Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Attacked/Attacker Paradox

"If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good."

--Bill Gates, Microsoft



Gates animation



Summary: Microsoft's cult-like tactics have never been this blatant; the Microsoft 'mascot' keeps doing 'media tours', pretending to be an expert at things he hasn't the slightest clue about, pretending to save the world because he cannot even save his own company anymore (and the other co-founder died years ago)

Paradoxically perhaps, if not as expected, when one 'wins' one becomes the target of attacks. The famous saying goes like this (attributed to various people, with slight variations): "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." (Usually attributed Mahatma Gandhi).



"Microsoft's entryism, including takeover of GitHub (on which Microsoft loses loads of money each quarter, desperate to somehow control the rivals), may in fact be somewhat symptomatic of the fact that GNU/Linux and Free software take over everything and Microsoft tries -- even at great expense (expenditure) -- to sneak its ugly head into the photograph."What we're trying to say here is, in 2020 GNU/Linux makes big gains on servers (even Azure uses GNU/Linux on almost two-thirds of instances) and on the desktop, not to mention Android in mobile and all sorts of embedded devices or gadgets (Linux is almost the de facto standard on all). Windows lost majority market share about a decade ago (depending on what form factors are counted). Being Microsoft's common carrier, without Windows domination the Microsoft we once knew cannot sell all sorts of other junk. They go in bundles. There have been many Microsoft layoffs since Vista and quarterly losses were sometimes announced (then spun by media moles).

Microsoft's entryism, including takeover of GitHub (on which Microsoft loses loads of money each quarter, desperate to somehow control the rivals), may in fact be somewhat symptomatic of the fact that GNU/Linux and Free software take over everything and Microsoft tries -- even at great expense (expenditure) -- to sneak its ugly head into the photograph. Remember that, as per insiders' account, Azure loses loads of money. Datacenteres are being shut down, customers complain about provisioning problems, and Munich is said to have dumped Microsoft partly due to this. It's in the French media this week.

"Are they so desperate to fake the number of users that exist on GitHub?"Whatever concerns we have about Microsoft hijacking projects using GitHub, sometimes by bribing the projects at hand (Python is one recent example of it) or infiltrating them by hiring particular people, we need to assess the exit barriers/costs. GitHub is proprietary software designed to entrap and 'addict'; using the network effect it makes it hard for developers to leave. The other day I checked my GitHub account which I deleted within hours of rumours of Microsoft buying GitHub. Turns out, they never truly deleted it. Even request for complete deletion cannot be honoured by thugs from Microsoft and it's still publicly listed (yes, a deleted account). Are they so desperate to fake the number of users that exist on GitHub? We once heard that many GitHub projects and users had quit, causing somewhat of a panic at Microsoft. Did they pay for a dud after all? Is there a long-term plan/business model?

"Microsoft therefore resorts to the mentality of sacrificial death cults or suicide bombers, trying to cause us all to drown along with Microsoft."Bill Gates left Microsoft a couple of months ago to further pursue his political career, pushing his patents for power and for profit. He too may have realised that Microsoft doesn't have much of a future. He took his money and ran, looking to profit at vastly higher rates from billions of "shots" and maybe implants. We'll spare the mention of conspiracy theories related to this; the actual facts were covered here before and they're different from what a bunch of yahoos on the Web claim rather baselessly, doing a disservice to informed critics of Gates. The Gates-funded publishers/broadcaster (NPR for example) spend a hufe amount of space and time ridiculing them, collectively painting all Gates critics as outright insane. A couple of days ago NPR 'journalists' started blocking Twitter users who merely pointed out that Gates had paid part of their salary as recently as 2018 (they pay in 'installments' -- conditionally -- to ensure NPR keeps saying what Gates wants... to keep that money coming).

Gates lost the argument ("letter to hobbyists") a long time ago. Free software is the way to go. Paul Allen is dead. Our prediction is that Microsoft will die before Bill Gates. His father is still alive (albeit clinically demented, as acknowledged by the media), so "Junior" might be around for a few more decades, sowing destruction and poverty, as usual.

The fight or the 'war' isn't over. But it's rather clear that in terms of "mindshare" and market share GNU/Linux is 'winning'. Microsoft therefore resorts to the mentality of sacrificial death cults or suicide bombers, trying to cause us all to drown along with Microsoft. Don't cooperate with them; never negotiate with radicals. Only the radicals stand to gain.

"Where are we on this Jihad?" [Against Linux]

--Bill Gates

Jihadi John



Recent Techrights' Posts

Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
 
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
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
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
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