Idea #20439: “Live CD Size as an end” is harming ubuntu’s image

This is related to the fact that someone wants to pull gimp from the Ubuntu Live CD. It what I am sure it total innocent coincidence his argument is “disk space” and there’s a mono app for that”. Wow – never heard that line before. Also, in what I am sure is another totally innocent, if unfortunate, coincidence the man is an ex-Microsoftie. I mean I know Microsoft trains people to absolutely respect user freedom, openness and ethical decision making – I only hope that this gentle sir can recall Microsoft’s training when making important decisions.

Idea #20257: Change Tomboy for Gnote.

This is a  perfect idea. There is absolutely no reason whatsoever for Tomboy to even exist now that a C++ version of it exists. It has virtually the same functionality – and of course missing functionality could easily be added – and it totally eliminates the “mono factor”. In fact Gnote perfectly allows the default GNOME desktop to cleanly remove any mono dependency, as Tomboy is the only default GNOME app depending on mono.

Of course, neither GNOME nor Ubuntu has jumped on this – because the decision to include mono is not a pure technical one – if it were, it would immediately be pulled out to replace with Gnote. Instead, it is either awkwardly ignored, or at most some hem-haw about “missing functionality” is pathetically offered up. A shining example of the hypocrisy of mono proponents.

Lots of fierce personal attacks and lies about Gnote from notable mono apologists, if you care to walk that dark road, though.

Idea #110: No Mono by default in Ubuntu

I like this one – straight to the point! Get that mess out of there! This is pretty much my position: if the user has decided that the issues with mono are acceptable; then go ahead – it’s all about choice and freedom. The idea that corporate developers decide for the user is not acceptable. Most of the vocal mono apologetics comes directly from Novell, who has a clear financial interest in pushing mono. Because of Novell’s secretive deal with Microsoft, it’s financial interest, and continuing unwillingness to directly clear the air, I simply can not trust them in this matter.

Idea #2073: Use Banshee as the standard music player

Sitting at -184, which is a very low score indeed, yet mono apologists pretend Banshee is “best-of-breed”. It reminds me of Microsoft promoting Vista as “Best Windows Ever!”, while people flatly do not want it. The parallel of mono apologist tactics with Microsoft tactics is something worth considering.

So that’s a quick look at a few relevant ideas. One thing you might notice – in every case the majority of votes are against including mono, but the majority of comments are mono apologists. It’s like that in the Ubuntu Forums as where, in the sense that one questioning (or heaven forbid, critical) mono post brings all pro-mono cannons to bear.

It is increasingly difficult, then, to be a vocal mono critic in the Ubuntu community, because of the strong level of support mono enjoys in many key positions. If you think that sounds a touch paranoid, just consider the reception that Richard Stallman’s short and reasoned statement of C# received … oh wait, you can’t because it’s yet another thread that has been “disappeared”. The Ubuntu Forums are constantly removing posts and threads – I don’t mean “locking” them – I mean removing them and any trace of them.

This is another credibility problem for mono apologists, if you have to “disappear” content or confine it to a ghetto – it doesn’t speak well for your honesty, integrity, or arguments.