Bonum Certa Men Certa

Openwashing Report: Save the Term (or Concept of) 'Open Source' or Lose it For Good

And remember that proprietary GitHub is... 'openness'?

Weekly openwashing report



Summary: The term "Open Source" faces extinction by meaninglessness -- a subject if not a taboo topic that seemingly bothers nobody, certainly not those standing to benefit from the idea that everything proprietary is actually "open"

THIS series is likely to become a regular feature here. Due to need, not to want(ing). Due to the growing urgency. We're losing Software Freedom and almost nobody -- not even the FSF -- talks about it.



Here are some more examples.

When you call something "open" AI (or OpenAI), but refuse to release the code, what does open even mean? Or when you keep the code secret, for supposedly "ethical" reasons? As if there's something inherently unethical about Free software.

"Microsoft censors not only FOSS projects; it also blocks developers and entire nations (massive collective punishment)."Welcome... to 2019.

Wired has published "OpenAI Said Its Code Was Risky. Two Grads Re-Created It Anyway". As a reminder, Microsoft went as far as deleting other people's AI code (in GitHub) and entire projects (also banned from GitHub) because they were "open" AI. For "ethical" reasons? Yes, criminals say they censor projects for "ethics"...

We already covered that at the time. Microsoft censors not only FOSS projects; it also blocks developers and entire nations (massive collective punishment). This is why Microsoft should have never been allowed to control GitHub. But remember what Jim Zemlin (Linux Foundation chief) said publicly at Microsoft events when regulators considered the takeover; he said "Open Source loves Microsoft!"

GitHub, Linux Foundation, and MicrosoftSo much is at stake. Billions of hours of programmers' work! Net worth: billions. The man in the Foundation sells Linux to Microsoft (et al) -- a subject we'll deal with in a later part. The man in charge of GitHub sold about 50 million Git repositories to Microsoft (the person in middle, the one shown above, is the man who came up with this idea almost half a decade ago, based on the company's stenographer at Bloomberg).

"Free software in general is losing the "free as in speech" element."But let's go back to "open" AI. Putting aside the misuse of the term "AI" ("hey hi"), there are serious ramifications here. Censorship and secrecy are being branded "ethical".

Free software in general is losing the "free as in speech" element. Extreme pretexts such as Nazism usher in the normalisation of censorship (of code).

There's lots of good too in "hey hi" (a term we generally mock because it has often come to mean just about any algorithms/programs with if/else statements, i.e. branching/decisions). Here's an example from last week's news: When they say "hey hi" in the new article entitled "This Company Created An Open Source AI To Identify Mold" they mean machine learning with training, classifiers etc.

"Microsoft is moving them into the whole 'Inner Source' agenda (newspeak for proprietary software, akin to Shared Source)."Well, at least they actually share code.

Sadly, some go the other way.

"GOV.UK is the core platform for hosting government websites and information," Derek du Preez wrote the other day in Diginomica, but now "GDS takes GOV.UK open source code and makes it private..."

The British government basically takes FOSS and makes it proprietary software. We could go on and talk about how many of these projects have been outsourced to Microsoft at GitHub (just like Linux Foundation projects). This probably merits a post of its own because as part of my 'daytime' (nighttime) job I see it all the time. Microsoft is moving them into the whole 'Inner Source' agenda (newspeak for proprietary software, akin to Shared Source). Open Source is being killed. Just like that. Silently. Behind 'private' repos. GitHub, i.e. Microsoft, says it makes these 'free' (gratis). Yes, proprietary software is... free!

"GitHub helps Microsoft steer a lot of this agenda."These are of course direct attacks on the very core of Software Freedom. There are more and more of them as time goes by. GitHub helps Microsoft steer a lot of this agenda.

Another angle or vector of attacks is brand dilution -- an aspect we've named here very often this past summer.

We have a new example.

Schlumberger is greenwashing ("ecosystem") and openwashing the oil sector by calling a little open data venture "open source"; we also mentioned this last month. Publications called "Oil Review Middle East" and "Oil and Gas Middle East" have just done a couple more puff pieces, "Schlumberger open sources its data ecosystem and contributes to OSDU forum" and "Schlumberger open sources data ecosystem" [1, 2].

"Schlumberger is greenwashing and openwashing the oil sector by calling a little open data venture "open source"..."We've meanwhile also spotted the thing called "Quansight Futures" heradling the "Quansight Initiate", starting with a press release [1, 2] entitled "New Venture Fund Targets Open-Source Entrepreneurs in Austin, TX" and then puff pieces based on the press release. This one says: "Quansight Futures, based in Austin, announced the launch of a new $20 million early-stage investment fund focused on open-source technology."

This seems very much like openwashing, based on the press release that says, e.g. "startups that leverage open-source technologies" (read: merely exploit Open Source and give nothing back). This very closely relates to the subject we covered in the previous Openwashing Report (published a couple of hours ago).

