Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is OSBC's First Sponsor Ever (Updated)

Maybe a coincidence, but here is what we know

Having just gone through responses at Digg.com, I found that Matt Asay responded to a submission of mine. He said:

What is ironic, Roy, is that Microsoft was the first sponsor ever for OSBC...and yet it hasn't capitulated after five years and 7-8 events. Maybe it *is* possible to talk without being swayed. It is for me, anyway.


So, Microsoft was the first to offer money to make this open source conference possible. That would seem to indicate that Microsoft wanted OSBC created. In relation to the "business" slant of this conference (that's the "B" in OSBC), the following publication, once cited only by Asay, comes to mind again. At the time, we suspected it could have been sponsored by Microsoft. It had fingerprints on it.

“That would seem to indicate that Microsoft wanted OSBC created.”The thesis speaks about commercialisation of open source software, which is exactly what Microsoft wants because it's easier to monetise and exploit (e.g. with software patents), all at the expense of old-school Free software. I am also reminded of Asay's anti-Stallman blog posts, not to mention the many slurs against Linux on the desktop and the GPLv3. I've been reading Matt's blogs quite exhaustively for about two years, so I feel eligible to comment on this.

I also found the following bit of text among Andy Updegrove's links just a couple of hours ago:

Microsoft's Brad Smith Tries To Make Nice With Open Source Community

Andrew Updegrove, a partner in the law firm Gesmer Updegrove LLC, was a member of a panel following Smith's talk and asked, "Wouldn't it be a great step to assert that no patents will be used against Linux?" Smith responded, "That would be saying, 'Hey, if you create the Linux kernel, you get a free pass.' ."


Unsurprisingly, the bit above was selectively quoted by Andy. Who wouldn't find it a tad shocking?

We last wrote about OSBC yesterday afternoon. You are strongly encouraged to read this post if you haven't.

Earlier this night I received another E-mail asking about OSBC. Specifically, it was an inquiry in relation to that horrific talk from Brad Smith. I later asked: "I suppose you know who invited Brad."

The response was interesting:




Who? Matt Asay?

Is this guy pro-Microsoft?

I have the impression he is responsible for the Microsoft hijack of the open source term, and the recent MS-OSS licenses.

Maybe he is bought already.

[...]

When it comes to patents, Microsoft might be in the top3 worse companies.




This response comes from a European expert on software patents. It gets very difficult to trust people these days. As a note of clarification, I do not believe Asay wishes to help Microsoft but I maintain my position that he is being used, probably without even realising it.

He is promised fame and glory, but he may be manipulated (a condition upon which this reward depends). And ironically enough, this reminds me of a particular Vice President from Novell, who once pursued a job at Microsoft. Instead, shortly after the job interview, he created a competitor to KDE, thus leading to fragmentation and duplication of effort.

Update: I have just come across this writeup from Linux expert/journalist Sean Michael Kerner. It seems to concur in places. Have a look:

Microsoft's Open Source Business Conference

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually