Bonum Certa Men Certa

It Is October Already and There Are New Normals (Some Permanent)

October



Summary: The profound changes caused by coronavirus since one year ago (COVID-19) are generally beneficial to GNU/Linux, even if they're anything but beneficial to the economy (and the status quo) at large

"WHEN will things be/get back to normal?"



Each and every one of us heard/read that question quite a lot back in April (if not much earlier, depending on where one lives).

A common reply was, especially as time went on, "there's no going back to normal" or "there will be a new normal..."

Remember those who lied, arguing with unbridled optimism that there would be a vaccine by year's end? 'Pump and dump' of their shares (stock)? Either way, as we've said all along, it can take a very long time to develop an effective vaccination programme/regimen and the substances manufactured must undergo a lot of testing before being injected into the bloodstream/circulation of billions of people. We also noted long-term effects of COVID-19 and mentioned that just because one got it and then recovered from it doesn't imply immunity; mutation and recirculation trumps innoculation. This thing is here to stay for quite some time to come and landlords of office buildings would be foolish to wait for a resurgence. The workers aren't coming back. Not any time soon (if ever).

"This past summer Microsoft laid off about 5,000 workers, though the media hardly paid attention to that (Microsoft worked hard to ensure people would barely notice)."In the meantime, as expected, more OEMs (even the very largest ones) offer GNU/Linux as a standard option (in the OS selector, configurator and so on). This is undoubtedly a positive development.

ESR already falls all over himself with more of his crazy theories (albeit not political but technical this time around) and sleazy ZDNet amplifies his theories not once but several times (second time a few hours ago, this time by SJVN). Expect this propaganda site of Microsoft to push that narrative wherein Microsoft sort of 'owns' Linux in the same sense it owns and controls GitHub. This is an attack, definitely not an embrace. They have plans. They have a nefarious strategy.

3 pumpkinsAs GNU/Linux becomes more and more mainstream expect the attacks on it to intensify (e.g. "security" FUD) and vary some more. Creative new attack vectors will be explored and we've covered some of them. GNU/Linux is winning in the "market share" sense (software freedom is another matter). It's the "platform to beat" right now. COVID-19 has generally changed business models, harming some old technology companies that aren't accustomed to the 'new norm'. This past summer Microsoft laid off about 5,000 workers, though the media hardly paid attention to that (Microsoft worked hard to ensure people would barely notice).

When we say there's no "back to normal" and "there's a new normal" we also mean to say that Free software becomes a lot more prevalent, partly for economic reasons. But that in itself does not guarantee software freedom; at the moment we see many attacks on copyleft, with the goal of developing proprietary software by exploiting the work of volunteers, then using this software to spy, maim, and sometimes even kill people. When they tell us stuff like "Open Source has won" they mean to say openwashing (of proprietary programs) has "won" or GitHub (i.e. Microsoft monopoly) is taking control of the competition. This isn't quite what Richard Stallman envisioned or how he foresaw it developing back in the early 1980s. But we're evolving as the threats become better understood. Even Bruce Perens (who created OSI) speaks about those new threats. He quit OSI earlier this year, citing the openwashing trend which deeply concerned him. Unlike the other OSI co-founder (ESR), Perens does not need to beg for money. Perens is no crackpot. He supports neither political fascism nor technical fascism. Perens also supports Stallman, whereas ESR saw OSI as an opportunity to 'cancel' Stallman back in the 1990s. Halloween is coming, but ESR seems to have forgotten about the Halloween Documents (which he published). Scary times. Collective amnesia calls for recollection. Gates deposition tapes are coming back. Microsoft leaks too. Stay tuned. We have some "October Surprises"...

Recent Techrights' Posts

New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
 
Noteworthy Claim That IBM is Firing a Lot of Lawyers This Week (RAs in the Legal Department)
A lot of what they do is patent 'trolling' or lawyering up against their own staff (e.g. HR disputes)
Links 10/10/2025: US Judge Bars Attacks by ICE On Journalists and Protesters; “We Took The Freedom of Speech Away” Says the President
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Serial Sloppers, Google News Gifting Slopfarms, and Fake News/Plagiarism About "Linux"
Google itself is a slop pusher these days
Qualcomm, the New Owner of Arduino, Blasted for Its Software Patents Tax on 'Smartphones'
A lot of Qualcomm's patents are on software. We wrote about this in prior years.
XBox Layoffs Rumours, Downtime, and Criticism From XBox Co-Founder
"everyone is ditching the xbox."
Links 10/10/2025: Honoring The Legacy Of Robert Murray-Smith, Many Articles on the Hey Hi (AI) Bubble
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: October Gothic and Reading Middle Earth Role Playing; C and Ada
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 09, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 09, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually