Bonum Certa Men Certa

Weakening GNU/Linux by Disempowering Its Leaders and Founders, Replacing Them With Microsoft Employees and GNU/Linux-Hostile Moles

While bribing all the major publishers to glorify Microsoft's co-founders

How could it be... Popular?: GNU/Linux - Let's try that - WTH? - Bottled at Microsoft



Summary: The coup to remove (or remove power from) Stallman and Torvalds, the GNU and Linux founders respectively, is followed by outsourcing of their work to Microsoft's newly-acquired monopoly (GitHub) and appointment of Microsoft workers or Microsoft-friendly people, shoehorning them into top roles under the disingenuous guise of "professionalism"

THREE days ago we wrote about what it would take for Linus Torvalds to regain leadership of his own project, seeing that he's no longer in charge (especially since 2018). We'll come to that in a moment.

Well, a couple of hours ago Linux.com published this awkward article (it's awkward enough that they publish any article at all because that site is practically dead; all the editors and journalists were fired a year ago without warning and without telling the public anything at all!).

And now?

Well, now things are different. It feels like the site is now owned and composed by Microsoft employees. The above article isn't really an article but a paid placement, a self-serving puff piece. You now go to Linux.com for news about Linux and instead you read a puff piece from matt.butcher@microsoft.com about Github and "VS Code extensions"...

"You now go to Linux.com for news about Linux and instead you read a puff piece from matt.butcher@microsoft.com about Github and "VS Code extensions"..."The company behind the "Cancer" slur and its anti-GPL nonsense is now running Linux.com, at least indirectly. Does that make sense at all? Remember that the official blog of the Linux Foundation is also nowadays run by a former Microsoft employee. Does the Foundation hand over its messaging to Microsofters? Does that make any sense?

How did we come to this? Today's Linux Foundation is not merely defunct. It is corrupt. It takes money from Microsoft and outsources projects to Microsoft (GitHub). It helps promote Microsoft's proprietary software! This is the very opposite of what it was supposed to do! Look at the management team and Board, both of which are now stacked with Microsoft employees including top-level executives. These are the bosses of Linus Torvalds. Surely he can sense their presence.

Shoehorning Microsoft didn't happen overnight; it's a slow process and it's always moving or advancing in one direction. Under misleading banners (lies) such as "Microsoft loves Linux..."

"Shoehorning Microsoft didn't happen overnight; it's a slow process and it's always moving or advancing in one direction."And suffice to say, those who dislike Microsoft no longer belong in the Foundation. So keep quiet, Mr. Torvalds, shut up about Microsoft. You don't want the Board to oust you again, do you? The media can easily be weaponised to achieve that; we know who pays the media...

We've already seen what the media did to Richard Stallman a week or two after a major Bill Gates scandal at MIT; so-called 'journalists' (salaried by Microsoft- and Gates-funded publications) are just shaming, canceling 'targets', inducing guilt and self-shame upon them. We've long seen the media presenting/painting them as 'zealots' for opposing things that large corporations want until they 'soften' and obey. Sometimes the media calls them "arrogant" for merely holding the same position in defiance of antagonists, as if principles are a weakness...

Yesterday there was an article entitled "TrueNAS isn’t abandoning BSD—but it is adopting Linux" and one reader told us: "Sure, both GitHub and Linux kernel are co-opted by Microsoft. This is how they slowly attack BSD -- get free software crowd to adopt Github, get BSD crowd to adopt Linux kernel. That's a cheap way to get their claws in."

"We've already seen what the media did to Richard Stallman a week or two after a major Bill Gates scandal at MIT; so-called 'journalists' (salaried by Microsoft- and Gates-funded publications) are just shaming, canceling 'targets', inducing guilt and self-shame upon them.""Articles aiming at Torvalds," another person told us yesterday, highlight the stages of the 'coup' against Torvalds as the "benevolent dictator" of Linux. The pattern is worth taking note of, for it highlights a certain modus operandi.

"Sorry I can't find much," the person told us, "even though the attacks against Linus Torvalds have gone on for well over a decade it is terribly hard to find key articles."

The Internet rots very quickly. Several of the links below are dead already (some died as recently as months ago when domains were abandoned).

