[Mono-list] Uncertainty and Doubt about MONO

[Miguel de Icaza]

Hello,

> And here is the reality
> 
> Try and find Corel Linux. You won't. Now find out why and you'll see
> something very unpleasant. Getting into bed with the devil is a sure way
> to get the wobbly dangly bits of your anatomy well and truly burned.

The story of Corel Linux is much more complicated than this.  But the
MS/Corel agreement actually did not even *touch* Corel Linux.

The agreement between Microsoft and Corel was not around Corel Linux as
many believe.  It was a resolution of their patent disputes, and also a
contractual agreement to have Corel port parts of .NET to Unix.   

Corel did provide the development components to port Rotor to Unix,
which is how Rotor ended up running on BSD.  It had nothing to do with
Corel Linux, see:

http://www.windowsitpro.com/Articles/Index.cfm?ArticleID=19509&DisplayTab=Article

Corel Linux had its own share of issues at the time;  It was a Debian
fork, with a number of proprietary components (some desktop components,
I cant remember which, I believe the file manager).

The problem with having a proprietary distro is that it severely limited
the testers, and the natural grass-roots adoption.   Eventually Corel
sold off that business to a venture capital fund and it became Xandros.

Miguel.