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rewriting Things in Rust
How far would you go?
What Microsoft Reputation Laundering (With a Weaponised Law Degree) Looks Like in a Foreign Continent
You would expect this in uncivilised and primitive countries
Slopwatch: LLMs 'Write' Fake or Distorted 'News' About "Linux"
LLM slop disguised as news
 
“Twibel” Actions Against Comedians (and Why It's a Truly Low Blow)
they try to make up in quantities for a lack of merit or quality
Linux Foundation Apparently Flirting With Slop (Marketing by LLM-Generated SPAM)
The Web is in a really bad state!
COVID-19 Sped Up Site Improvements in Techrights
A few months later we created our very own IRC network
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: Negative Questions and 'Touching Grass' (Going Outside)
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Dalai Lama Succession as 90th Birthday Approaches, 40 deg C in China
Links for the day
Links 05/07/2025: Hungary and US Defecting to Russia, "Google's Hotseat Hypocrisy"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/07/2025: 4th of July 2025 and "Zig Roadmap 2026"
Links for the day
How to Combat the Exploitation and Abuse by Microsoft GitHub
Not to mention corruption and crimes against women
Bryan Lunduke is Actually Sending His Audience to Attack People
"[Lunduke] is actually sending his audience to attack people."
Even The Right Wing is Rejecting Bryan Lunduke
no wonder he became so irrelevant and marginal
Microsoft's MSN Helps Microsoft Spread Lies About the Layoffs' Scale (Well Over 25,000 People Laid Off This Year)
There seem to be monopolies on lies and on truth
The Death of X Has Been Greatly Exaggerated (by Compromised Media)
X.Org Server is alive and well
In 2025 Everything is "AI". Remember Blockchains?
Talk about what companies and things (services, products, software) actually do, not the labels they use
Julian Assange Has Been Free for a Year
Julian Assange and I disagreed on some things
Monopolies and Scalping
Monopolies gravitate towards price hikes
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 04, 2025
Microsoft's August Layoffs Wave: "August is Confirmed for Additional Performance Based Cuts"
"August is confirmed for additional performance based cuts from the recent connects along with additional organizational cuts."
Links 04/07/2025: Google Replaces the Web With Slop, "AI Might Kill Us All"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: Mindfulness and F1
Links for the day
Weeks After Microsoft Bankruptcy in Russia the Company Shuts Down in Pakistan, Too
Last month Windows' share in Pakistan fell to an all-time low
Rob Musial's June 2025 Additions of Malware in Proprietary Software
Via the GNU Web site this week
Links 04/07/2025: Microsoft's H-1B Visa Applications Show Another Crisis Unfolding, Many More Deep Cuts and Shutdowns Revealed, Complete Microsoft Exits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/07/2025: A Day To Remember and "Stop Killing Games"
Links for the day
Crime and Corruption at Microsoft GitHub Cannot be Covered Up by SLAPPs in Another Continent
We'll write about this for a long time to come
Slop Videos Are Disappointing Garbage, Nothing New, Just Brute Force up on Display or a Pedestal of Slop
Slop videos aren't a new thing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 03, 2025
The War on Local Storage (People Hosting Their Files Locally and Privately)
There's nothing wrong with controlling one's computing
What Digital Independence Means
Independence in the digital realms means abandoning platforms like GitHub, not just rejecting proprietary software
NVidia is a Bubble
they temporarily see fortunes and wrongly assume perpetuity thereof
Fedora Does Not Care About Diversity and Inclusion, It's About Optics (Corporate Image)
any notion of inclusion is superficial and misleading
Don't Buy the Excuses for Microsoft's Mass Layoffs
Back in the 90s, Microsoft bought a lot of companies to get and stay ahead
Happy Independence Day to Our American Readers
Maybe tomorrow will be a good opportunity to explain to American people - in terms of concepts, not brands - which tools respect their independence
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Linuxsecurity, and Google News Getting Even Worse (More Slopfarms Added Which Attack Linux With Bruce-Force SPAM)
Google News is part of the same problem
Links 03/07/2025: More Cuts and Cancellations at Microsoft Revealed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/07/2025: Favourite Child and Launching WikiGem
Links for the day
GNU/Linux is Replacing Microsoft Windows. But We Need to Eradicate Microsoft, It's a Hub of Crime.
I have been writing about Microsoft since the 1990s when I was in school
Mystery Surrounding the PCLinuxOS Sites and PCLinuxOS Magazine
Let's hope this isn't something major
People and Companies Do Learn Some Lessons From Their Mistakes (Stubborn Ones Don't)
Brett Wilson LLP is an example of one that would rather drown in mistakes
Links 03/07/2025: 'Hey Hi' Slop Ridiculed Some More and Microsoft's Layoffs Tally for 2025 Reaches About 29,000 in Just 6 Months (Almost 5,000 Per Month)
Links for the day
Microsoft Staff Harassing Women, Strangling Women, Telling Women to Kill Themselves and Worse? Not a Problem!
Two women have left Brett Wilson LLP
The Slopfarms Are Losing the Plot (and Google is Propping Up Rogue Sites)
Google is part of the attack on the Web, on information, and on technology
New BetaNews Realises There's No Potential or Future in Slopfarms, Prior Editor Wayne Williams is Back
They realise that slop (so-called "AI") cannot replace humans
Claims That Microsoft Looks for Staff That Works More and Gets Paid Less (or Can Only Code by Grabbing Other People's Code, Under the Guise of "AI")
People can form their own opinion
Richard Stallman Was Right About Reasons Not to Use Microsoft
last updated 2017
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 02, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 02, 2025
Gemini Links 03/07/2025: No to Cloudflare and Small Web July
Links for the day