Bonum Certa Men Certa

Reviewing Gifts and Coverage of News About Companies That Supply These Gifts

Video download link | md5sum 1d6128929eacf526a5644833c2795a8f Michael and the x86 Box Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: There's a severe Web crisis that more people ought to talk about; sites are being increasingly compromised or 'bought' (looking to 'cash in' on their audiences) and as a result we have a deeply misinformed public; today we revisit Phoronix

A MONTH ago we caught Phoronix violating ethical standards and called the site out on it (only after we had given it about a day to respond) [1, 2]. We since then haven't linked to Phoronix anymore and things have hardly improved, as noted in the video above. The companies which send very expensive gifts receive a disproportionate amount of coverage in Phoronix and gifts are still being sent to the Phoronix estate (from Microsoft also), as shown above based on this morning's very latest post.



"Companies work overtime to shape perceptions around them and their products; heck, they have whole business units devoted to this task."Michael finally/belatedly responded more than a fortnight later and weakly (not disputing what we had actually said but dancing around the questions). This rant isn't limited to Phoronix but to the state of the Web at large, including social control media. We recently mentioned GulagTube/YouTube "influencers" selling fake endorsements/reviews ("The Linux Experiment", which worked hard to cancel Richard Stallman, got banned for it last year) and Phoronix is doing the same, albeit not in the form of video (but benchmarks and photos as a medium).

It is quite frankly frustrating that the Web has become a source of propaganda not just from governments but also corporations and their 'foot soldiers', with sites that masquerade as independent but are in fact receiving loads of very expensive gifts.

With all sorts of sockpuppets and fake reviews overwhelming the Web (or fake awards/endorsements) it has become hard to know who to trust online; it's a lot worse on the Web because the platform is heavily targeted, including Wikipedia. Companies work overtime to shape perceptions around them and their products; heck, they have whole business units devoted to this task.

Over in our IRC channels there has been some discussion about this other post from Phoronix, once again going soft on Microsoft. As one person immediately responded, "we don't need directx, we have opengl and vulkan [...] it's another one of their tricks... the headline has little information... it's a linux kernel module for WSL that implements directx... in that case, it's another microsoft way to locking in GNU/Linux programs to windows by implementing a directx shim in the virtualized linux kernel... so WSL is EEE and we're now at the extend part... they extend it with proprietary API and hope that the programs rely on it."

"Maybe it's just Software-defined Silicon," Ryan said.

About another crate of CPUs, there was even more commotion. "Every time you pay Intel more, it does things that it could already do and locked you out of intentionally," Ryan said. "Like Windows."

"The electric company moved everything over to Microsoft Azure. Now I get a spinney beachball of death instead of being able to pay my electric bill with Firefox."

Psydroid said: "Intel couldn't stay behind so that's another crate of CPUs for Michael Intelarabel and the Moronix"

Ryan responded: "When all else fails, bribe. Here's an entire shipping container of CPUs. We don't want them back, so if you put them on ebay that's fine. Be sure to run Clear Linux and use the Intel Compiler when comparing us to AMD. It's not so much that the Intel Compiler optimizes that well for Intel processors. It's that it makes AMD processors take the slowest code it generates to make Intel's CPUs look better in comparison between the two. Intel provides all sorts of kickbacks for third party developers to use ICC so that it ruins the performance of the largest amount of software possible for AMD. Then they can just go "Aww shucks, well, we have no way of knowing whether AMD's CPUs meet these feature sets, so we just sniff to see what it is and fail safe.". No investigations afaik."

Going back to that other article, it shows that Phoronix isn't changing its ways. It works for interests orthogonal to ours when it suits it. "WSL as everyone knows," our associate noted moments ago, "is toxic waste to prevent the use of GNU/Linux and keep people fiddling pointlessly with Windows."

