Come What May

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2021-06-01 20:20:35 UTC
Modified: 2021-06-01 20:31:55 UTC

All-time low for Microsoft's common carrier

Summary: Although gains are made by us in terms of market share, let's remember the threats posed by DRM and systems such as Android (nowadays a lot more dominant than Windows); unless we remind ourselves what software freedom means, we'll never truly get there

THE growth of GNU/Linux continues apace. Not too fast, not an overnight revolution, but we're getting there. In the server, GNU/Linux has already won the market. In phones and mobile/portable devices? See the graph above (updated as of the start of June). According to this, Android, which contains Linux, is the most dominant operating system. That same data source says that on laptops and desktops GNU/Linux was at about 5% last month (GNU/Linux 'proper' exceeding the market share of Chrome OS). Climbing fast, whereas Apple and Microsoft continue to move down...

"Let's keep vigilant and not treat the whole thing as a "market share" sport. We need to think beyond such superficialities."But let's not get 'too' excited and focus on operating systems alone. If people move to GNU/Linux just to play some Steam games (DRM), then what? Are we really accomplishing all that we wanted?

Software freedom isn't just a battleground of platforms; many use Web browsers that are Free software, some kind of hybrid, or even something with DRM in it (even Mozilla Firefox). In 2021 we need to remember the original goals and steer the debate in the right direction. Saying things like "big companies now release some code" and hence "Open Source has won" actually says a lot about the goals of "Open Source"... it's perfectly happy with proprietary software monopolies as long as they slap some code at a proprietary software monopoly called GitHub.

The battle isn't being lost, but we're already seeing the next wave of attacks on the FSF (earlier today in GCC). Let's keep vigilant and not treat the whole thing as a "market share" sport. We need to think beyond such superficialities. ⬆