"Here is a small sampling of recent aggressions," the person said. "They have been gunning for him continuously for years because of the direction he has kept the code base moving towards. Remember he is focusing on the code, but that is exactly what upsets microsofters and worse groups so they go ad hominem on him. Too bad but that works."

In 2019 Linux Journal published "25 Years Later: Interview with Linus Torvalds" (just before the site went offline, then came back albeit without any staff). The person who curated these links asked, "can you find the original article which it refers to?"

"The pattern is worth taking note of, for it highlights a certain modus operandi."Well, it's right here. Notice the people involved back then. Same familiar faces even in the mid-nineties.

In 2012 (MS)BBC News [sic] published this awkwardly-titled piece, "Linus Torvalds: Linux succeeded thanks to selfishness and trust"; the publisher that worked to oust Torvalds in 2018 published "Nvidia Responds to F-Bomb From Linus Torvalds"; unlike "Linux founder Linus Torvalds delivers a smackdown like no other"...

A year later, in 2013, Torvalds confronted a troll from Intel. He argued: "The fact is, people need to know what my position on things are. And I can't just say "please don't do that", because people won't listen. I say "On the internet, nobody can hear you being subtle", and I mean it."

He also said: "The thing is, the "victim card" is exactly about trying to enforce your particular expectations on others, and trying to do so in a very particular way. It's the old "think of the children" argument. And it's bogus. Calling things "professional" is just more of the same - trying to enforce some kind of convention on others by trying to claim that it's the only acceptable way."

The Register (close to Microsoft since that old Microsoft partnership) published "Dear Linus, STOP SHOUTING and play nice - says Linux kernel dev" and there were many articles to that effect back then (we too wrote about it). The original from the troll was entitled "No more verbal abuse" and it's now offline, much like the person (nobody hears about this troll anymore; technical career over).

"The Internet rots very quickly."The Register published 3 years later (in 2016) "Linus Torvalds in sweary rant about punctuation in kernel comments" -- the typical attempt to portray Torvalds as rude and unruly. A year earlier the publisher that worked to oust Torvalds in 2018 (together with the above troll) published "Linus Torvalds on why he isn’t nice: “I don’t care about you”" (Garrett working with the troll, using the Microsoft-funded Ars Technica to quote Torvalds out of context).

In 2018 the Microsoft-manned BBC published "Linus Torvalds: 'I'll never be cuddly but I can be more polite'" and the media where he lives published "Linux creator Linus Torvalds 'truly sorry' for online behavior, plans to take time off". The message contained herein ("Linus Torvalds: Linux 4.19-rc4 released, an apology, and a maintainership note") seems to include a sort of forced "apology"...

"The big smear campaign was spearheaded by an IBM-owned (partly) and Microsoft-funded publisher, which managed to 'oust' Torvalds -- at least temporarily -- and then publicly bragged about it."Even back then you could already sense someone else was controlling him and his words...

The big smear campaign was spearheaded by an IBM-owned (partly) and Microsoft-funded publisher, which managed to 'oust' Torvalds -- at least temporarily -- and then publicly bragged about it. It wasn't an act of journalism but shareholder 'activism'. See "After Years of Abusive E-mails, the Creator of Linux Steps Aside".

Torvalds was never a big fan of how the Internet treated him and cherry-picked his words; see "Linus Torvalds calls social media a disease" (site now offline).

"The employer of Torvalds is now full of Microsoft people (still receiving their entire salary from Microsoft) and the site called Linux.com is composed by Microsoft employees, promoting proprietary software of Microsoft."The provocations and trolling go a long way back, but most press coverage about it is nowhere to be found anymore. As our reader put it, "remember this troll?" See "Is Torvalds really the father of Linux?" from CNET, now owned by the same company as ZDNet, a totally shameless Microsoft propaganda site.

