Has the emperor got any clothes?

Sam Varghese
Tuesday, 18 March 2008 09:12

Opinion and Analysis

A little less than a week ago, GNOME co-founder and Microsoft admirer Miguel de Icaza called me a jihadist. I'm not exactly sure what he meant by that. When a man from Mexico uses words from the east one is unsure what he means to convey - but I thought it would be worth examining in detail the great developer's sayings.
I have no objection to a person holding a certain opinion about me or what I write. But when it comes to an individual like de Icaza - who, by all accounts, should possess some logic - then one expects something which is reasoned to emanate when the man puts finger to keyboard.

Let's have a look at what he said when his pet projects - Mono and Moonlight - come under scrutiny.

First off, he fails to get my name right. Had I done as much, there would have been a number of virtuosos all over me. Journalists are expected to get their facts and names right every time. Developers? They can make the most egregious mistake and it passes muster.

Of course, this has nothing to do with double standards. No, never. How could one accuse a great programmer like de Icaza of such things?

De Icaza then calls me a tabloid author. Facts apparently are not sacred to him - I have worked for broadsheets all my life apart from nine months back in 1980. It looks like anything which presents the truth in straightforward form apparently falls into the "tabloid" stable as far as de Icaza is concerned. In that case. he hasn't read the Independent, the Guardian or the Observer for a long time.

Anything which is "reasoned" and "long-winded" and comes to a conclusion in the 72nd paragraph - and couches it in the most delicate language - would, I'm sure, go down well with the Novell vice-president. Calling a spade a spade - well, that's tabloid stuff. We don't deal with that kind of expression across the border.