Bonum Certa Men Certa

Looking for Explanations About Samsung's DeX and Other FOSS Initiatives Being Canned

If no explanation is provided, then that means that the explanation is being concealed (arousing suspicions)

You don't simply can a project still in beta. Unless it pisses someone off like DeX did.



Summary: DeX was primarily a threat to the desktop/laptop monopoly of Microsoft, so its sudden abandonment -- without even an explanation -- continues to attract speculations

"I think there is more to this Samsung story than just DeX," David (GNU developer) wrote in IRC half a day ago. "Earlier this year they terminated their "director of open source technologies", his staff, and seemed to have pulled out of a lot of projects. They also abandoned their office phone system business. I had also learned from him before that happened that Samsung smart tv's use a version of Enlightenment, but what they are doing and why I do not know. It does seem part of a larger pattern there though."



We've received a lot more feedback on yesterday's article. Nobody seems to know for sure what happened. We can speculate. We think we may need Samsung whistle-blowers to tell us whether some 'Korean Elop' has entered Samsung. Never forget what Elop did to Nokia over in Finland (at the behest of Microsoft), turning it from a top Linux contributor to an anti-Linux patent trolls feeder (while canning all the FOSS projects) and conditioning it into Windows suicide mode. Finland knows such tactics of infiltration and these greatly harm the nation. If Microsoft arranged for some staff changes, then we need proof (which we lack at this stage).

“They also abandoned their office phone system business. I had also learned from him [Samsung's director of open source technologies] before that happened that Samsung smart tv's use a version of Enlightenment, but what they are doing and why I do not know. It does seem part of a larger pattern there though.”
      --David
David reminded us that Samsung terminated their "director of open source technologies" (we mentioned that at the time). Does anybody know whether Samsung changed some director-level or executive-level people? The suspicion is that someone up at the top pulls strings to hamstring Linux and promote Microsoft instead. Patent lawsuits and threats have already contributed towards that. "The death-cut is only a phone call away," as Tom put it. He too is in IRC. There are alternative explanations*, however, so we need to get to the bottom of it.

12 years ago we called for a boycott of Samsung after it had signed a patent deal with Microsoft, in effect agreeing to pay Microsoft patent royalties for "Linux". Yes, excuse our cynicism about "Microsoft loves Linux" (cash). Remember that as recently as this year Microsoft launched yet more lawsuits to that effect, so we know nothing has truly changed. _____ * There's this alternative explanation entertained in IRC:

[13:36] oiaohm dyfet: you also have to wonder if the remove of Linux desktop from dex is linked the the fact there will be pinephone and libre 5 phone in the market. [13:36] oiaohm Removing direct benchmarking. [13:41] MinceR would be a stupid move if it was [13:41] MinceR considering that they would make their own products even less desirable to avoid comparison with products that probably have much weaker hardware [13:45] dyfet An interesting point @oiaohm [13:46] dyfet And of course there is Duval's "/e/"... [13:48] dyfet I think it is part of something larger though, given the other things Samsung had been doing [13:59] oiaohm MinceR: Not exactly. There are a lot of different limitations around the way Dex contains Linux distributions. The horrible part is there is a real possiblity that a pinephone could run Linux native applications faster than dex can the fun of emulation overheads. [13:59] oiaohm MinceR: much weaker hardware kicking your ass basically would look really bad. [14:01] oiaohm Having digital rights management certification I would guess would also get in way. [14:02] MinceR then maybe they could get rid of it [14:02] MinceR all it does is lessen the value of their product

