Bonum Certa Men Certa

Latest Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) Patterns Against “Linux” (the Real Issue is Proprietary Software)

Video download link | md5sum 39cf4b2e4c48595eba70964bdba9dc34 FUD Attacks Which Mostly Distract Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Fear-mongering/dramatisation (or FUD) tactics have been used a lot so far this month, mostly in an effort to associate Linux with illegal activity, unethical users, untold risk, and great liability/ies

THE video above covers a subject I've been wanting to comment on all week long but lacked time to (until the weekend). Now that the dust has mostly settled and the fear campaigns run out of Steam (pun intended) I want to comment on VMware's attacks on "Linux", as noted in passing 4 days ago.



"Generally speaking, VMware and Microsoft are close and they're both prolific GPL violators that hate Linux."It all started about a fortnight ago (and about Fortnite) when Epic Games Store among other things indicated a shift towards GNU/Linux for gamers. At the same time there were quite a few headlines about VMware security blunders, so VMware probably wanted to shift blame/culpability to "Linux". Generally speaking, VMware and Microsoft are close and they're both prolific GPL violators that hate Linux. It's not unthinkable that there's some degree of coordination between them in these latest FUD attacks. We leave readers/viewers to decide based on the available evidence.

To those who dispute our assertion that this is FUD, please pay careful attention to editorial comments in Daily Links and in the links above. The short rebuttal is, malware that targets VMware is mostly the fault of negligible administrators or administrators that actively install malware (not "Linux"), which can in turn curtail VMware/ESXi (that in itself is a security risk and huge attack surface). As for ransomware, that's mostly a Windows issue, barely a Linux issue, according to statistics. Regarding Steam and Epic, DRM never belonged in Linux and demanding rootkits ("anti-cheat") is a whole new level of compromise; then again, Epic competes against Steam, mostly ignores Steam Store (where it mostly shuns Windows users, not GNU/Linux users), and a bunch of random "tweets" -- or tweet-mining -- doesn't make good journalism. It looks like Microsoft is trying to 'crash' the launch of Steam Deck, seeing that it threatens the last remaining reason often given for staying with Windows.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 103 Out of 200: Telling People What They Know and Don't Know About Death Threats They Receive
patronising letters sent on behalf of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft
IBM Genies in the Bottle
for ordinary people working who at at IBM, it's not hard to see that IBM is floundering
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre (in Portugal) Falls Apart…
Luís Montenegro became embroiled in a conflict-of-interest controversy
Links 10/06/2026: More Microsoft Layoffs, Sweden to "Ban Mobile Phones in Schools"
Links for the day
 
Links 11/06/2026: Disputes Over Copyright Infringement, Failure to Meet Climate Goals, "ChatGPT Caught Recommending “Products” That Are Just Scams"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/06/2026: Programmable Systems and Slop "is Coming for Your Serifs"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 10, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Links 11/06/2026: LF Openwashing of Slop and "Azerbaijan Bans TikTok and Other Social Media Apps in School"
Links for the day
IBM Lost About 18% of Its "Market Value" This Month
In IBM's case, a lot of the latest "pump" was Arvind's "quantum" hype/fantasy
Gemini Links 10/06/2026: Signal to Noise, Cancer, and Permacomputing
Links for the day
Communities and "Prosumers."
today's meetup will be about community
Gemini and Gopher Links 10/06/2026: Roasting, Changes, and Harms of Slop
Links for the day
Microsoft Azure Shrinking With More Mass Layoffs
"Reports suggest the layoffs will impact close to 200 out of 400 workers, who are set to cease employment at Azure on July 6"
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 09, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 09, 2026
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The Centre-Right "Social Democratic Party" in Portugal
Quite an achievement for a former Maoist radical and aspiring champion of the Portuguese proletariat to be invited to join Goldman Sachs
SLAPP Censorship - Part 102 Out of 200: Maybe One Day Whistleblowers From Brett Wilson LLP Will Tell Us What Really Happened
Maybe one day some former staff of Brett Wilson LLP will also approach us to blow the whistle
What LibreOffice and TDF Get Right About Document Formats (and What They Get Wrong)
OOXML is a phantom - it is something nobody implements, not even Microsoft!
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: "The Mist of the Lands Between", Board Game Concept
Links for the day
2026: The Year Slop Companies "Made an Exit" (Threw in the Towel Over to Wall Street)
Remember 2026 as the year two major slop companies (which we won't name) sought an IPO
Links 09/06/2026: NSO Group still cracking, "FOI tribunal throws out £14k costs claim against journalist Barnie Choudhury"
Links for the day
Links 09/06/2026: "Smartphones Broke Dating" and "EU Open Source Strategy"
Links for the day
Cannot Speak About IBM Wrongdoing or Jobs Being Sent Overseas (Lower Salaries)
IBM has long attacked the media, the whistleblowers, and even online forums
European Patent Office (EPO) Series: The CIA-Funded Centre-Left in Portugal
In the political turmoil which followed the fall of the old regime, the communists seemed to be acquiring a dominant position and there was a very real risk that Portugal could end up aligned with the Eastern Bloc if they were not stopped
This Coming Friday
Richard Stallman (RMS)
Yesterday Afternoon The Register MS Published a Fake Article That Says "AI" 31 Times Because It Got Paid to Do This
What will happen when all those loans for slop (Ponzi scheme) stop and companies' marketing budgets - which include media bribes for hype campaigns - are no more?
Extraordinary General Meeting of Staff Union of the European Patent Office Ahead of Intensifying Strikes
We will, in the meantime, run a series about EPO corruption, which is now connected to corruption in Portugal and to corruption inside the EU
Several Slopfarms That Target "Linux" Seem to Have Died
Or perished severely
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 08, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, June 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/06/2026: Tanana River, Cassette Beasts, and Emacs
Links for the day