The introduction of Mono into Linux and the open source environment begs risking patent claims from Microsoft. Free Software Foundation founder Richard Stallman sees it that way. The Technical board at Ubuntu, on the other hand, doesn't consider it any reason to be disturbed.

Scientific study supports what everyone already knows - that intellectual monopolies reduce pace of progress

Microsoft's bid to dispel the patent fears surrounding the open source .NET clone, Mono, has met with little enthusiasm from free software advocates.

With Linux Distros taking sides, this week's announcement that Microsoft promises not to make Necessary Claims against anyone using their patented specifications adds to the confusion. At first glance, this looks like a safe passage for Mono, but as we delve in deeper, we see that not everything is legally in the clear.

Amazon recently released the source code of some of the components that are used in the Kindle. Contrary to the erroneous reports that are circulating the Web, Amazon is not opening its e-book reader. The code release is purely for GPL compliance while the Kindle's ebook features remain proprietary.

An in-depth investigation of the Mono controversy. And yes, before you complain, I wrote it. After seeing how much work I'd put into it, I thought it would be nice to have someone other than Microsoft trolls leaving comments .

In response to the open letter written by free software guru Richard Stallman about the Mono problem, Alexander Schmehl, Debian developer and spokesperson for the GNU/Linux distribution has pointed out that Debian has no plans to include the controversial programming environment in the default GNOME installation.