ComputerWorld: ActiveX in Disguise?

"Alan pointed out that Microsoft will make .Net development tools that will produce applications that create an unpleasant experience for users who don't subscribe to Passport, the same way its applications produce HTML that's annoying to view in Netscape. Alan also said that Microsoft has already floated a software license that makes it illegal to mix Microsoft tools and libraries with software licensed under the GNU General Public License.

That means you can only combine open-source software with Microsoft libraries if you give Microsoft the right to take what you've contributed for free, make it proprietary and then sell it back to you.

Alan nailed .Net for what it really is. You can call it .Net, HailStorm, Passport or CLI, but all .Net amounts to is warmed-over ActiveX. ActiveX failed to catch on and lock Internet users into Windows, in part because someone was clever enough to demonstrate how easy it was to create an ActiveX-enabled Web page that steals information from your Quicken database if you visit that site."

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