or maybe dislike the direction of the project.