Microsoft officials understood that using home-made anti-business practices (such as undocumented API for having their programs run faster, or forging IE/ISS stuff into the OS core) is a dangerous (or expensive, depending on what political side you find yourself) solution to monopoly making.

But from where I stand, it seems that they are changing their policy and started using different rules.
I came across the patent they recently acquired by submitting the entire .NET API set to the US Patent Office. First, it is disgusting that the patent office allows someone to patent something like an API set, but we already knew that that system was not invented by software and simply didn’t keep up with the evolution of technology and market needs (and today is used not to protect but to attack).

When Microsoft submitted C# and CLI to ECMA, it smelled as it was something weird. First, it was a slap in Sun’s face (Sun tried to submit Java to ISO and ECMA but withdrew since they would have lost control of the platform), second, it was given the apparent signal “.NET” will be open.

Well, if you ever thought it was the case, and you were dreaming of Mono implementing a Linux version of .NET, wake up: Microsoft is going to allow this only when it serves their own purposes (that is: running .NET on their own OSs), but, if Mono catches up and steals market, they will simply shut it down enforcing that patent.

So, next time you think the JCP sucks, think at those Mono guys and relax: it could be much worse.