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Motorcycling in Central Oregon, Protocol Styles and the Flag of Sark
Links for the day
Links 30/09/2025: Death Sentences, Internet Censorship, and Internet Shutdowns
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Social Control Media and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
Richard Stallman About to Give More Talks in Europe, Some Confirmed Already
In Göteborg
Links 30/09/2025: CERN in "Have I Been Pwned" and More Windows TCO Blunders
Links for the day
Microsoft Canonical is Selling Mass Surveillance and Back Doors as "Security for Ubuntu"
If you are looking for a GNU/Linux distro to use, just remember that Microsoft has Ubuntu in the bag
Justice for Wildlife
animals cannot speak to humans who hate animals
Cowboys Gonna Be Cowboys (on the Internet, They're Not a New Problem)
Boys will be boys
Cowboys of the "Left" and Cowboys of the "Right"
Don't believe the lie that this is some "leftist" thing
When Codes of Conduct Serve to Protect Criminals From Much-Deserved Scrutiny
CoCs are typically unfit for purpose because enforcement lacks context and suitable understanding of the full background (the "full story")
It Took the Open Source Initiative (OSI) 4+ Years to Address the 'Data Breach' or Data Protection Violation Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) in March 2025
We may never know the dialogue or its nature
Even Microsoft's Biggest Boosters (and Media Operatives) Are Turning Against Microsoft
Expect many more layoffs before the fake "results" next month
GNU Was Right 42+ Years Ago
Since then the abusive, user-hostile technology has spread like mushrooms
Old Isn't Always Inadequate
How many gadgets manufactured today (in 2025) will still work in 2075?
The Monkey Business of Rust People
Compatibility won't matter
Almost Half of the FSFE's Money (the Fake 'FSF', Misusing the Brand) Comes From Vodafone
That money always comes with strings, even if they're invisible to most of us
Microsoft Lunduke Spreads Deliberate Lies to Incite Online Mobs
Has he lost his reading comprehension skills?
Our 19th Birthday (in Just Over 5 Weeks From Now)
We meanwhile have ongoing, solid plans to cover patent-related issues when the FSF turns 40
British GNU/Linux Distro FydeOS Tops DistroWatch
That seems like a decent site and decent effort to keep an eye on
We'll Soon Have 75,000 GemText Pages
avoid many perils of today's Web
Google Used Free Software to Build a Monopoly. Now Google Kicks Free Software to the Curb
The "G" in "Google" does not stand for GNU. It never did. It's just another greedy company.
Gemini Links 30/09/2025: Retro Hardware, Federated Fragmentation, and Nex Server Written in C
Links for the day
4 More Days Till "4 decades, 4 freedoms, 4 all users"
We are now just 4 days away from the rare anniversary
Two Months After Merging to Hide GitHub Losses Microsoft is Doing It Again (This Time Windows)
Merging those two together is not a sign of strength but a tightening of budget
Speculations About the Next Large Wave of IBM/Red Hat Layoffs
the mass layoffs are likely to happen on week 3 or 4 in October
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 29, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, September 29, 2025
Links 29/09/2025: Opposition to Surveillance Giant Google and Conflicts Worldwide (Moldova Sides With EU)
Links for the day
Why the EPO Never Managed to Silence Us (After Over a Decade of Trying)
Firms like Mishcon de Reya and Brett Wilson LLP contribute to a bad stigma, staining the entire occupation
Links 29/09/2025: Datacenter Fires and "Too Much Internet Use Is Changing Teenage Brains"
Links for the day
Almost a Couple of Years After Microsoft Hijacked the Name 'Sudo' (to Describe Unrelated Windows Stuff) Microsoft Canonical Breaks Sudo in Ubuntu
These are vandals in "goodwill" or "security" clothing
Does the Good Law Project (GLP) Know the Director of Brett Wilson LLP Deems It OK to Endorse Violent Actions Against Trans People?
We were miffed to see this morning's report
Names Are Not Unique IDs and the UK Government's "Digital ID System" Would be a Nightmare
Digital surveillance, "apps", and worse (all the time)
What is Roy and Rianne's Righteously Royalty-free RSS Reader?
A news reader that uses OPML files and parses RSS feeds
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in 5 Days
We should be talking about software freedom, not "Open Source"
It Feels Like Brett Wilson LLP Has Just Tacitly Admitted That It Defamed Me
It arguably admitted many other things by refusing to deny or address them (altogether)
Stefano Maffulli's Front Page Mentions "AI" 11 Times
They're more focused on slop (plagiarism) than sharing or Software Freedom
CMS Rot
With "modern" (bloated) content management systems (CMSs) there is a long chain of dependencies
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 28, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, September 28, 2025
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About Linux 6.17 and Microsoft Meddling in Linux Development
today's Slopwatch is short because the picks are from Sunday
Gemini Links 29/09/2025: The Labor Wars and Retro
Links for the day