Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Latest FUD Against GNU/Linux Hinged on SEC Filing, Boosted by Pretend 'Journalists'

Steve Ballmer



Summary: The "Linux is just a desktop" pattern of FUD gets used by Microsoft boosters (with a new hat) to rile up and ridicule supporters of GNU/Linux, which thrives in many areas and spawns new brands (like "Android")

A Microsoft booster from Directions on Microsoft (Matt Rosoff, who left them last year only to promote Microsoft, as a seemingly-independent writer) started to spread some more GNU/Linux FUD last week. We have already given many examples, some of which well covered in this site, where he was advancing Microsoft agenda and this is just his latest (no links given as that would only feed a provocateur). Brian Proffitt, whose defence against this is weak (he helps validate the false allegations), neglects to mention the conflict of interest from this shameless Microsoft booster who now pretends to be a journalist. The only proper responses we have found so far help show that this FUD also got echoed by other Microsoft boosters such as Ed Bott. We were going to just ignore this FUD rather than give it any visibility. However, rebuttals have already been posted (around Monday), so we might as well give links to those:



  1. Microsoft's 'Linux Threat Level': Down to Green or Redder Than Ever?
    Whereas said documents used to include Linux as a primary threat to Windows -- alongside Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) and Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) -- Redmond's documents now reportedly don't mention any competitive threat from desktop Linux at all, according to a recent article on Business Insider, which cites a tweet by Directions on Microsoft's Wes Miller.

    [...]

    Of course, embedded Linux is still acknowledged as a problem in that arena -- not to mention servers, of course -- but author Matt Rosoff (formerly with Directions on Microsoft as well, it most certainly should be noted) comes to a very happy conclusion anyway: "So much for all those predictions that Linux would kill Windows," he writes.


  2. Linux snickers at Microsoft's victory declaration
    Sure, on the desktop, it’s a Windows world, but guess what Sherlock; the desktop is declining in importance. The mobile, server, Web and cloud worlds are where the twenty-teens’ billionaires will come from, not the desktop. And, guess, who’s already in all those spaces large and in charge? Yes, that’s right, Linux.


In IRC, Ryan explains this morning: "They declared victory on the desktop [...] how strange that this has nothing to do with their market share [...] and comes just as the DOJ oversight is going away and they don't need to pretend they have credible competition there anymore"

"Also," I added, "they have tablets challenging desktops now. Tablets run Linux"

"Microsoft revived Apple back in the 90s," Ryan elaborates, "when they nearly bankrupted themselves after a long line of stupid business decisions [...] what's going on with Novell is the same thing, just a different market" [...] (We have competition, they even compete using our technologies) [...] not on the desktop, that has always been a misleading truth, but the money is in servers and workstations and now phones and tablets so they're the majority holder of a platform that is not growing and in fact, is starting to recede"

"Windows revenue has declined for quarters," I noted (since 2009).

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Gemini Links 02/03/2026: Weird Phone Calls, Small Phones, and Exploring Racket
Links for the day
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part V - Jobs at the EPO for Those Connected to Cocaine Addicts (Skills Not Required)
EPO management is trying to shoot the messenger
Teaser: The Next Series About the SRA, Which Would be Just as Effective as It Is Right Now If It Had Zero Employees
the lapdog (of the "litigation industry") that is meant to be perceived as a watchdog
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part I - Introduction
The SRA is a sham. Many people know this already, but we want to document our own experiences with it.
Live Simply, Live Better
Life isn't about "collecting" possessions; it's about doing things that matter and accumulating knowledge so as to make better choices
Now That XBox is Pretty Much Dead and There Are Mass Layoffs at Microsoft
This means our predictions about Microsoft (and XBox) are "falling into place"
The term FUD (fear, uncertainty, doubt) was created to describe IBM's tactics and IBM is doing it again
Rob Thomas or "RT"
 
