Bonum Certa Men Certa

Linux Foundation Has Outsourced All the Licence Compliance Stuff to Microsoft, a Serial GPL Violator

No wonder the Linux Foundation also avoids copyleft/GPL (except for old projects such as Linux) and habitually slanders it

Jim Zemlin in tuxedo
Photo credit: The Linux Foundation



Summary: OpenChain Specification/OpenChain Project and Automated Compliance Tooling (ACT) are yet more examples -- the latest of many -- of the Linux Foundation being outsourced to Microsoft, not only for code but also documentation and hosting

THE Linux Foundation has long outsourced just about everything except Linux itself (except temporarily; years ago due to a security incident/breach) to Microsoft. Yes, Zemlin and the non-Linux-using Corporate Linux Foundation don't mind sending everything to Microsoft at GitHub, even new projects (they know Microsoft controls GitHub). The editor of Linux.com is meanwhile posting lots of tweets raving about Apple and Macs (several so far this week). Just so we know what kind of problem we're dealing with...



"With former Microsoft as vice chair and a Microsoft employee as second in command (longterm Linux), how long will it be before they also rehost Linux itself (kernel) in GitHub? Even permanently?"Earlier this week we saw several press releases [1-3] and puff pieces, e.g. [4], from the Corporate Linux Foundation. The Corporate Linux Foundation is once again whitewashing and openwashing a major GPL violator, VMware (it's paid for!) and of course the Linux Foundation is still promoting and feeding Microsoft's GitHub (proprietary platform) and outsourcing everything to it, even documents! Putting the Automated Compliance Tooling (ACT) aside, see the OpenChain Project's Web site.

"The Online Certification Questionnaire is available under the Apache 2.0 license on Github" and all the other documents in the page are hosted by Microsoft. Who on Earth thought this would be appropriate? Their latest press release is entitled "The OpenChain Project announces Microsoft OpenChain Conformance" and it's full of Microsoft praises.

They're already composing Linux.com puff pieces as well. The Corporate Linux Foundation is a lost cause. Some people have said that since taking millions of dollars from Microsoft (years ago) it has effectively been "bought" by Microsoft, just like GitHub. With former Microsoft as vice chair and a Microsoft employee as second in command (longterm Linux), how long will it be before they also rehost Linux itself (kernel) in GitHub? Even permanently? Microsoft does not love Linux; it's just trying to devour it and it's succeeding. It already misuses the brand "Linux" to market its proprietary spyware.

The same thing was done to ASF (Apache) when its head was a Microsoft employee; he stepped down shortly after outsourcing everything in Apache (billions of dollars in value!) to Microsoft at zero cost. Microsoft is buying the competition for slush funds. Where are the regulators? We know what Jim Zemlin would tell them. He thinks Microsoft loves Linux even though in 2019 it still blackmails Linux for money. Those who work on WSL defend this blackmail. It's also worth adding that, as per media reports from this week, Microsoft has just done to HUAWEI MateBook what it did to OLPC and EEE PC. It's pretending that it's about "choice" or options, but it's actually about Windows, replacing a GNU/Linux laptop with something that typically runs Windows, instead. That's how much Microsoft loves Linux.

Related/contextual items from the news:



  1. The OpenChain Project announces Microsoft OpenChain Conformance

    Today, the OpenChain Project announced Microsoft, a Platinum Member, is the latest company to achieve OpenChain conformance. This milestone is an example of how OpenChain can be an important part of building quality open source compliance programs that meet the needs of companies and that build trust in the ecosystem.

    The OpenChain Project establishes trust in the open source from which software solutions are built. It accomplishes this by making open source license compliance simpler and more consistent. The OpenChain Specification defines inflection points in business workflows where a compliance process, policy or training should exist to minimize the potential for errors and maximize the efficiency of bringing solutions to market. The companies involved in the OpenChain community number in the hundreds. The OpenChain Specification is being prepared for submission to ISO and evolution from a growing de facto standard into a formal standard.



  2. The Linux Foundation's Automated Compliance Work Garners New Funding, Advances Tools Development


  3. The Linux Foundation’s Automated Compliance Work Garners New Funding, Advances Tools Development

    The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source, today announced founding member commitments from Google, Siemens and VMware for the Automated Compliance Tooling (ACT), as well as key advancements for tools that increase ease and adoption of open source software.

    Using open source code comes with a responsibility to comply with the terms of that code’s license. The goal of ACT is to consolidate investments in these efforts and to increase interoperability and usability of open source compliance tooling. Google, Siemens and VMware are among the companies helping to underwrite and lead this collaborative work.

  4. Google, Siemens and VMware fund The Linux Foundation to advance the Automated Compliance Tooling project

    The Linux Foundation, today announced that Google, Siemens and VMware have committed funding for the Automated Compliance Tooling (ACT), as well as key advancements for tools that increase ease and adoption of open source software. the nonprofit organization enabling mass innovation through open source. The three companies are founding members of the Foundation.



Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
 
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October