Links 21/02/2008: Lots on Open Source, Lots of Trouble at Redmond, WA
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-02-21 15:12:17 UTC
- Modified: 2008-02-21 15:16:19 UTC
Recent Techrights' Posts
- IBM HR "Process is Similar to Raising Farm Animals"
- IBM "silent layoffs" won't stop
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- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 02, 2026
- IRC logs for Thursday, July 02, 2026
- Gemini Links 02/07/2026: OpenBGPD, Newt and OpenBSD, Indieweb Theme for Ghost
- Links for the day
- Links 02/07/2026: China "Ethnic Unity" Law a Global Threat, "EU Imposes €3 Duty on Parcels From China"
- Links for the day
- Japan's Share of GNU/Linux Has More Than Doubled
- GNU/Linux now sits around 3.5% compared to about 1% two years ago
- 'Largest Single Layoff Event In Gaming History' or 'Largest Single Layoff Event In Microsoft History'?
- we need whistleblowers, not official or semi-official statements from Microsoft
- Off-putting Terms or Behaviour That Keep Women Away From Areas of Technology (Not What IBM and GAFAM Tell Us)
- the use of language
- Microsoft Windows "Goes South" in South America, GNU/Linux Popularity Soaring
- Brazil and its neighbours must have paid attention to what happened earlier this year in Venezuela
- It's Not the Layoffs, It's the Debt
- PIPs and/or "silent layoffs" are about the companies flouting obligations to staff, reducing or eliminating the compensation packages
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Cutting Ribbons in Sintra While the EPO Burns
- Like the Roman Emperor Nero, Campinos fiddles in Sintra while the EPO burns
- In Spain, GNU/Linux Now Measured at 5.5%
- Microsoft and Windows are generally shrinking
- North America: GNU/Linux Leaps to 8% "Market Share"
- the trend is clear
- statCounter: GNU/Linux Has Risen to All-Time High of 6% Worldwide (July 2026)
- GNU/Linux has massive gains
- Not Tolerating Death Threats
- Death threads are a serious matter
- Silent Layoffs, 'Happy' Layoffs, and 'Buyouts' (Pretending to Voluntarily Retire)
- We've been seeing lots of that at IBM and Microsoft
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 125 Out of 200: Litigants in Person (LIPs) Handling American Lawfare Funded by Third Parties (About a Million Pounds for 100 Kilograms of Legal Papers)
- An appeal to the Court of Appeal can be justified at one point
- Attacks on the Sites
- These are clearly censorship attempts
- Links 02/07/2026: Microsoft May be Shutting Down 5+ Studios, Slop Got Too Expensive, "RAMpocalypse" Discussed
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 01, 2026
- IRC logs for Wednesday, July 01, 2026
- Gemini Links 02/07/2026: Kondo, Theological Thought, and X4
- Links for the day
- Links 01/07/2026: Apple and Microsoft Price Hikes, Political Catchup
- Links for the day
- Parroting the Script of RAs and PIPs, "Buyouts" and Layoffs by Any Other Name
- Over time people will find out just how many people "leave" IBM
- Slop Gives No Real Edge, It's Just Falsely Marketed That Way (FOMO)
- Plagiarism in some measurable form is always bad, irrespective of what we call it
- The Microsoft-Owned Media Shows What Spin Microsoft Will Use Amid Mass Layoffs
- Microsoft says goodbye to over 10,000 workers this month
- Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Lost a Case of Its Biggest Client "IN THE COURT OF APPEAL (CIVIL DIVISION)"
- Is Brett Wilson LLP proud of such clientele?
- The Media is Shooting Its Own Foot by Peddling Slop and Spam
- Nobody wishes to read slop; as soon as people realise "the news" (or "news site") is LLM trash, they will walk away
- Gary Smith Says Brett Wilson LLP Engages in SLAPP Against Him Over LinkedIn Post, "This is the Streisand Effect in Real Time"
- "Lawyers who front SLAPP‑style threats on behalf of powerful institutions are not “defending reputation”; they are abusing legal process to intimidate and silence legitimate public‑interest scrutiny."
- Gemini Links 01/07/2026: Wild Flowers, Slop, and Waystone Tools
- Links for the day
- Links 01/07/2026: Bending Spoons Makes an 'Exit' ("Going Public"), US Supreme Court Rules on Many Issues
- Links for the day
- Misattributing Blame, the Core Issue is Slop
- that issue has nothing to do with Bash
- Microsoft: Layoffs Are an Investment
- Sales of the console will take another plunge and debt will skyrocket
- Links 01/07/2026: MElon (Elon Musk) "Confronted With List of People He Has Killed", Microsoft Ignores Union, Chooses "Bloodbath"
- Links for the day
- The Register MS: Paid-For SPAM Advocating Chinese Colonialism in Africa, Not Even a Disclosure (as Before)
- Does The Register MS recognise what this piece is promoting and who for?
- Techrights Never Defended Rapists
- In the past, I and others got falsely accused of "defend[ing] a rapist"
- "Regular Silent Layoffs and PIPs" at Microsoft, According to Microsoft Insider
- Many people leave without a fuss, only a signed NDA
- Gaming Companies Help Promote Rootkits ('Anticheat') and Help Microsoft Take Control of People's PCs
- The industry in its current form acts a bit more like a cabal of power-hungry companies that actively try to back-door everything and smear people who oppose that
- IRC (Internet Relay Chat) Turns 38 Next Month
- IRC did well because over 300k users are on significant networks (simultaneous, also counting bots and cross-network overlaps)
- opensourceforu.com is a Slopfarm, It's Not "Open Source" and It's Not "For U"
- Slop "For U"
- DRM and Ownership
- We now even have PCs that "expire"
- GNU/Linux Reaches 6% in North America
- Tomorrow around 10AM we'll see what preliminary data they get for July
- IBM Layoffs Still Happening in 2026, They're Just Not Being Reported
- The demise of IBM accompanies the demise of the media
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 124 Out of 200: The Court Deems My Wife Connected to the Case of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Invites Her to the Hearing Last Week
- Brett Wilson LLP does not play by the rules
- Paying Severance to Staff Laid Off by Microsoft Too Expensive for Microsoft Now?
- When companies earn such a bad reputation (not paying severance to people they discard) it lowers morale even further
- Microsoft Mass Layoffs Due to Money Problems (Debt, Lack of Money to Complete Payroll), Not "Hey Hi"
- If Microsoft later comes up with some "Hey Hi" narrative, then immediately reject it
- Stop Conflating Free Software With Slop Plagiarism and Time-wasting
- Even decades ago people could use "compute" for lots of fuzzing, then file away false or unaudited reports using bots
- What Security Means
- Security does not mean asking Microsoft for permission
- Microsoft May be Losing 10,000+ Workers This Month
- Here's the quick math
- BSN Senior School Leidschenveen is Shutting Down and What That Means to the European Patent Office (EPO)
- Follow-up meeting with Site Manager VP1 on school matters
- Gemini Links 01/07/2026: Keeping (Relatively) Cool plus Adventures in Solar, Camp Snap Cameras and XTEINK X4 Ereader Reviews
- Links for the day
- European Patent Office (EPO) Series: Different Strokes For Different Folks
- Organisation operating in two parallel universes
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 30, 2026
- IRC logs for Tuesday, June 30, 2026
- GNU/Linux Measured at 4.4% by statCounter, Even More by analytics.usa.gov
- GNU/Linux has fared well
Comments
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:45:45
steve got pwned by larry.
seriously i think M$ is loosing out and steve has lost control over what he is doing. this is a guy who has zero technical knowledge, has never written a single line of code, cant make out any difference between a asp or php code...lol. i dont know if any m$ executive has advised steve over the technical hurdles of moving yahoo to m$ technology.
rofl.i think no one will dare to go near the chair throwing ninja.
entire blame of M$ doom will be on steve and bill has side stepped out of this mess really easy.
by doing a hostile take over - this is really going to blow out of proportion. everyone is making fun of m$ so openly, they have become a joke of what m$ used to be a decade back.
look at the action figures / toys stuff m$ is doing lately. everyone is laughing at them. they are trying so hard to be like google. haha.
just cant stop laughing.
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:49:00
BoomBoom
2008-02-21 18:28:35
- A BB for a brain in an empty head. Shake him and hear him rattle! - A pile of stolen patents for things someone else invented! - Extra sweat! - Awesome monkeydance action! - Developers developers developers developers! - Buggy software that doesn't work! - Buggy patches for buggy software that *still* doesn't work! - A fake sense of security! (along with thousands of exploits and weaknesses) - An EULA written by the Ghost of Stalin and the RIAA! - MONO! (Both the poisonware and the disease) - Office chair grenades! - FUD machinegun! - Arrogance out the wazoo! - Megalomaniac world domination plans! - And not a snowball's chance in Hell of ever having a clue.
:P
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-21 22:39:12
This VNUnet article dovetails nicely with the recent piece on Groklaw[1]
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2210121/microsoft-engages-proxy-fight
I wonder if a deep-cutting summary or analysis can be written to Slashdot without using the M-word.
The plan seems to be to lobby and intrigue behind the scenes to replace the board with a more obedient set. Before that happens, Yahoo should re-license Zimbra as GPL. Also, how big a contributer is Yahoo to open source development in general and BSD in particular? That could be one of the main motivations for hostile take over.
I also notice that the astroturfers have returned to slashdot in droves since about Monday or so and, probably related, there is article after article of advertising.
[1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958
Also, about the last attempts to save the cash cow :
Houston, we have a problem ... ... when trying to paint a nice face before the BRM ...
Google News Alert for: (OpenDocument OR ODF) AND ("Ecma 376" OR OXML OR OOXML OR "office open xml" OR "open XML")
Microsoft pledges not to sue over open source CNet News.com Blog - USA The company does not natively support the alternative Open Document Format, or ODF, standard in Office 2007. Although it does not mention ODF specifically ... See all stories on this topic
MS to publish free APIs for Windows, Office Electronista - Santa Clara,CA,USA Office 2007 has been a particular subject of investigation and has been criticized for its switch to the Microsoft-made Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft Promises Interoperability Digitaltrends.com - Lake Oswego,OR,USA Microsoft also says it won't sue open source developers who build or distribute non-commercial implementations of its protocols, although developers who ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft is fighting. Don't give it too much room for manipulation.