Remembering That Free Software Does Not Mean 'Free' Market (Deregulation) and It's Typically a Response to Obscenely Deregulated and Monopolised Markets (Overt Concentration of Power and Therefore Wealth)

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2020-10-11 15:03:24 UTC
Modified: 2020-10-11 15:03:24 UTC

The trajectory of things at the moment is, monopolies (or proprietary software 'drug cartels') are 'progressively' taking over their most potent substitute/alternative

No smoking sign

Summary: In the same way the Establishment took over the antiwar movement (or pro-peace activism), currently we're seeing the silent but very swift takeover of freedom-respecting software by those looking to take away that freedom and exploit the free labour of millions of volunteers worldwide

THE Linux Foundation represents not Linux but large corporations that use GNU and Linux somewhere in their stack. Those with most clout inside the Foundation are, as expected, super-affluent monopolies with proprietary software clowns (as in Clown Computing, sometimes known as "cloud" when marketing clowns rebrand servers/stacks/DCs).

"If we let/allow/permit -- even by mindless passivity -- the very same thing/s GNU/Linux was intended to replace become the new "master" of GNU/Linux (e.g. GNU projects inside Microsoft's GitHub and WSL/Azure), then we've already lost all the important battles."This has created somewhat of a paradox. When GNU/Linux started some time around 1983 (the exact date may be debatable depending on which milestone counts, e.g. the manifesto) it was a reactionary movement looking to put control back in the hands of ordinary developers (not employees of monopolists) and users, who may also be capable of programming, documenting and advocating Free software.

Earlier this year I stopped following "Open Source" news for the first time in more than 15 years. "Open Source" became so meaningless that one OSI co-founder quit and another got banned. Today's OSI works for Microsoft, just like the so-called 'Linux' Foundation does. Earlier today (a few hours ago) Slashdot was still pushing this whole “Linux is Microsoft/Windows” line -- about a fortnight in circulation now.

If we let/allow/permit -- even by mindless passivity -- the very same thing/s GNU/Linux was intended to replace become the new "master" of GNU/Linux (e.g. GNU projects inside Microsoft's GitHub and WSL/Azure), then we've already lost all the important battles. Microsoft did lots of those same thing back in the 1990s, as the Bill Gates deposition tapes serve to show. Remember "wrest control of Java"?

Don't let them fool you into this idea that "Open Source has won" because Microsoft is taking control of everything. If our aim was to be absorbed by our adversaries, then what is really being accomplished? Recall what the current chief of GitHub thinks of Free software; it's just some zero-cost "commodity" to him... to promote proprietary software and perpetuate monopoly. He now works for one. Tomorrow we'll start publishing Bill Gates deposition transcripts and afterwards we'll commence with analysis comparing what was done back then to what's being done today. ⬆

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Remembering That Free Software Does Not Mean 'Free' Market (Deregulation) and It's Typically a Response to Obscenely Deregulated and Monopolised Markets (Overt Concentration of Power and Therefore Wealth)

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