Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft is Not an Open Source Authority But an Opponent of Open Source

Openwashing Report part III

Part I: Openwashing Report: 'Open Source' Without Any or Most of the Benefits Part II: Summits of Open Bear Traps: The Open Core Summit and Other 'Open' Events That Actually Attack Software Freedom

Weekly openwashing report



Summary: Various outlets that are closely connected to Microsoft are trying to convince us that Microsoft is now 'king' of Open Source; nothing could be further from the truth however

THE corporate media, which is habitually paid/funded by Microsoft and Bill Gates to promote their mythology, would have us believe that Microsoft is an "Open Source company" (never mind if all the key software is proprietary).



"It's part of a PR campaign whose goal is to subvert and/or hijack Linux. It started around 2015, back when Microsoft made plans to buy GitHub and 'steal' the Free software movement."That's just as absurd as claiming that BP is an "environmentalist movement" and Donald Trump is a "fighter for women's rights". "Microsoft loves Linux" is another lie they habitually throw at us, even in image form (which cannot be trivially edited). It's part of a PR campaign whose goal is to subvert and/or hijack Linux. It started around 2015, back when Microsoft made plans to buy GitHub and 'steal' the Free software movement.

Many people underestimate the dangers posed by GitHub. It's used in a lot of ways, including propaganda, censorship, surveillance ("business intelligence") and generally control by Microsoft. In this third part we focus on a few aspects of this takeover.

"GitHub is Microsoft owned; what can be expected from 'studies' that are based on Microsoft's own data and platform? Limiting surveys to just GitHub again?"Days ago came out a press release entitled "Deloitte Launches Open Source Compass, Providing Visualizations of Open Source Software Trends and Insights" [1, 2]. This speaks of an Open Source Compass (OSC). Then came this other press release about OSCI, a "NEW TOOL RANKS TOP COMPANIES THAT CONTRIBUTE TO OPEN SOURCE EACH MONTH" (they use all caps).

"I think you've written about this," said a reader, quoting this new nonsense: "The OSCI solution, which is open source itself, is based on an algorithm that calculates the number of monthly employee commits to GitHub, the leading source code repository for the open source community."

"That was back when Microsoft already knew it would buy GitHub (and had already 'stuffed' it with its code)."GitHub is Microsoft owned; what can be expected from 'studies' that are based on Microsoft's own data and platform? Limiting surveys to just GitHub again? We wrote about that many times before. Mac Asay used such bogus numbers to repeatedly publish articles asserting Microsoft is "biggest Open Source company" or something to that effect. That was back when Microsoft already knew it would buy GitHub (and had already 'stuffed' it with its code).

As readers could see in our Daily Links (under the "Openwashing" section), several days ago Microsoft bombarded the media with openwashing of proprietary software, MSVS. Apparently "Code" wasn't enough; so in order to sell (rent actually) more copies of that malicious software with surveillance (they call it 'telemetry') they threw C++ STL at GitHub; Microsoft-connected media (funded by Microsoft, e.g. through ads) soon called it "Open-Source Project of the Week". At around the same time Microsoft also 'opened' a VERY VERY VERY major piece of software! HUGE! Yes, a font! Mind the sarcasm. Why did this receive so much press coverage, e.g. [1, 2, 3]?

So a font was "open-sourced"! Big deal... how many such fonts have we already got? But it's one way to game GitHub numbers; they're stuffing or stashing their openwashing 'assets' there; CodePlex redux.

"Going back to OSCI, the propaganda is in full swing."Media then focused on the Semmle news [1, 2, 3, 4], which seems to reaffirm GitHub's status as a proprietary software platform.

But don't let all those 'pesky' facts get in the way.

Going back to OSCI, the propaganda is in full swing.

As our reader put it, citing this page: "So who do they rank?"

Well, they rank Microsoft's participation in its own Web site. They make Microsoft seem like a leading contributor as if rivals like Red Hat would choose Microsoft to host code, even after the takeover. GitHub is also proprietary software, so there are additional (ethical) reasons to avoid it. From the page:

1 Microsoft: 38827868 2 Google: 34627760 3 Red Hat: 23273850 4 IBM: 16063506 5 Intel: 15843971 6 Facebook: 8102179

“I also dislike the tacit acceptance of GitHub as the dominant free software hosting platform for a decentralised version control protocol, when it is itself centralised, proprietary, for-profit, closed-source, and politically active.”
      --Tom Ryder, October 2017
As our reader noted: "What's the problem with this? (Apart from being built on Azure)

"These aren't contributions that will necessarily (ever) help anybody apart from the companies producing them."

"Measuring programming progress by lines of code is like measuring aircraft building progress by weight," Bill Gates once said.

Tom Ryder, back in October 2017 (less than a year before Microsoft bought GitHub), published "Why not GitHub?"

In his own words: "I also dislike the tacit acceptance of GitHub as the dominant free software hosting platform for a decentralised version control protocol, when it is itself centralised, proprietary, for-profit, closed-source, and politically active."

"But the propaganda lives on."Actual Free/Open Source companies would reject GitHub because of its antithetical nature.

But the propaganda lives on. Days ago someone published this press article which said "GitHub is basically the most important code repository for open source code on the web and is bigger than most."

It may be the biggest one, but it is a proprietary software trap of the foremost opposer of Open Source.

And going back to OSCI again, what does their data actually show? Why are they basing all this on Microsoft data alone? Here they go: "EPAM has always been a strong proponent of open source as an effective way for our enterprise clients to build technology solutions that are flexible, adaptable and robust," said Jitin Agarwal, VP, Enterprise Products, EPAM. "Our team created the Open Source Contributor Index because we believe it is important to highlight the top contributing organizations who recognize the value of open source as much as we do. We're proud that EPAM has consistently ranked as a top open source contributor over the past few years, and in fact, is the leading service provider on the index, which is especially impressive given our size and scale."

"This is what we meant when we repeatedly said (months ago) that GitHub is routinely used for Microsoft propaganda.""EPAM's software engineering team experimented with several different algorithms in developing the logic behind OSCI. Built on Microsoft Azure, OSCI uses publicly available GitHub commit event data from the GH Archive and includes contributions from employees of commercial organizations – universities, research institutions and contributors from free email providers are not included. The key measurement utilized in the algorithm is the number of employees who have made over 10 commits, which highlights the number of highly active contributors to open source projects at the company. The secondary measure for OSCI tracks the number of employees who made one commit, indicating the overall size of the open source community at the company. To ensure transparency, OSCI's source code can be found on GitHub."

So it's all Microsoft; hosted by Microsoft, based on Microsoft...

This is what we meant when we repeatedly said (months ago) that GitHub is routinely used for Microsoft propaganda.

"There are fewer communists in the world today than there were. There are some new modern day sort of communists who want to get rid of the incentive for musicians and moviemakers and software makers under various guises."

--Bill Gates



"Thanks to Mr. Gates, we now know that an open Internet with protocols anyone can implement is communism; it was set up by that famous communist agent, the US Department of Defense."

--Richard Stallman



Recent Techrights' Posts

End of the Smartphone Era? No.
Maybe the media should focus on producing accurate, factual news
Slopwatch: Sites Gone Rogue, Google Promoting Lies, and DDoS Attacks by Plagiarism Giants
Charlatans and frauds engage in a war against artistic industries, mislabeling plagiarism as "AI"
Latest Is Not Greatest: The Case of "Foldable" Tech
don't be shamed into abandoning old things just because the "fashion industry" of Apple and Samsung tells you to
Gemini Links 21/08/2025: The Attraction of Back Alleys, Initramfs, and BSD ISPs
Links for the day
 
