Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Still Openwashing Perfect Apparatuses for Back Doors: Common Carrier (Windows), 'Cloud', and Compiler

Open gates for Trojan horses

Trojan horse



Summary: Propaganda campaigns from Microsoft deceive news sites into portraying Microsoft's proprietary (and exceptionally privacy-infringing) software as "open"

MANY people seem to be upset -- albeit not terribly surprised or shocked -- that Microsoft tries to portray itself as an "Open Source" company while it continues to attack Open Source companies like no other technology company does. It is a provocative charm offensive that is very offensive and is perhaps designed to alienate by annoyance the strongest elements in the Free/Open Source software community, marginalising them by aggravation.



The other day we saw Mono in the news again. As we have shown before, it's a Microsoft Trojan which is increasingly Microsoft-led (in the staff, investors and code sense) and this article says that it will adopt more Microsoft code and "Mono is no longer a popular project on the open-source community."

Microsoft is trying to convince us that it is turning Open Source (only where it benefits the lock-in system, e.g. .NET); perhaps it is so 'open' that once again it censors (i.e. removes) code of other people from Github. See the new article titled "Microsoft Hits Halo Online Modders With Copyright Complaint". They killed source code of other people. To quote, "Halo Online is an upcoming free-to-play version of Halo that will launch exclusively for players in Russia. However, following the leak of the game files a modding team developed its own ideas about who can access the game and when. Fighting back, Microsoft has just hit their Github project with a copyright complaint."

Yes, Microsoft surely is a 'champion' of Open Source.

Phoronix, in the mean time, is going disappointingly soft on Microsoft again. Some proprietary software from Microsoft, which is only used to advance .NET, is promoted by Phoronix, amplifying the 'open source' lies in the process (Visual Studio is as proprietary as ever, as we last noted the other day). Microsoft is still trying to openwash this nasty piece of software, pretending that if developers carry water for Microsoft, then they are "open source" developers. Martin in our IRC channels called it what it is: "compiler built in backdoor strikes again" (citing Phoronix and taking into account Microsoft's affinity for mass surveillance). Worth noting, as we only found out last night, is that Microsoft got off the hook in the antitrust days after an apparent bargain that had Judge Jackson replaced by one who would become a FISA judge (the NSA's rubber-stamping pseudo-court), concurrent with Microsoft's alleged introduction of back doors in Windows around 1999.

MinceR replies, "I thought that VS article was April Fool's" (not given Phoronix record of being soft on Microsoft).

XFaCE quotes: "While many Phoronix readers likely want nothing to do with closed-source Microsoft software, there's many Windows game developers and others out there who prefer the Visual Studio environment to most anything Linux has to offer in terms of a complete integrated development environment. Having VS on Linux would further lower the barrier for developers to port their software/games to Linux."

"DRINK THE KOOLAID," added XFaCE. MinceR explained: "I've used two versions of Visual Studio [VS] already, I don't miss either of them and apparently since then they've even added ribbon to VS [so] I guess it was too usable. Who needs that vertical screen space? That's the Microsoft way."

"When widescreen monitors provide more horizontal space for controls, you naturally consume more vertical space," XFaCE joked.

So what we have here is Microsoft trying to 'sell' to developers the idea of using a proprietary software IDE and proprietary compiler. They try to openwash it, pretending that it's anything but proprietary.

There is an even more disturbing bit of propaganda in the news right now. By this point, several readers wrote to us about it. It fits a pattern. Maybe if "Windows" and "open source" land in enough headlines, then there will be enough dumb readers to be left with the impression that Windows -- like GNU/Linux or BSD -- is now "equally open" or something along these lines.

"Here's [an] article that might interest you," said one reader, linking to the first puff piece we saw (it started at the end of last week). The myth of "open source Windows" has since been floated by Microsoft-linked sites such as TechFlash and then went mainstream.

There are many provocative headlines like, "Microsoft plans to Open Source Windows Azure?"

Others basically falsely associated Windows as a whole with "Open Source". We still see some of this brainwash today (in news feeds). When will the utter nonsense headlines about "Windows" and "Open Source" stop? One low-level exec (not C*O) speaks, then Microsoft's PR machine goes wild and journalists swallow it quite so blindly.

Some people who have passed us links about this Windows "Open Source" bunk and "new Microsoft" are rightly upset. It started with a Condé Nast/Metz PR effort (there's history there) and articles just keep coming as though there was actually news there. There's none. It's gossip, speculation, whitewashing, and lies.

