05.08.11
Microsoft Has Neutered LinuxTag 2011 (Again)
“I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?”
Summary: The company which is suing and extorting Linux is a participating “Partner” of LinuxTag, just like in previous years
AFTER the deal with Novell Microsoft began paying not only FOSS conferences (usually with Novell as its entry ticket) but also Linux conferences, which has the effect we explained in the context of previous LinuxTag events [1, 2, 3]. Here is the page from which the above screenshot was extracted. We have pretty much covered the issue (Microsoft funding LinuxTag) on a handful of occasions before, so we need not elaborate again. To put it concisely, what we observe here is that Microsoft is still a major “Partner”, buying itself some talks to repel the pro-Linux crowd, thereby helping to distort reality and remove from the event any resistance to attendance by the company which is suing Linux from many directions and lobbying for software patents in Europe.
What were LinuxTag organisers thinking? This actually came to my attention this morning because a reader mailed me, urging me to attend. Basically, I usually attend conferences about my professional field (computer vision) and conferences that are funded by Microsoft are better off not endorsed. Moreover, when Novell invited me to attend Novell conferences (knowing damn well that I was running a site against Novell) I did not see the point. That latter point is still being distorted by Mono maniacs, who claim that I am afraid of attending conferences. They do this to promote the notion of pathological paranoia, which does not exist. Thankfully, the Mono maniacs will need to find something new to obsess over. █
Agent_Smith said,
May 8, 2011 at 7:57 pm
Go with a pack of rotten tomatoes and throw them at the Micro$ofties. Do as the french did. They did it right.
BenderBendingRodriguez said,
May 9, 2011 at 4:09 am
Roy, maybe that’s what they would want us to do? Boycott every M$ sponsored event, maybe that’s why we should still promote LinuxTag and similar events but simply boycott/ignore M$. To be honest, i don’t think anyone is so stupid to even think that M$ has anything to do with GNU/Linux besides patents extortion…
Dr. Roy Schestowitz Reply:
May 9th, 2011 at 4:55 am
The goal is not to reject such events but to encourage organisers to reject Microsoft.
http://www.the-source.com/2010/08/rms-on-microsoft-sponsorship/