Recent Techrights' Posts

Comparing U.E.F.I. to B.I.O.S. (Bloat and Insecurity to K.I.S.S.)
By Sami Tikkanen
New 'Slides' From Stallman Support (stallmansupport.org) Site
"In celebration of RMS's birthday, we've been playing a bit. We extracted some quotes from the various articles, comments, letters, writings, etc. and put them in the form of a slideshow in the home page."
Thailand: GNU/Linux Up to 6% of Desktops/Laptops, According to statCounter
Desktop Operating System Market Share Thailand
António Campinos is Still 'The Fucking President' (in His Own Words) After a Fake 'Election' in 2022 (He Bribed All the Voters to Keep His Seat)
António Campinos and the Administrative Council, whose delegates he clearly bribed with EPO budget in exchange for votes
Adrian von Bidder, homeworking & Debian unexplained deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Sainsbury’s Epic Downtime Seems to be Microsoft's Fault and Might Even Constitute a Data Breach (Legal Liability)
one of Britain's largest groceries (and beyond) chains
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE analogous to identity fraud
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 18, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, March 18, 2024
Suicide Cluster Cover-up tactics & Debian exposed
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/03/2024: A Society That Lost Focus and Abandoning Social Control Media
Links for the day
Matthias Kirschner, FSFE: Plagiarism & Child labour in YH4F
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Linux Foundation Boasting About Being Connected to Bill Gates
Examples of boasting about the association
Alexandre Oliva's Article on Monstering Cults
"I'm told an earlier draft version of this post got published elsewhere. Please consider this IMHO improved version instead."
[Meme] 'Russian' Elections in Munich (Bavaria, Germany)
fake elections
Sainsbury's to Techrights: Yes, Our Web Site Broke Down, But We Cannot Say Which Part or Why
Windows TCO?
Plagiarism: Axel Beckert (ETH Zurich) & Debian Developer list hacking
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 18/03/2024: Putin Cements Power
Links for the day
Flashback 2003: Debian has always had a toxic culture
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
[Meme] You Know You're Winning the Argument When...
EPO management starts cursing at everybody (which is what's happening)
Catspaw With Attitude
The posts "they" complain about merely point out the facts about this harassment and doxing
'Clown Computing' Businesses Are Waning and the Same Will Happen to 'G.A.I.' Businesses (the 'Hey Hi' Fame)
decrease in "HEY HI" (AI) hype
Free Software Needs Watchdogs, Too
Gentle lapdogs prevent self-regulation and transparency
Gemini Links 18/03/2024: LLM Inference and Can We Survive Technology?
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 17, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, March 17, 2024
Links 17/03/2024: Microsoft Windows Shoves Ads Into Third-Party Software, More Countries Explore TikTok Ban
Links for the day
Molly Russell suicide & Debian Frans Pop, Lucy Wayland, social media deaths
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Our Plans for Spring
Later this year we turn 18 and a few months from now our IRC community turns 16
Open Invention Network (OIN) Fails to Explain If Linux is Safe From Microsoft's Software Patent Royalties (Charges)
Keith Bergelt has not replied to queries on this very important matter
RedHat.com, Brought to You by Microsoft Staff
This is totally normal, right?
USPTO Corruption: People Who Don't Use Microsoft Will Be Penalised ~$400 for Each Patent Filing
Not joking!
The Hobbyists of Mozilla, Where the CEO is a Bigger Liability Than All Liabilities Combined
the hobbyist in chief earns much more than colleagues, to say the least; the number quadrupled in a matter of years
Jim Zemlin Says Linux Foundation Should Combat Fraud Together With the Gates Foundation. Maybe They Should Start With Jim's Wife.
There's a class action lawsuit for securities fraud
Not About Linux at All!
nobody bothers with the site anymore; it's marketing, and now even Linux
Links 17/03/2024: Abuses Against Human Rights, Tesla Settlement (and Crash)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 16, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, March 16, 2024
Under Taliban, GNU/Linux Share Nearly Doubled in Afghanistan, Windows Sank From About 90% to 68.5%
Suffice to say, we're not meaning to imply Taliban is "good"
Debian aggression: woman asked about her profession
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 17/03/2024: Winter Can't Hurt Us Anymore and Playstation Plus
Links for the day