Bobby Moss ‏explained that "it's a pretty transparent effort by MSFT to 'de-toxify' the brand with developers who increasingly prefer cross-platform" and Cade Metz, a Microsoft and Bill Gates fan and booster, already groomed the messenger last year, so it seems more like a staged PR stunt about the person leading the Windows Azure team. This is more openwashing, trying to make something nasty look 'open' and the corporate media loves it, especially press that's aligned with Microsoft (as an advertisers, partner, and so on). The amount of Vista 10 propaganda (PR disguised as news, e.g. 'free' Vista 10 00 an often repeated lie) isn't as crude as these later attempt to openwash Windows as a whole.

The latest from Cade Metz can be found here for those who wish to see how propaganda starts. As our reader iophk put it: "I'm thinking that may be one of the goals of the propaganda. Microsoft wants the public not to think about other systems at all but if they must think about other systems then they want them to think that they are equivalent. Then they can push (falsely or not) the familiarity argument."

Large networks -- including some as big as CBS -- can be seen citing Wired's Microsoft booster to mislead their audience.

"Better to go with ReactOS, better still GNU/Linux," iopkh wrote to us

Metz's colleague (both receive paychecks from Condé Nast), who is another Microsoft booster, amplified the false signal (noise). Peter Bright, Microsoft's top booster at Condé Nast, would of course be playing along with this openwashing of Windows. He never misses an opportunity. It pollutes the news with endless Microsoft propaganda.

"A good touchstone," said a reader of sours, is "Microsoft providing a full NTFS driver for Linux.

"Anything less - people are just kidding themselves."

If we are to believe the hype, "Mark Russinovich tells conference audience that it's a "new Microsoft."" Yes, a more vicious Microsoft, the one that wants to block Linux from booting on computers (or make it incredibly difficult). Let's remind ourselves of UEFI's most recent scandals. Jack Wallen writes for Linux.com this month, stating: "This is where it all gets a bit frustrating. Microsoft has announced that, with Windows 10, they will no longer require manufacturers to include the ability to toggle off Secure Boot. This means PC vendors will have the power to further raise the hurdles for alternative operating systems to be installed. The official decision has not been handed down yet. Even if it does take effect, this will not cause problems with older systems. And even if it does become a reality, distributions such as Ubuntu, Fedora, Red Hat, and SUSE won’t have any issues as they are already using official digital keys to meet the UEFI requirements. For smaller distributions (created by developers who cannot afford to purchase the keys), this could be a big issue."

Wallen concludes by saying that "UEFI proved to not be nearly the impossibility we thought it would present. But with Windows 10, impossibility could become a reality. How will you deal with purchasing new hardware should manufacturers start removing the ability to disable Secure Boot?"

Over at FOSS Force, Larry Cafiero writes: "Most recently, we have a report from PC World saying that as of the latest offering from Microsoft, Windows 10, hardware makers now have the green light to enable UEFI Secure Boot without giving you a manual kill switch, as they are required to do with Windows 8 systems.

"If that happens, forget about booting anything other than Microsoft-approved operating systems on these locked-down PCs. And while it remains to be seen whether hardware manufacturers lock down their hardware, history shows that manufacturers are generally at the beck and call of Redmond when shipping out their products. So with the exception of Canonical and Red Hat — both Ubuntu and Fedora have signed keys from Microsoft for their boot loaders — the rest of you who aren’t Ubunteros or Fedoristas could very well be out in the cold."

That's not so surprising when we accept that Microsoft just really hates Linux. See this series of article we published a fortnight ago:



The "open source" Windows nonsense was refuted here many times before . Microsoft wishes to confuse the public, especially decision-makers in suits. They're usually not technical. As Bobby Moss wrote, "apparently Microsoft doesn't mind open source, so long as it runs on their largely closed platform" (.NET, Windows, Azure, and so on).

What was disappointing to see is Phoronix (again) playing along with it. It paid lip service to a lot of Microsoft PR as of late and the Linux Foundation's news site did so too, not just Microsoft-connected sites. Katherine Noyes mentioned it, but said that "Steve Ballmer called Linux "a cancer," and Bill Gates shared similar views about the open-source philosophy in general."

This is not really newsworthy, so it's hard to see why it received so much coverage, e.g. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7].

