07.14.19
Gemini version available ♊︎Honesty and Collaboration Make Free Software Stronger, Microsoft is Inherently a Misfit
And no, Microsoft is not an ally, it’s still suing Linux using software patents
“Software patents are a huge potential threat to the ability of people to work together on open source. Making it easier for companies and communities that have patents to make those patents available in a common pool for people to use is one way to try to help developers deal with the threat.”
–Linus Torvalds
Summary: In spite of all the lies Microsoft and its Web sites spew out on a daily basis, nothing has really changed and Microsoft is still attacking Software Freedom (mostly from the inside nowadays, helped by FUD proxies such as WhiteSource and Snyk)
A few weeks ago we published “Bill Gates Said He Was on a “Jihad” Against GNU/Linux, But GNU/Linux Users/Developers Engaged in Self-Defense Are Foul-Mouthed ‘Microsoft Haters’?“
The article has since then been cited quite a few times. It turns out very few people know the truth about Bill Gates and his bad language (this is well documented, but media which he nowadays bribes is busy portraying him as an almost-feminine soft-spoken gentleman looking out for humanity). The Linux Foundation has sadly chosen a side and last night I wrote many satirical things about it. It would be funnier if it wasn’t so serious or so much in tune with reality. Since it’s humour, there’s no point reproducing it here.
Last night Ryan wrote in IRC (he’s a former and disgruntled Microsoft MVP who hangs out in our IRC channels since around 2008) about this article: “Yeah, the exFAT patents aren’t part of the OIN thing. I looked at the news article hoping that they were and that we’d get an in-tree exFAT driver because the file system is becoming ubiquitous. That’s a real problem considering the patent trolling nature of Microsoft. They apparently did not pledge any patents that they thought they could extract any real amount of money from. But it did make it look like they were being quite generous.” And only months after the 'OIN thing' (it felt like a PR campaign) they sued Foxconn over Android/Linux patent royalties.
“And only months after the ‘OIN thing’ (it felt like a PR campaign) they sued Foxconn over Android/Linux patent royalties.”Morality and ethics never played any role at Microsoft. In yesterday’s (and latest) daily links we included the story “Amazon, Microsoft Wage War Over the Pentagon’s ‘War Cloud’” (Azure is militarism and imperialism). Our next batch of links will include “The Riptide of American Militarism” or “Drowning in Militarism” (Microsoft is mentioned because these people profit from it).
To say that Microsoft is changing would be a lie or at least a joke. They try hard to change perceptions without actually changing anything profound or inherent. The company is still run by Bill Gates, a chronic liar with a scam ‘charity’ that he uses for lobbying, media bribery, and tax evasion while doubling his wealth. █
“I have no idea what you’re talking about when you say ‘ask.’”
–Bill Gates, in his deposition for the Microsoft antitrust trial
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