Bonum Certa Men Certa

General Electric (GE) Attacks Free Software, Microsoft Style

General Electric



Summary: Microsoft's friend and ally, General Electric, is doing some dirty laundry in the FUD department

Despite having issues with patent trolls, GE has been lobbying (jointly with Microsoft even) for software patents in Europe. This is indicative of a schizophrenic attitude that prevails in large companies like IBM because GE uses GNU/Linux (OpenSUSE) internally on the desktop. Even staff that does not want it is forced to use it. GE is not primarily a software company, so we typically mention it only when it comes to control of the media [1, 2] (also a joint venture with Microsoft and conglomerates).

“[G]iven that GE uses GNU/Linux internally (on desktops), this shows how bigoted some GE staff can be.”A reader has just mailed us this new article, from which he quotes: "chief information officer for engineering giant General Electric (GE) has said that open source software is only suited for internal “playground” applications and that businesses that use it for mission critical infrastructure are taking a huge risk..."

This is just funny. As if visibility of program code is indication of quality. Well, actually, good code is code that's easier to share and "expose", as Diebold teaches. Firefox, Apache, and Linux are high-quality programs that are used widely. Even agencies of the United States government (including the White House) would beg to differ, but the FUDmeister from GE continues: “I think open source is great for own internal playground type of things but if it's running vital mission critical applications - networks running on open source for example - then that is a huge, huge risk to the organisation...”

"Who's been feeding him this stuff," asked our reader. It is hard to tell, but given that GE uses GNU/Linux internally (on desktops), this shows how bigoted some GE staff can be.

"Anyone wonder why the Microsoft SQL server is called the sequel server? Is that because no matter what version it's at there's always going to be a sequel needed to fix the major bugs and security flaws in the last version?"

--Unknown



Recent Techrights' Posts

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 23, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 23, 2024
[Meme] GAFAMfox
Mozilla Firefox in a state of extreme distress
Google Can Kill Mozilla Any Time It Wants
That gives Google far too much power over its rival... There are already many sites that refuse to work with Firefox or explicitly say Firefox isn't supported
Free (as in Freedom) Software Helps Tackle the Software Liability Issue, It Lets Users Exercise Greater Control Over Programs
Microsofters have been trying to ban or exclude Free software
In the US, Patent Laws Are Up for Sale
This problem is a lot bigger than just patents
ESET Finds Rootkits, Does Not Explain How They Get Installed, Media Says It Means "Previously Unknown Linux Backdoors" (Useful Distraction From CALEA and CALEA2)
FUD watch
Techdirt Loses Its Objectivity in Pursuit of Money
The more concerning aspects are coverage of GAFAM and Microsoft in particular
Techrights' Statement on Code of Censorship (CoC) and Kent Overstreet: This Was the Real Purpose of Censorship Agreements All Along
Bombing people is OK (if you sponsor the key organisations), opposing bombings is not (a CoC in a nutshell)
Links 23/11/2024: Press Sold to Vultures, New LLM Blunders
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Relationship with Oneself" and Yretek.com is Back
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: "Real World" Cracked and UK Online Safety Act is Law
Links for the day
Links 23/11/2024: Celebrating Proprietary Bluesky (False Choice, Same Issues) and Software Patents Squashed
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, November 22, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, November 22, 2024
Gemini Links 23/11/2024: 150 Day Streak in Duolingo and ICBMs
Links for the day
Links 22/11/2024: Dynamic Pricing Practice and Monopoly Abuses
Links for the day
Topics We Lacked Time to Cover
Due to a Microsoft event (an annual malware fest for lobbying and marketing purposes) there was also a lot of Microsoft propaganda
Microsofters Try to Defund the Free Software Foundation (by Attacking Its Founder This Week) and They Tell People to Instead Give Money to Microsoft Front Groups
Microsoft people try to outspend their critics and harass them
[Meme] EPO for the Kids' Future (or Lack of It)
Patents can last two decades and grow with (or catch up with) the kids
EPO Education: Workers Resort to Legal Actions (Many Cases) Against the Administration
At the moment the casualties of EPO corruption include the EPO's own staff
Gemini Links 22/11/2024: ChromeOS, Search Engines, Regular Expressions
Links for the day
This Month is the 11th Month of This Year With Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (So Far It's Happening Every Month This Year, More Announced Hours Ago)
Now they even admit it
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024