There Has Never Been a Better Time to Quit Social Control Media
Those networks are selling something. And that something is not peace because peace does not sell "attention".
Microsoft Users Drowning in Slop, If They Complain Microsoft Censors Them
Like an authoritarian regime
IBM is Killing Red Hat's Portfolio - Including Linux - to Prop Up Ponzi Scheme ("AI")
IBM is killing Red Hat
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 01, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, March 01, 2026
Speed of Sites Matters
Being easily accessible all the time matters to us
Dr. Andy Farnell on "Good Tech"
in the age of "rent everything" and "own nothing"
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: Simpler Software and Announcing OFFLFIRSOCH (OFFLine-FIRst SOftware CHallenge) 2026
Links for the day
Booz Allen Hamilton, the Former Employer of Edward Snowden (NSA Contractor), is Drowning in Debt
Can Supreme Leader Cheeto bail it out like he does slop companies?
On the Concept of "Protected Class" (or Race) at IBM
It's self-harming as in practice it imperils the company and harms the reputation/brand
The Mass Layoffs at Microsoft That Nobody in the "News Industry" Wants to Talk About (and TheLayoff.com Censored, Then It Censored the Evidence of the Censorship)
They basically cover up how they censored the news about Microsoft layoffs
Richard Stallman to Give at Least Three Talks in Switzerland, Starting This Week
No mention (yet) of the Bern talk
On Who 'Speaks for' Techrights
typically a case of misrepresenting the site
'FSFE' an Imposter in Europe, Paid by GAFAM to Represent GAFAM Interests
The Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE', which violates the terms of use of its name, is causing confusion [...] formally-recognised institutions got tricked into thinking that the Microsoft-sponsored 'FSFE' is the FSF
Lots of Lies From the Slop Industry
The slop industry relies on fake news to give a notion or fake demand
Links 01/03/2026: American Plutocrats Buy American Media While American Constitution Shredded
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/03/2026: "In the Spirit of OFFLFIRSOCH" and "Delete Patreon"
Links for the day
ACM Lowers Its Standards for Age of Autocracy
IBM is more than happy to work with autocracies
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, February 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, February 28, 2026
Slop is Distraction
LibreWolf will never include any of this slop nonsense, no matter if toggled on or off
Cult inquiry: Parliament of Victoria, last chance to have your say
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) Turns 37.5
Can IRC reach age 75?
Gemini Links 28/02/2026: Loadbars 0.13.0, IME (Input Method Editor), and ColorColumn in Vim
Links for the day
Two EPO Strikes in March (Maybe More)
As per the SUEPO diary [...] We still have an ongoing series about the EPO, with several more series to start later
Why We Are Concerned About the SRA's Failure and What That Means to the Profession of Lawyers in the UK
Unregulated industries will lose their credibility as there is a threat of growing perception that they operate outside the law rather than practice law
Over 10,000 Pages/Articles Per Year?
Probably my most productive month, ever
Keeping Techrights Online 99.99% of the Time
Some time later this year we'll tell a very long story about how extremists attacked our webhosts
Richard Stallman, Founder of the Free Software Movement, Will be Giving Public Talk in Bern (Switzerland) in Less Than 12 Days
We are still doing a series about him and his talks
Still Lots of IBM Departures
It's not that we lack evidence of IBM layoffs. It's just that we have ample evidence of the press not doing its job (or barely existing anymore).
The Register MS Standards: Promote a Ponzi Scheme in Exchange of Money
Once upon a time it was a serious publisher. Months ago it was taken over by a Microsoft person.
Slopfarms' Demise Looks Like the Beginning of the End (Lowered Demand for Slop)
Slop about "Linux" has gotten hard to find this past week
Dr. Andy Farnell: Time to Pull the Plug?
insightful, as usual
Links 28/02/2026: "Tehran’s Two-Tiered Internet", "Internet Under Fire"
Links for the day
When an Entire News Site is About One Topic (and One Topic Only)
Tomorrow we start a new series for the new month
Links 28/02/2026: Bill Epsteingate Admits Sex With Young Girls, "Epstein Files Are the Horror That Keeps on Giving"
Links for the day
IBM: Where Companies Come to Perish
thelayoff.com is censoring stories
Tech Layoffs Are Not Because of Slop, They're an Effect of a Rotting Economy and Tech Giants Being Too Deep in Debt
Block is rapidly sinking in debt
The Slopfarms' Business Case (or Business Model) Never Existed and Nowadays, in 2026, They've Mostly Collapsed
Hopefully by year's end many slop suppliers will be offline and slopfarms that rely on them throw in the towel
March in London Today Against Slop's Harms to Society (and the Environment), Starting at 12:00 GMT at the Microsoft OpenAI Office
Today there is a protest in London (UK)
Microsoft Mass Layoffs Have Officially Resumed, Microsoft's Waggener Edstrom/Frank Shaw Lied
"The former employees say this was a mass layoff"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, February 27, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, February 27, 2026