Imagine a cancer charity declaring that it's not really about tackling cancer but seeking coexistence with it

Summary: The Linux Foundation became what it fought in a matter of a few years; it seems like a lost cause at this point and it actively harms Linux in a variety of ways

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EARNING to "embrace" (back) those who attack Linux seems to have become an implicit goal. Whose? Something called "Linux" -- the entity which pays the salary of the creator of Linux (and he gets no say on that matter). Confusing, isn't it? It refuses to accept that threats to Linux exist and instead it would have us believe that the GPL, the licence of Linux, is the threat.

My articles about Linux Foundation issues make Torvalds and others who are employed there angry and not because they're false but because they're true. It makes those who are closely involved rather angry -- realising that their employer oftentimes does the opposite of what it's supposed to do or what it promised it would do. This is why insiders/whistleblowers bring information out. A lot of what we've covered this past year was exclusive because we get tips and pointers.

Is Linux Foundation still helping Linux?

Last month it commissioned a 'study' for Microsoft satellites, generating dozens of negative articles (some as recent as days ago) and promoting GitHub, which is proprietary and Microsoft-controlled. Whose foundation is this? As somebody put it a few days ago: "Big Open Source is a wing of Big Tech."

Remember that at least three executives at the Foundation work for Microsoft or worked for Microsoft at very high-level positions. It's like Microsoft managers are also Linux Foundation managers. Confusing, isn't it?

"It makes those who are closely involved rather angry -- realising that their employer oftentimes does the opposite of what it's supposed to do or what it promised it would do."To make matters worse, last night we noticed that a former Microsoft employee, who loves bashing Richard Stallman, now writes the official blog posts for the Linux Foundation and calls a kernel "operating system" (forget about GNU, it never existed). It's like the Foundation rapidly became a Microsoft subsidiary (one year after official OSI blog posts came from Microsoft staff).

The blog post says "It’s not just the Linux operating system" and it's accompanied -- a co-author -- by another person who is very high level at the Foundation and came from the same employer as the principal author.

A decade ago Amanda McPherson was lashing out at the idea that something other than Linux was promoted, but she has since then left or was ousted (we mentioned this before), only to be replaced by dubious people with history in surveillance and Microsoft.

This really troubles me a lot.

A year ago when we started a long series of articles (February 2019) I still believed that the Foundation could be salvaged. I no longer think so. It feels like it's too late now. Microsoft has far too many seats, Linux.com turned into a farce, and Microsoft people now speak as though they own Linux.

"A year ago when we started a long series of articles (February 2019) I still believed that the Foundation could be salvaged."Microsoft is not in this foundation to help Linux but to help proprietary GitHub and surveillance in Azure while Microsoft lawyers sue with patents (Foxconn less than a year ago) and Microsoft developers add patent traps to Linux. As recently as yesterday, a former Microsoft employee wrote on behalf of the Linux Foundation that the Foundation is no longer about Linux. Read as... it's now perfectly OK with promoting also Windows, provided it has some "Open" things somewhere? Look at Linux.com. It certainly feels that way. Look what the Foundation's staff uses in the backend, the frontend, their desktops and laptops. No, it's not GNU/Linux (not even "Linux" as they like to call it).

The proprietary software of Microsoft, Apple etc. is routinely being promoted, with employees of such companies in all the important boards. They literally buy their seats there.

Torvalds must, in our humble assessment, take the trademark and elope very fast. He did that before with OSDL; it's time to do that again. ⬆