Bonum Certa Men Certa

Why Sites Like Groklaw Are Important

“In the United States, for example, about one sixth of the gross national product, over a trillion dollars per year, is devoted to marketing. Marketing is manipulation and deceit. It tries to turn people into something they aren't -- individuals focused solely on themselves, maximising their consumption of goods that they don't need.”

--Noam Chomsky



Summary: Contrarian sites whose analysis deviates from that of marketing personnel is valuable, as proven by Groklaw (and hopefully Techrights too)

LATER THIS week we will publish details about Novell's latest moves, which do not yet include naming a buyer of Novell assets, including UNIX. It seems inevitable and just because this view may not make people comfortable does not make it any less true. Truth is not a matter of preference, convenience, or faith.



“Truth is not a matter of preference, convenience, or faith.”For those who do not know, the SCO case is hardly producing any news anymore and nonetheless, Novell is still being challenged by SCO. Groklaw, which has just received an EFF award, is there to reiterate the facts. Techrights wishes to congratulate Groklaw on this EFF-granted achievement. It's well deserved! The topics covered by Groklaw have always been similar to ours (same with Bruce Perens, but he rarely writes anymore), mainly because they explore the interaction with opposition, particularly attacks on software freedom. Even though Groklaw is hardly as active as it used to be (moving back to a pace of about one article per day rather than 3 or so), the output it gathered over the years is there to stay (the Internet extends 'shelf life' of news) and to serve those who are interested in exploration which goes deeper than press releases, lobbyists, and 'general-purpose' journalists who merely 'redress' those press releases, taking the claims at face value, hardly ever challenging them, and then reprinting to deceive generations to come. In fact, just to give a new example, Groklaw is now addressing an old press release from 15 years ago, helping to show why it falsely claims SCO to be the owner of UNIX. The courts ruled otherwise, more than once in fact. It's unfortunate the process can take years to complete, so justice is slow and expensive (more on that in the next post).

It's a 1995 joint press release by HP, Santa Cruz and Novell dated September 20, 1995, one day after the APA was signed by Santa Cruz and Novell. That makes it Santa Cruz telling the world *at the time* what it thought it had purchased, and what it says it bought is ... the UnixWare business. At the trial, Alok Mohan, a SCO witness, was asked if the press release accurately reflected the deal, and he said yes. What could he say? He's quoted in the release. He was then Santa Cruz's President and CEO.


Suffice to say, there is spin to be combated here, as in many cases (one of the biggest spin machines is actually operated by the Gates Foundation). Few people may be able to reach Groklaw (rather than their local newspaper) and appreciate the fact that truth always deviates quite wildly from claims that are made in press releases and the corporate press. Wikileaks is another example of a site that has had major impact not so much because of Wikileaks staff but because of the incognito hero who leaked piles of military memos (last year we had a lot of fun with Comes vs Microsoft memos). These two sides at Wikileaks have helped the world see that the mainstream press can be distrusted and that the Internet can be used to eliminate deception, not just to spread disinformation as many others do.

One of Groklaw's latest posts deals with SCO's bankruptcy and those who paid close attention may also know that SCO possibly faked back in 2007 when it filed for bankruptcy protection (emphasis on "protection"). As Pamela Jones puts it:

Another bill from Ocean Park Advisors, its 12th monthly bill. This one is for September. So... when does its advice pay off for SCO, one wonders? How many years does it take for this company to get on its feet and exit Chapter 11 or alternatively to see the wisdom of throwing in the towel?


This year and in the later part of 2009 we saw a lot of dodgy financial activity at SCO. To say that SCO is not just trying to cause damage to Linux (as opposed to bring about a SCO Renaissance) is to ignore evidence which the commercial press has chosen to ignore while Groklaw repeated it over and over again.

"On the same day that CA blasted SCO, Open Source evangelist Eric Raymond revealed a leaked email from SCO's strategic consultant Mike Anderer to their management. The email details how, surprise surprise, Microsoft has arranged virtually all of SCO's financing, hiding behind intermediaries like Baystar Capital."

--Bruce Perens



Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries