Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Inside — Part III: Microsoft Finds Out That Free Software Developers Don't Want to Work for Microsoft on Microsoft Platforms

Master Shake Hotline bling: What Microsoft thinks of Linux; What Microsoft wants you to think it thinks of Linux



Summary: The attempts to poach high-profile Free software and GNU/Linux developers aren't succeeding, especially once it turns out who's really behind those attempts (they don't give it away upfront)

IN the first part, which was introductory, we explained the problem at hand. The second part contained more of the 'meat' of the issue, demonstrated using something which had happened a week or two before Raspberry Pi devices had Microsoft covertly inserted into them (keys and repository for proprietary software and telemetry). What is going on?



Well, some readers have kindly contacted us, shedding light on observations and communications they became privy to.

"The person persisted and persisted, unable to understand what's wrong with GitHub..."One contact, who approached a GNU/Linux developer (probably quite a lot of them in that process), was mentioned in Part II. The contact said "Thank you for this info!!" after learning that Canonical makes Ubuntu. Why would people connected to Microsoft, who try to hire GNU/Linux developers, not know this?

"I’ll get back to you with an answer to your question," said the contact, "am asking right now" (asking Microsoft associates, albeit without identifying them as such).

"Hi again," the contact later said. "Below is the answer to proprietary software or open source..."

"The tools/software needed are currently available on GitHub and we expect that to continue to be the case," the contact said. Why would that be managed in proprietary software frameworks of Microsoft?

The developer responded: "Yeah so GitHub is a Microsoft thing and your really good Linux people are not going to use it... But I'll ask around..."

The contact responded: "Great to know! I’ll pass that info along for sure!! Thx for sharing this opportunity around your network. I’m open to feedback wrt any details about this role."

"LinkedIn links were all over the place, suggestive of a connection to its owners."The person persisted and persisted, unable to understand what's wrong with GitHub: "Can you give me insight wrt why strong Linux ppl won’t like the idea of using GitHub? Hiring team wants more feedback... I don’t want to assume I know why ..."

The developer finally responded (after much insistent chasing by the contact): "We don't want to use GitHub... Some Microsoft platform. Oddly enough some will use LinkedIn, another Microsoft platform haha."

LinkedIn links were all over the place, suggestive of a connection to its owners.

"There's a difference in our community between free software and open source," the developer continued. "Your more experienced and more capable Gnu Linux developers are free software..."

"For those who've missed it, Ubuntu now spies on users through Microsoft.""So basically if you are looking for someone like this unicorn you would most likely be looking in the free software realm which you would probably never find this person because they won't even touch Ubuntu..."

For those who've missed it, Ubuntu now spies on users through Microsoft.

"I think your best bet would to be find a medium level intermediate," the developer said. "Proprietary person who will work with Microsoft people and use GitHub..."

"So maybe one of those open source people is your best bet..."

The developer (continued):

It's like this: why don't you have your own git? That's what I would go back to them and say. You're using Ubuntu So really elite people won't use those things


The contact accepted this point: "I’m thinking you’re spot on. I will share this feedback."

Later following up with: "Any idea where this mid-lvl person might exist that has the technical knowledge? I’m thinking they may not be deep enough in their knowledge base to run without SME input..."

"In the next part we'll say more about who that contact is and on whose behalf this contact was working all along.""It's a really difficult situation," the developer replies. "We want to work with companies.... Of course we want to have money and jobs but we also have our culture. I've seen companies make the mistake of hiring Microsoft developers to do work with Linux and that's a big mistake so don't do that :)"

The contact responded with: "Exactly my predicament;)"

In the next part we'll say more about who that contact is and on whose behalf this contact was working all along.

Recent Techrights' Posts

"Oppose the Fascist"
what the founder of GNU/Linux said
Halloween, All Saints Day & Swiss citizenship
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Saving the Planet With Honesty, Transparency, and Sharing (Not Only of Computer Code)
GAFAM is destroying the only habitat humans and other animals have and it'll only get worse
Shout-out to Christine From FOSSForce
Who noticed our short story
Apple's MacOS Shows Us the Vision of Computing That GAFAM Has for Us (Digital Prisons)
Freedom means "we the people" should be in control, not people being controlled by corporations (contemporary slaveowners)
 