Some dude from Microsoft said "open source" and "Microsoft" in same sentence after being asked (possibly staged), so the Microsoft media (PR) goes wild, openwashes Windows as a whole. We suspect it may have been a well-coordinated PR stunt, putting Windows and Open Source in the same headlines so as to pretend it's already happening (as if it ever will). Microsoft has such a massive PR operation that merely having some high-level engineer say "open source" floods news feeds.

See how Microsoft propagandists like Todd Bishop and Mary Jo Foley helped spread more nonsense. Both have been making a career just sucking up to Microsoft. There's is history there when it comes to Metz and Russinovich, who is being framed as some kind of a hero. Metz groomed him in the media last year.

The PR has gone further than claiming that Windows is "open source" and returned to the lie about gratis (free of charge) Windows. See for example this puff piece from Forbes, oddly titled "Microsoft To Give Away Windows? Madness Actually Makes Sense" [Ed Daniel's pointer].

They are once trying to make Windows look gratis -- an old lie we wrote about before. Here is what it's based on: "“It’s definitely possible,” he said on a ChefCon panel hosted by Wired business editor Cade Metz. Following huge applause from the crowd Russinovich reiterated: “Like I said, it’s a new Microsoft.”"

Cade Metz gave the platform to Microsoft PR, just as he did for Bill Gates in the recent past. The infamous "new Microsoft" myth is floated once again

In conclusion, we suspect what's happening here is part of a broader campaign from Microsoft's PR agencies to saturate the press with misleading claims, using so-called 'journalists' as tools of propaganda and hoping that some other people, such as bloggers, will be fooled into repeating the PR. It works. It oughtn't work, but it does. And we need to put an end to it.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Punching People Doesn't Work
It makes nobody any safer
This is How Microsoft's XBox and Entire Consoles (If Not Gaming) Ventures Will Ultimately Die
Ensure you can blame "Tariffs" (politics)? If not "hey hi", the fashionable go-to excuse when businesses fail?
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part II - UK SLAPPs for Americans, SLAPPs for Profit
Brett Wilson LLP has a track record of this kind
Cloudflare Gives Us All Another Reason to Boycott Cloudflare
If Cloudflare wants to use its vast surveillance network (which is what it does as a CDN) to foist paywalls and maybe something worse (like DRM on top), then Cloudflare should be more widely rejected as a company
 
