Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Real Issues, Not Gossip

Outcast



Summary: Why Techrights has been focused almost entirely on the issue of patents since its inception

THERE is a difference between covering what's important and covering what gets more readers. Those two things are not the same (nor do they overlap), as tabloids clearly demonstrate. Techrights spent a lot of time covering Novell, which brought not so much traffic; but this issue was important. Novell was Microsoft's pathway towards patent FUD, as tool for suppressing GNU/Linux adoption (now it is going after Java/Linux, or Android). But what bothers us a bit is extreme fascination with Ubuntu at the expense of other GNU/Linux distributions -- something that has become somewhat less of an issue earlier this year because Ubuntu does not make it into the news so much anymore.



The only thing worse than the above trend (covering only one distribution) is the personification of operating systems. When GNU/Linux news becomes news about selected individuals, then the articles cease to be technical. They also become emotionally charged (people are mentally wired and good at hating people, not amorphous institutions). Having said that, if one is considered to be a "subjective" writer, this does not invalidate his or her opinion; it might actually be necessary in order to drive progress. "Balance" is hinged on the assumption that we must also cover and almost promote less civilised sides that are often outdated and seldom rational.

We often give credit to particular types of sites for driving everything forward. Phoronix, for example, is very good in that regard. Then there are some sites that produce detailed reviews, which are an invaluable (very valuable) service to the community and technical documentation/HOWTOs have their place too, although these are usually less like news items. Then there are pundits like SJVN, who do a whole mixture of things. But let us remember that Shuttleworth or Torvalds are not surrogates of GNU/Linux and to speak about their personal life as though it determines the success of Freedom is just plainly pointless. What we currently consider to be the #1 issue (for this particular area of IT) is software patents, so all of today's posts will cover the subject as thoroughly as possible and provide a lot of external links for those who wish to know more.

Attaining the goal of software patents elimination is definitely achievable. Let us not be distracted by minor details that either affect one single person or one particular software package. Software patents can apply to all software and everyone who either develops or just buys products (and overpays). We can do something which actually matters to a lot of people rather than sink into the fringe of gossip.

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
 
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
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