So here we are, almost 30 years after Linux was released (with a GPL badge). The employer of Torvalds is now full of Microsoft people (still receiving their entire salary from Microsoft) and the site called Linux.com is composed by Microsoft employees, promoting proprietary software of Microsoft. It's pro-monopoly; Microsoft's monopoly. As recently as 2-3 hours ago. But no, no... there's definitely no coup. It's just an illusion... nothing to see here, move along. Microsoft isn't leveraging cult-like tactics; the only "cult" is "overzealous" people who oppose Microsoft.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Rust People: Drain the Swap, You're Holding It Wrong
Does Rust make sense?
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, linuxconfig.org, and Plagiarised Phoronix
Many articles out there are nowadays fake
European Patent Office Illegally Gutting and Outsourcing Its Functions, Acting Like an Above-the-Law Commercial Business (It Won't Stop at Formalities Officers (FOs) and Classification Slop at the EPO)
breaking/violating laws and conventions
Links 19/09/2025: Lobbyist of American GAFAM Becomes Data Protection Commissioner in Europe
Links for the day
 
Links 20/09/2025: Internet Shutdowns, Media Censorship, and Climate Worries
Links for the day
About 700 New Gemini Capsules in 13 Months (or 54 Per Month)
4.8K would represent a 20% increase
Techrights the Name Turns 15
About 6 weeks from now we turn 19
Microsoft is Running Out of Time and Floating Fake Figures, Fake Projects, Fake Narratives, Fake Excuses
Also, a lot of Microsoft's "revenue" claims are circular financing (i.e. Microsoft buying from itself, which means Ponzi-like fraud)
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 19, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 19, 2025
Gemini Links 20/09/2025: Navigating the Pressures of Modern Life and SpellBinding Accidentally Wrote Another Gemini Server
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Press Freedom Dying in US, Anti-Austerity Strikes in France, and Alan Rusbridger to Leave 'Prospect'
Links for the day
Offloading to the Sister Site
In the interest of not overwhelming readers
Links 19/09/2025: Coffee Club and "SpellBinding is Now Absurdly Fast"
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2025: Media Freedom Ceases to Exist in US, "Consider Dropping Twitter/X"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2025: Thinking and Insect Bites
Links for the day
Microsoft E.E.E.: Git Will Now (or Very Soon) Fully Depend on Rust, Which is Controlled by Microsoft
Microsoft now makes Git dependent on Rust, or making Git dependent on GitHub, which is proprietary
The Right to Punch People (Apparently)
At Brett Wilson, Brett's job title is "Head of Crime" and Wilson normalises calls for violence
Slop or Fake Articles Have Turned Linux Journal From a Pioneering/Trailblazing "Linux" Magazine Into a Nuisance
some sites with former reputation - good reputation - turn into cesspools
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 18, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 18, 2025
Brett Wilson LLP Seem to Have Had Only One Litigation Client in 2025, He Was Previously Charged, Just Like the Serial Strangler From Microsoft (Whom They Now Represent)
Karma is superstition, regulators are not
Project 2030 to Cover How "Project 2025"-Styled Anti-Media Zealots From America Targeted Techrights and Tux Machines
The common denominator is also their attacks on women
Brett Wilson LLP Failed to Meet Deadlines Set by Judge 7 Months Earlier, Tried to Ruin Our Holiday, Then Had the Audacity to Ask Us for Over 3,000 Pounds for Its Own Lateness
As a matter of principle we will never respond to assassin while we are on holiday
On Claims That After Bluewashing Red Hat Will Increasingly Become an Indian Company
Discussed this week (long and detailed)
Americans Attacking British Sites Only Months After They Leave America
We find it kind of funny if not ironic that this site, originally an American site, got legal harassment only from Americans and only months after it had moved to the UK
Despite Losing Over a Quarter Million Dollars a Year Software in the Public Interest (SPI) Gives Helping Hand to Libreboot
SPI's financial state depends a lot on its public image or its reputation
Slopwatch: Google Helps Plagiarism and Sends Traffic to Ripoff Artists
That Google as a company helps spamfarms is noteworthy
If You Want to Know the Future, Listen to the Free Software Foundation (FSF) and Andy Farnell
We're sure the FSF will have plenty of its own output
Links 18/09/2025: A Taliban Ban on Internet Access and Troubled US Job Market
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2025: Computer Literacy and Accessing Alhena's Database
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2025: US War on Media (Truth Banned, Cancel Culture by the Hard Right), NYT Chief Executive Warns Cheeto is Deploying ‘Anti-press Playbook'
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 17, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 17, 2025