SLAPP Censorship - Part 83 Out of 200: Religion is Still Alive, But for Many This Religion is Monetary (Greed, Monopolies, Corporate Power): If all you keep boasting about is being able to afford a hotel room and some domestic flight, then maybe you have no real accomplishments and are more like a "Facebook serf" with a credit card
Web Browsers Are for Rendering Web Page, They Shouldn't Become PDF Editors: Linus Torvalds is quickly learning and speaking about this
GAFAM is Connected to Misogyny, Almost All Founders Divorced: They're not good people, even if they pay the media to pretend otherwise
Oracle Seems to Have Popularised Overnight Layoffs, Now GAFAM Does the Same: layoff emails at 4 a.m. local time
A Lot of Fake News About Microsoft's LinkedIn Today, Some Comes From Slopfarms, Some Relies on Those Slopfarms: As usual, slopfarms make the Web a huge pile of garbage
IBM's Kyndryl is Circling Down the Drain, Say Kyndryl Insiders: "IBM Dinosaurs who were recycled and catapulted into the orange trash heap by IBM"
A Lot of Coverage Adding Hype Factor to Slop Bug Reports... is Made by LLM Slop: Local Privilege Escalation [...] the slop motivates some actual people to keep writing about it
Links 20/05/2026: Mass Layoffs at NPR (Bought by the Ballmers and Bill Epsteingate), Starbucks Korea CEO Fired Over ‘Tank Day’ Ad: Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/05/2026: Advantage of CD Collections, Geminaut's View of Nostr, and SSL / TLS Certificates: Links for the day
IBM is Becoming a Pile of Expired Patents and Abandoned Buildings, Assets of Little Actual Value: Having laid off a ton of people, borrowed lots of money to fake growth (by acquisition), and sent some jobs to low-paid regions where innovation isn't done
Links 20/05/2026: Looting of Americans for "White Grievance Reparations Fund"; "Mark Zuckerberg Used Shell Companies to Bully Native Hawaiians": Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 82 Out of 200: British Government Intervenes in the SLAPPs by Brett Wilson LLP: At this stage our matters are dealt with by a layer below that of the Prime Minister (adjacent to it)
LinkedIn Communications Reveal That LinkedIn - Like GitHub - Will Vanish Inside the Belly of Microsoft: This is definitely going to happen.
In Wall Street, Financial Difficulties Drive Shares Up: Wall Street doesn't work that way
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVIII - European Patent Office (EPO) Guidebook Says Report Crimes Committed on EPO Premises. Some Did, But President Campinos Covers up for the Culprits.: The staff has long been on strike and the union (SUEPO) organised an enhanced day of action just two days ago
Gemini Links 20/05/2026: Fall of an Empire, "High Tech is a Social Exercise", and Big Cameras: Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, May 19, 2026: IRC logs for Tuesday, May 19, 2026
LinkedIn Layoffs at Microsoft: Probably Well More Than 5% of Staff: In short, it's difficult to believe only 5% are impacted
It's Not Just a Widespread Theory, It's Apparently a Verified Fact: Home Appliances Not Made to Last Long: Washing machine repair man asserts that the machines sold a decade ago could maybe last a decade; now they last barely 5 years.
Torvalds Capitulated on Rust and Slop, Now He's Paying the Price: they are pushing Microsoft and slop for grifters and scammers
Whistleblowers Needed: We Are Seeing Many Layoffs in Red Hat (Not Just in China), We Want to Know More: Last week we learned about some people who said they had left Red Hat or are leaving Red Hat
Links 19/05/2026: More Obituaries for Peter G. Neumann, Taiwan Abandoned by Cheeto House for Don's Personal Gain: Links for the day
Links 19/05/2026: Online 'Storage' (Surveillance) Accounts Lower Thresholds (Gmail, Google Drive, and Google Photos), Slop Debacles Expand (False Promises Made to Staff Regarding Compensation): Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 81 Out of 200: SLAPP Censorship Does Not Work If Your Sole Strategy is Revenge (and You Attack the Family): Both yours and others'
Techrights at 20 (Soon): It does not seek popularity or affirmation from "Establishment" outlets
We Pay More for Less, for Things That Last Less Time and Are Almost Impossible to Repair: Ever noticed how "modern" or "smart" TVs come with dumber and dumber (worse) controllers?
Vista 11 Turns 5 in a Couple of Months. Not Many People Use It.: It is the only supported version of Windows; many people move elsewhere
Head of GitHub Recently Left, Microsoft Need No Longer Report Mass Layoffs There (User Activity is Declining): We've long said that LinkedIn and GitHub, which Microsoft bought, would likely end up like Skype
The Slop Bubble is Already Bursting: Slop is not desirable and the general public is growingly impatient, seeing that slop has improved nothing for them
Gemini Links 19/05/2026: Reliable Old Tech, Collection of Essays: Links for the day
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVII - European Patent Office (EPO) Became a "Toxic Work Environment" When Cocaine Addicts Put in Charge: They are putting at risk colleagues by abusing them
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, May 18, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, May 18, 2026
Links 18/05/2026: Slop-induced Shortages, Solicitors Regulation Authority Says It's Unable to Deal With Complaints Load (So Regulation Does Not Really Exist): Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Ghost Essay and World Wide Web Considered Broken: Links for the day
Cooperation and Collaboration, on a More Personal Level: Rianne, to me, isn't just a wife; she is also my best friend
IBM Has Payroll Problems (Just Like Microsoft): It's a good thing that many nations around the world are, accordingly if not proactively, divesting from GAFAM
Links 18/05/2026: 25 Years of OLDaily and Dangers of "Living With Too Much Tech": Links for the day
Trips to London: London isn't a bad place, but it's a long journey and we'd rather stay in Manchester and write about technology
SLAPP Censorship - Part 80 Out of 200: Having Run Out of Time to Meet a Judge's Deadline, Microsoft's Graveley Had Garrett's Lawyers Argued My ~190-Page Defence and CounterClaim (DCC) Was Unclear About My Position: Nothing could be further from the truth
Working in the Shell (and Fish): Yesterday we spent about 5 hours on the shells and fish
The Corrupt Lecture the Non-Corrupt - Part XXVI - Campinos Has Put Unfit-for-Employment Drug Addicts in Charge of the European Patent Office (EPO): How many months has Campinos got left before the delegates show him the door?
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, May 17, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, May 17, 2026
Gemini Links 18/05/2026: Poetry, Sauna, and GNU Taler: Links for the day

Come What May

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