Lovers and Haters
Always beware hate preachers and demagogues (or how they frame issues or whose fault they distract from)
Focusing on What People Have in Common Instead of Killing and Cancelling One Another
Men and women of both "wings" stand to gain a lot by working together on common interests
'Cancel Culture' Isn't About Enforcing Ethics (and It's Done by People on the Right, Not "The Leftists")
Smarter folks would leave social control media
Russia's Attack on Europe (and NATO) Will Worsen Censorship and Corruption in Europe
Can we still debate issues that predate the invasion of Crimea?
Lawyers Should Permanently Lose Their Licence (and Worse) for Using Chatbots in Legal Work
They not only waste people's money and time. They pollute the literature with falsehoods. They commit perjury. [...] Brett Wilson LLP sent the Judge nearly 1,000 pages of material (mostly mine, copied without proper permission) shortly before a short Hearing, which lasted less than an hour
GAFAM and MATA (Mythical, Metaphor) as Explained by analognowhere.com
They're instruments of suppression that sponsor the oppressor
We've Already Mentioned Who Nowadays Funds Garrett's SLAPP Against Us (Not Garrett), Let's Examine Who Sponsored His Litigation Partner (Other Than Microsoft Salaries There's a Buddy of Bill Gates)
it's alleged that the Serial Strangler from Microsoft got money from him
Florian Müller: Using Software Patents to Attack Software Developers, Agitate Against Patent Reform
He also promotes attacks on the German Constitution and laws
Reliance on Typepad Seems to Have Doomed the Voice of Software Patents and Patent Maximalists in PatentDocs
Follow the money
UEFI 'Secure Boot' is Potential Mayhem to the Environment (Older and Leaner Distros Stop Working)
creating new problems, disguised as "solutions" to problems that do not exist
Sometimes 'Cancel Culture' Backfires Badly
There's no such thing as "too much" coverage
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 24, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: Jimmy Kimmel Returns to Air (With Limitations) and London Stansted Airport Latest to Have Incident (Fire)
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, SPAM With Slop, and Google News Directs People to Read Slopfarms
why does Google News insist on still linking to prolific slopfarms?
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: New Game for Gemini Protocol, Eleven, and Network Solutions Woes
Links for the day
Look Ma, No "Cloud"
So far this year we've had an almost perfect uptime
Links 24/09/2025: Autism Blame-Shifting and Typhoon Ragasa Enters China
Links for the day
Buying From Oneself is Not Business Success
This isn't at all a joking matter even if you already laugh at the whole thing because your pension, savings etc. are tied to this scam at some level
What They Really Hate David Heinemeier Hansson (DHH) for
Nothing to do with code
Smart People Won't Buy 'Smart' Cars
Imagine trying to sell someone a house (proper home) while insisting that it'll need to be demolished 5 or 10 years later, then rebuilt again from scratch on the same vacant lot
The Relationship Between IBM Red Hat and Microsoft, Visualised
This metaphor goes a long way (projects, collaborations, and outsourcing
The Complaint About Brett Wilson LLP - Part III - Spying on Reporters' Families, Chaining Cases for Microsoft Employees Who Demand Censorship of Facts (Even Politely Expressed)
the time seems right to wrap up this introductory series
Links 24/09/2025: "NASA Moving Out of Entire Buildings as It's Gutted" and Purge of Online Critics (Opposing Fascism Becomes Unlawful)
Links for the day
Science is Under Attack
Oligarchy prefers a dumbed-down population
Someone Expiring Certificates on the Day of the 9/11 Attacks is Not Someone I Would Want Controlling My PC (or Deciding What's Authorised for Booting)
"social justice warriors"
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Has Reportedly Failed People With Wrong Advice
At the moment the SRA has a PR blunder
The Man Suing Brett Wilson LLP and Gervase de Wilde (5RB)
Now he's probably using the (almost) 200,000 pounds he's supposed to receive to sue Brett Wilson LLP and former colleagues/partners
More Microsoft-Red Hat Cross-Pollination as the Company Loses a Managing Director
some people move from Microsoft to Red Hat and some do the opposite
Slopwatch: A World Wide Web That's Rotting for Companies That Won't Even Exist in a Few Years
some of the junk Google News is promoting
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 23, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 23, 2025
Links 24/09/2025: Qt Creator 18 Beta, Microsoft Cannot Bail Out "ChatGPT" Anymore, China and US Intensify Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 24/09/2025: Gemlogs and Politics
Links for the day
Links 23/09/2025: Japan Limits Uses of Skinnerboxes ('Smartphones') With Toxic "Apps", Fentanylware (TikTok) Tapped by "MAGAts"
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Been Sued (by Their Own Clients!)
Vladimir and Alla Yanpolsky sued Brett Wilson LLP in BL-2025-001167 at the end of last week
Mayday: Optus emergency calling crisis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 23/09/2025: Massive Data Breach, Slop Versus Productivity, and Vista 11 Update Breaks Things Again
Links for the day
Code of Censorship
Extortion is peace
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has Un-cancelled the Best People, Just in Time for the Big 4-0
Mr. Oliva should have been there all along (since 2019)
Most "Modern" Technology Makes You Slower and Dumber
Because proprietary software makes you worse off
"What Comes After Free Software?" Wrongly Insinuates We've Reached the Goal (Prison is Not the Goal)
The oil tycoons use similar tactics against environmentalists, giving them fake "wins"
Making More Work Space
I learned the hard way that less is more in circumstances where more means distraction
MAHA is a Lie, Public Officials Never Valued Citizens' Health (They Still Value Private Businesses, Their Sponsors)
Reject demagogues
Free Software Foundation (FSF) Has a New Press Kit for the Weekend After Next Weekend (40th Anniversary)
miles better than social [sic] media [sic] quips, moderated by narcissists and oil tycoons.
Microsoft Had Two Waves of Mass Layoffs This Month (That We Know of) and It'll Get Worse for Microsoft Soon
Will the axe fall again by month's end?
Gemini Links 23/09/2025: Happy Equinox, Photronic Arts, and Perception Cognition
Links for the day
Lessons We've Learned After 17 Years of American Hosting
GAFAM is "all-in" with the "Trump agenda"
Back to Normal Now, We Plan to Do More In-Depth Series (or Multi-part Stories)
Articles (or series thereof) that contain philosophy are important to us
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 22, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 22, 2025
Microsoft Media is Panicking Amid Mass Layoffs Every Month, H-1B Fees, and "Seattle’s Tech Scene in Trouble"
In "late stage Microsoft", copyleft becomes proprietary
The Next Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs Being Discussed Already
Red Hat is sort of disappearing the way Tivoli did
New Techrights Turns 2
Today starts the third year of the SSG-based Techrights