I am afraid of people writing C# code

benasselstine's picture
Submitted by benasselstine on Sun, 07/12/2009 - 22:50
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There's a meme floating around the GNOME community that says:

I am not afraid of people writing code.

It is an innocuous sounding statement, and is meant to garner support for C# and it's free software implementation named Mono. Critics of Mono say that it isn't as safe as other programming languages like C++ and Python because a letigious and restrictive corporation named Microsoft is in control of the language. The Free Software Foundation says that Mono is so unsafe that programmers should not write code in it, and that they are in-effect *afraid* of a scenario that involves 1) users growing dependent on software written in Mono, and 2) Microsoft will restrict the C# language and subquently all the software written in it.

Something is awry when the Free Software Foundation is telling people not to depend too heavily on software that is Free Software.

Can we trust Microsoft with the stewardship of a programming language? Microsoft benefits from every new software written in C# -- why would Microsoft want to stifle innovation that is so Microsoft-friendly?

Should we be afraid of people writing code in C#?

Should we give Microsoft a chance?

Do we trust Microsoft with issues involving software freedom?

Has Microsoft shown themselves to be trustworthy members of the free software community?

The answer to the final question is a definite "no" -- By their own actions Microsoft has shown themselves to be untrustworthy members of the free software community. And what could Microsoft ever do to make themselves trustworthy?

CoolGoose's picture

CoolGoose

2 years 44 weeks 23 hours 34 min ago

0

I don't think that Microsoft

I don't think that Microsoft will ever sue big companies like RedHat because I can almost bet they're breaking their own share of patents ;).

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