The "End Software Patents" Initiative of the FSF Explains "WHY [to] ABOLISH SOFTWARE PATENTS"
We hope to cover patent-related issues more and more as the big anniversary of the FSF approaches
This Saturday It's Gonna be 3.5 Years Since Russia Invaded Ukraine. No Microsoft Protests Against Microsoft Having Provided Russia With Services.
Companies do not have consistent policies and enforcement of "corporate values" is somewhat of an egg salad
Freenode Sniffing
The grown-ups left the building
The Only Thing Worse Than Misinformation is Misinformation Sold to Everyone as "Intelligence"
Misplaced trust is worse than none at all
The Register MS Now Openly Admits LLM Hype Does Damage, But It's Also Being Paid to Participate in the LLM Hype (With Paid 'Articles' and 'Webcasts' for Paying Advertisers)
The Register MS gets paid to do this
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 21, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 21, 2025
Enshittification of Airports, Airlines, and Airplanes
If people are willing to tolerate standard declines and enshittification (nowadays sold as "pivot to AI" or "replaced by AI" or "AI layoffs") they will pay for it some other way
Airlines and Their Tricks That Only Work in the 'Digital Age'
People sceptical of the direction technology has taken are not "Luddites"
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Which Became a Propaganda Front of Microsoft and "Hey Hi" (Hype, Misnomer), Wants You to Forget These Scandals
A lot of these issues won't be set aside until there's a resolution
The Culture of Overnight Coding
An industry-wise push-back is needed
Windows Down to New Lows in Guinea Bissau and Many Countries Around It
If Android is accounted for, Windows is down to about 10%
Gemini Links 21/08/2025: Modern Dating, Debian 13, and Apache
Links for the day
Microsoft Has Had About 10 Waves of Mass Layoffs So Far This Year (Not Two as Mainstream Media and Slopfarms Endlessly Claim)
Notice how the MSM (Mainstream Media) never mentions the debt of Microsoft. It is a conscious, deliberate decision.
Links 21/08/2025: Covid Cases on the Rise, "Social Media Trolls", Russia's Attacks Intensify
Links for the day
Links 21/08/2025: Stephanie Shirley Dies and "Groklaw Domain Hijacked?"
Links for the day
Search in 2025 (Age of DDoS Attacks Under the Guise of "AI" "Innovation")
One common concern when things go "live" is that any random bot out there can execute queries, pumping up RAM and CPU usage, as happened when we used MediaWiki and WordPress
Using Slop for Images Does Not Make Your Site Look Advanced or Witty, It Just Makes Your Whole Work Look Like Presumed Plagiarism
Lazy slobs and Serial Sloppers use the guise/excuse of "AI" to plagiarise and spam the Web
Financing of the "Hey Hi" (AI) Bubble by Those Who Profit From Planetary Destruction (Global Warming)
It's about personal gain, too
Richard Stallman Will Speak in Ethereum Cypherpunk Congress
it's good to see that the FSF pays considerable respect to it founder, who is moreover invited to speak at events
(At Least) Second Wave of Mass Layoffs in Microsoft This Month
This is not the first time this month that Microsoft has mass layoffs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 20, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 20, 2025
IBM Operatives Inside The Register MS and More Shady Money to Follow
The Register MS bites every banknote it can sink its teeth into
On the Internet, Nobody Knows Microsoft and Windows Are Becoming Niche Players Until Data is Shown Correctly, Not Microsoft-Sponsored Articles in Microsoft Publishers
Microsoft controls a lot of publishers and thus it controls information
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers and Slopfarms in Google News (e.g. Linux Journal and WebProNews)
Google plays an active role (if not deliberately then through utter neglect and carelessness) in plagiarism
Links 20/08/2025: Mass Surveillance Framed as "Artificial Intelligence" (All Old Things Reworded to Misframe Old Computer Issues), Europe Resists Capitulation to US(SR)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Trips and Permacomputing
Links for the day
Links 20/08/2025: Oracle Layoffs in India, "AI" Scammers/Profiteers Admit It's a "Bubble", Softbank-Saudi (Oil) Control Tech Companies
Links for the day
Social Control Networks Give You False Metrics to 'Addict' You To Them
Leaving social control media may seem hard, but the same is true for any other addiction
A Lot of What Happened in Twitter Was Bots, Botfarms, and Troll Farms. It's Even Worse Now (Under X.com) and People Are Noticing.
Last month we said the same was happening in YouTube
Microsoft May Have Become - at Least Partially - Like a Boiler Room Scam
Giving imaginary salaries using imaginary tokens based on imaginary value (with restrictions on conversion to cash)
In Vietnam, Microsoft's Search Engine "Market Share" Fell to Almost 0%, CocCoc More Than 5 Times Bigger
Why are people still investing in this company?
All That's Left of MSNBC (Microsoft-NBC) is Microsoft NOW
When plutocrats and large corporations (even deep in debt) buy all the communication channels
The Register MS, Paid to Promote "AI" Hype, Does "Sez" (Says) Pieces
every bubble-funded "news" site tries to make it a story about "AI"
Many Companies Are Run by Liars Who Ride Other People's Money
Or steal it
Before CoreAI There Was Builder.ai
GitHub isn't about "AI" (just a bunch of lies and storytelling for shareholders' patience)
Microsoft Windows in Croatia at New Lows
We've been keeping track of this trend for a while
Using the Best Tool/s for the Job: RSS Feeds and RSS Readers
Use RSS feeds. Reject those "modern" Web things
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 19, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/08/2025: Neovim, XML, and Alhena 5.2.9
Links for the day