Update: Miguel has provided a *FANTASTIC* follow-up to a question posed by Robert,

Well let’s hope Miguel changes from Mono to Java now that Java is going GPL.

I personally questioned why on earth he would want to do that when Mono provides support for not only the .NET languages, but for Java itself via IKVM.NET, but Miguel has taken it several steps further by not only providing an extended understanding of why he feels Mono/.NET is the better platform, but most importantly (from a Linux-Geek perspective, which Miguel quite obviously is), why it’s the better choice in regards to the promotion of Linux as a platform. He then concludes with,

trollbait: I think that if anything, now that we got a free java in the pipeline, the free java community can focus on improving Mono :-)

Beyond stating that I most definitely agree with Miguel, I’ll let the rest of y’all take it from here, providing the following question to build and extend from,

What’s the point of having a platform in the first place, if you don’t utilize that platform to its fullest potential? For example, Windows has its strengths, and its weaknesses. The same is true about Mac OSX. The same is true about Linux. Why approach things from the standpoint of vanilla, when there’s chocolate, strawberry, vanilla almond fudge, and *OH SO MUCH MORE* than just plain-old vanilla?

That’s not to suggest that vanilla is a bad flavor in the same sense that chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla almond fudge are bad flavors. It’s really up to you which you prefer, right?

So then: What’s your favorite flavor? and why?

Thanks for the follow-up, Miguel!

Update: Manu Stapf followed-up this same post recently with the following,

If you read the original article till the end (http://www.apostate.com/
programming/bm-freesoftware.html) you will realize that Bertrand Meyer
was actually proposing a new way (thus the title of the article) to
embrace/recognize/encourage/promote a vision of open source software.

I’ve appended to the end of this post Bertrand Meyer’s “A COURSE OF ACTION”. I am still trying to consume it all internally, but I have to admit that at first glance it most definitely seems to hold significant value as source of inspiration in regards to how to approach the world of software, both open and closed, commercial and non-commercial alike moving forward.

Thoughts from the community at large?

[Original Post]
Eiffel now Open Source on 13 Mar 2007 - tirania.org blog comments. | Google Groups

Not everyone understood open source the day it was launched.

Look at Sun and Java, they have a history of decades of resisting the
open sourcing of Java, it took a long time, but they eventually
changed their mind.

Like someone said “wise people change their minds” ;-)

Miguel.

via http://www.apostate.com/programming/bm-freesoftware.html

11. A COURSE OF ACTION

What should be done? I will conclude with a suggested agenda for everyone, whether a commercial software developer or merely a computer user.

1. Recognize the major contributions of the free software community, from Linux and GCC to TEX, LATEX and Ghostscript.
2. Accept that both commercial and free software have a role to play, and that neither will ever go away.
3. Be respectful of the authors of good free software.
4. Try to convince them to apply the reciprocal goodwill (in some of the cases cited this may be hard, but one should try).
5. Refuse and refute the moral defamation of commercial software developers. If you are a software developer, be proud of your profession.
6. Call the extremists’ bluff by questioning their moral premises. Re-establish ethical priorities.
7. Refuse the distortion of moral values and the use of free software as a pulpit from which to spread ideologies of violence.
8. Demand (in the spirit of faithful advertising) that the economic origin of “free” software be clearly stated, and that the products be classified as one of “donated”, “taxpayer-funded” and the other categories described in this article.
9. For Microsoft, whose unique position in the community creates unique responsibilities: promote a more open attitude towards the rest of the world; open up; be less mean. You can afford to be.
10. For everyone: focus on quality. Work with every competent person–free or commercial software developers–to address the increasingly critical, and increasingly ethical, issue of software quality.
11. Strive to combine the best of what the two communities have to offer.

Copyright Bertrand Meyer, 1999