Given the recent news about Mono, I was wondering if it is in Slackware, and if so how to remove it. I run KDE, so I didn't think I would find anything, but...

slocate gives me this directory: /usr/share/icons/mono/scalable.

These are clearly only monospaced fonts and I have no intention of installing Gnome in any form, so I assume I can sleep soundly.

What are those recent news?

Gnome isn't part of Slackware since.. 11something, so usally there's no Mono on Slackware. I've got one, though because I use GSlacky.

And what recent news?

The reports I've been reading are by Roy Schestowitz at Boycott Novell.

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/10/03/mono-death-trap/

Thank you, Su-Shee.

Gnome is no longer part of Slack from long time ago. Please tell exact version if anyone remembers.
I personally don't care about Microsoft & Novell deals. Mono is a good and useful product. If they license it only for Suse, nobody will care about this license and everyone will use it illegally anyway like EULA protected software and cracks in Windows world.

Yes, and that's exactly what MS wants.

I've never got it: Why use Mono, when there's Qt and Java and Jamby?

Yeah, may the flamewar commence... ;-)

gargamel

Because there are some apps written in C#...

I don't have any Java or Qt by choice, because I don't have any application I actually use which needs it.

As I'm totally in the Gtk/Cairo world on one side and within Firefox, XUL and JavaScript on the other, Mono would _perfectly_ fit into my personal preferences - especially with Moonlight.

I never got warm with Java and as I don't like KDE, I deliberately ignored Qt over the last .. well from the beginning actually.

All in all I rather learn something I'm really interested in and invest in some time and engagement to find jobs within the subjects and languages I like instead of learning the languages "the market" asks for. (Seems to ask for, anyway, because between the jobs listed and the ones one could find is a huge (and very interesting) gap.. )

So, personally I'd possibly end up with Mono...

Well, personally, I think he's full of sh...

Oh, and not only because of this post, many of the other posts are just wrong and negatively FUD infused. Actually, I signed up to that site thinking it was reliable info and intelligent commentary ... well, I was wrong.

I actually was just kidding.

I think it's mainly a question of personal preference. Personally I like KDE better than Gnome, as I find it more intuitive to use, but I know and accept that I am only part of one half of the community, while the other one prefers Gnome, for the very same reasons. ;-)

But actually that's what Linux is all about: Freedom of choice. I therefore appreciate projects like Freedesktop.org, that ensure that things optimised for one desktop become unusable for the other one.
This is important, as there are KDE apps like K3b that are unrivalled in the Gnome world (at least to my knowledge), and Gnome/Gtk apps like GIMP and Gnucash for which there is no real KDE contender around.

So the average user, doing office work, personal correspondence, online banking and so on, uses KDE and Gnome and desktop-independent apps. That's why interoperability is so important.

My only real concern about Mono is that I am uncertain if it is really a safe bet for the future within the world of free licences. To my knowledge, it won't be easy, but possible for Microsoft make it very, very difficult for Mono developers to continue without paying royalties. I mention this because the main motivation behind Gnome was the Qt wasn't completely free at that time. Now, I am not sure how much Mono/Microsoft is in Gnome, but I am inclined to trust even a Norwegian Troll better than a software monopoly located in the beautiful Puget Sound area.

But in principle the threat is the same, just some 50 billion dollars bigger in the case of Mono/Gnome.

gargamel

Those royalties do not work anywhere, except the USA. The EU commission punished Microsoft and will punish again. If they released some standard, they can't prohibit another implementations of this standard.

If you look for really serious and balanced information, my recommendation would be http://www.lwn.net.

To me it makes no sense to boycott Novell, and then use Linux and KDE and Gnome and Mono and so on. Because the SuSE developers have contributed so much to Linux to the benefit of us all.
Regarding the deal between Microsoft and Novell, I think, it doesn't really matter, if you are not using SuSE or Microsoft systems. Even if you do: So what? There may be a positive effect by MS recommending (SuSE) Linux to its customers. That helps to spread our preferred platform. That would be good for all of us. There may also be a negative effect, but then only for Novell/SuSE: If they do things that violate the GPL, they are simply out of business.
From what I know, I cannot see any disadvantage or thread for any Linux user. Or any specific advantage for SuSE users.

And, BTW, openSuSE 10.2 is a very good distribution. A like it (almost) as much as Slackware 12.0.

To make a long story short: Freedom of speech includes the permit to run sites that are biased, like the FUD web site of Microsoft and their opponents like BoycottNovell. I prefer a more balanced research and interpretation. The LWN people have never disappointed me. Highly recommended. And they have excellent articles on Microsoft/Novell and all other aspects of Linux.

gargamel

Time will tell.

BTW, congratulations on your recent release.

http://www.linuxjournal.com/node/1000317