02.05.21
Gemini version available ♊︎Raspberry Pi Foundation Owes Customers an Apology
Summary: The much-warranted backlash against the Raspberry Pi Foundation seems to have yielded fruit; but for some people it’ll be difficult to trust the Raspberry Pi Foundation any longer, though an apology would help
THE video above details the latest press coverage and video coverage (e.g. [1-3] below) about a story we broke earlier this week.
We’re gratified to learn that apparently, based on what we’ve been reading, some people are no longer capable of reproducing the issue. So maybe there’s a reaction to the scandal (withdrawal from Microsoft). Maybe…
One reader told us that she had heard from someone: “The repo is for vscode but every time you do an update, it will check with MS.
“So there’s a breach of trust on at least two levels; first there’s the Microsoft interjection and then there’s the suppression of customers’ views on what was done covertly.”“It’s a matter of trust — we don’t trust MS.”
“Then,” she said, “they locked the thread so we couldn’t post our opinions. ”
The censorship was the second scandal, separate from the original scandal.
So there’s a breach of trust on at least two levels; first there’s the Microsoft interjection and then there’s the suppression of customers’ views on what was done covertly. Microsoft isn’t some ordinary company; it’s actively attacking software freedom and people who understand that aren’t “Microsoft bashing”; they’re just realists who keep abreast of real news, not mindless PR like the Linux Foundation‘s (more of that in our next post/video).
The Raspberry Pi nowadays has many competitors (some of them also called “Pi” something). It’s playing with fire if it seriously believes it can share a bed with Microsoft and still maintain reputation/customer loyalty. We still think an apology (not just an explanation) would help restore at least some of the trust. █
Related/contextual items from the news:
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Heads up: Microsoft repo secretly installed on all Raspberry Pi’s Linux OS
It seems RPi foundation officially recommends MS IDE, and hence this was included Raspberry Pi OS. They should keep this to GUI image for kids or anyone who wish to to learn Python and other stuff using VS Code. Most Linux geeks and power users use RPi as a git server or adblocker and so on as a headless server. There is always a trust issue when unwanted software repo configured and gpg keys are installed secretly, which is the main issue. What other problems Linux users may face: [...]
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It seems that it contains VS Code IDE for your Raspberry Pi. Now keep in mind this is a server with a lite image, and there is no need to install this on my old RPi 2. Naturally, it made many Linux users unhappy. To make matters worse, the official Raspberry Pi forums admins quickly locked down and deleted the topic threads, claiming it was “Microsoft bashing.”
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Raspberry Pi Users Mortified As Microsoft Repository That Phones Home Is Added To Pi OS
One of the software options for running a Raspberry Pi module is Raspberry Pi OS (formerly Raspbian), the officially supported Debian-based operating system put out by The Raspberry Pi Foundation. It has been around since 2015 without too much complaint. However, a recent update has some Raspberry Pi OS users up in arms over a key change involving Microsoft.
The latest update installs a Microsoft apt respository on all any machine running Raspberry Pi OS, and does it without any admin consent. As discovered by Reddit user fortysix_n_2, the official reason is an endorsement of Microsoft’s integrated development environment (IDE), Visual Studio Code (VSCode), which is fine and dandy. However, it’s claimed this even gets installed on headless devices that used a light image without a GUI. As a result, every time you do an “apt update” on your Pi device, the OS pings Microsoft.
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Microsoft INFILTRATES Raspberry Pi OS
ᶃ Gemini Space
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