Against Outsourcing of Sites and E-mail
Software Freedom is great, but it is not enough if you let someone else do it 'for you'
Drew DeVault: People Talking About My Attack Site (Against the Founder of GNU/Linux) is "Spam"
"Spam on sr.ht mailing lists"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, November 04, 2024
IRC logs for Monday, November 04, 2024
There's a Reason Why Techrights is Turning 18 and Tux Machines Will Turn 20.5 Next Month
I started advocating GNU/Linux when I was a teenager
Techrights Has a Long History of Fighting to Expose 'Team Mono' or Microsofters Inside GNOME
Never downplay the malice of Microsoft and its operatives
Gemini Links 05/11/2024: Halloween Over, Intention and Implementation, Bookmark Syncing
Links for the day
Microsoft Lost Nearly Half of Its 'Cash Reserves' This Past Year
Is Microsoft (MSFT) the next Intel (INTC)?
The Year Isn't Over Yet, There Will be More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs
Nowadays Microsoft just tries to conflate/equate its energy waste with "value"
The Corporate Media Blasted Bitcoin for Destroying the Planet and Must Do the Same to Incite the Public Against the 'Great Rigging of Wall Street' (Under the Guise of "AI", the Latest Gold Rush)
"AI" is the next "metaverse" (trailing by a few months)
[Video] Richard Stallman is Back to Halo and Gown (in Peru) With 2+ Hours of a Public Talk
The globetrotting Richard Stallman gave many talks at the end of last month
Going Strong Against the Wind
the abuse serves to emphasise or affirm the importance of what we do
Links 04/11/2024: Squashing More Software Patents and Taiwan at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/11/2024: Typing vs Writing and a Smol (Net) Pub
Links for the day
Links 04/11/2024: LibreOffice Had Adopted PeerTube, "Hey Hi" Hype is a Threat to the Energy Grids (Worse Than Fake-Coins)
Links for the day
[Meme] Social Control Telescreens With Microphone
Nineteen Eighty-Four
Not Boycotting Apple (Yet)?
"Apple Forces The Signing Of Applications In MacOS Sequoia 15.1"
statCounter This Month: Android Has Nearly Become Twice as Big as Windows
If it happened, it would be an unprecedented milestone
Why Technical Sites Need Not Make Political Recommendations or Endorsements
Except perhaps when it's for some purely technical role, e.g. FCC chief
[Meme] Apple Freedom
Freedom is... the ability to purchase as many 'i' things as you want
"Active" as in One URL, One Emoji, and 4 Words in One Week
Diversity community in Fedora
Apple Vision Pro Has Failed, Just Like "Metaverse"
Vision Pro lacks software
Things That Can Improve Election Integrity
the first two relate to "tech"
Rigging Elections is Difficult, Cheating a Little is Not
Avoid social control media, it is the biggest rigger of all
"People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones"
On throwing stones in a glass house
Our Stance on Electronic (or Digital) Voting Machines
The simple activity of voting and counting ballots does not require thousands of complex machines with hundreds of millions of transistors and hundreds of millions of lines of code
Microsoft and "Retrospective Re-writing of History..."
in YouTube anyone can make stuff up (as one goes along)
This Coming Week
Go exercise your right to vote
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, November 03, 2024
IRC logs for Sunday, November 03, 2024
Reddit is (Still) Lying and Faking
Don't fall for this phony idea that the above sites are grassroots or edgy; they're not
GNU/Linux Users Are Not Cheaters
The bottom line is, most cheaters use Windows
Links 04/11/2024: FCC, Broadband Industry Spar Over Net Neutrality; Software Patent Squashed
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Official MyGemini.Space Announcement
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Election Thoughts, Plagiarism, and LLM Slop
Links for the day
Links 03/11/2024: Deere 'Right to Repair' (RoR) and "Threads Bans Anyone For Mentioning Hitler"
Links for the day
[Video] "El Movimiento del Software Libre y el Sistema Operativo GNU" by Richard M. Stallman
The footage is a bit jittery (taken with a phone apparently, and there's no tripod available), but the sound is OK and the words (in Spanish) are comprehensible
Android at New Highs (47%), Windows at New Lows (24%), Suggests Latest Data From statCounter
So the market share of Android is about double that of Windows
[Video] Richard Stallman's Talk in Spanish (in Peru Last Week)
Alternative URLs too
The Media Focuses on the Wrong Scandal
The real scandal at MIT was Gates
Gemini Links 03/11/2024: Fantasy Life Day and Worship
Links for the day
[Meme] Write Us Drivers and GTFO!
When you realise sanctioning BRICS devs goes against the community
Decommissioning Copper Lines Makes Us Less Safe
We've essentially degraded the robustness or reliability of critical systems
Life of an Addicted Lolicon Who Can Also Code
Personal blog as an open diary
[Meme] Reporting Crime is Not a Crime
Obviously!
Manchester Party for Techrights
If you choose to come, of course we'll cover the cost of the food and treats (but not travel)
Privacy is Not a Crime (in Places Where It is a Crime the Regime is Typically Very Rogue)
Also, criminals lack "privacy rights" to hide their crimes from the public
GNU/Linux "Market Share" in Lebanon More Than Doubled in a Few Months
Maybe it's a reaction to something? Assassination in Haret Hreik was in July.
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, November 02, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, November 02, 2024
Nearly 40 Years Without Security Incidents
People who use Windows have come to sort of "accept" that security incidents are part of life or "normal"
[Meme] The Streisand Effect
Simon says, don't bother trying to suppress facts
Streisand Effect at IBM?
Trying to silence your workers isn't the best approach. It only makes colleagues even more curious.
Microsoft is a Gift That Keeps Giving (Future Stories to Techrights)
Microsoft has been trying to silence me using dirty tricks for nearly 20 years
Elon Musk Has Trashed Twitter for Ideological Reasons (and Propping Up Trump in Exchange for Financial and Political Favours Once in Public Office)
In case you didn't leave Twitter already, consider the fact that Twitter's (or "X"... whatever!) future is uncertain
Wall Street Has Demoted Intel, Seeing There May be No Future to Intel
Intel's loss isn't a loss to us
Free Software Licence Compliance is About Security Too
Linux as de facto proprietary off-the-shelf platform