Bonum Certa Men Certa

A Look From the Inside: Open Source Initiative's Voting Process is a Sham, Large Corporations Are in Charge

Video download link | md5sum a054cb54824c30e259b1ff0412d9ee8b OSI Controlled by Billionaires Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: The Open Source Initiative (OSI) is dominated by openwashing, self-serving giant corporations that are neither Open Source nor tolerant of the Free/Open Source community (they mostly try to dominate or overthrow the community, using money and smear campaigns)

"STEP ASIDE, Richard Stallman, we'll take it from here!"



"Move over, Bruce Perens, we'll do a much better job! Everything is now Open Source!"

"Go away, ESR, we know better what we're doing. Leave it to the professionals, the rich adults in the room!"

That's the sort of attitude we nowadays see in the OSI, which wasn't always this bad. According to part one of this very long write-up, the voting process too is a sham, and not purely due to technical reasons -- a subject we've covered here many times before.

In the eye of an 'insider', Willis: "So it’s a troubling ballot to look at. There’s an ostensibly non-profit organization that’s an official OSI affiliate trying to run its CEO as an individual candidate while also running a second member (a board director) on the appropriate, affiliate ballot in the same election. There’s also two financial sponsors running candidates on the individual ballot, one of them (Red Hat) running two candidates at the same time for the two open seats."

"The OSI is willing to berate and banish even its own founders. Criticism isn't permitted."LWN has already mentioned this, but there are no comments at this time. "Nathan Willis," LWN says, "took a long look at the Open Source Initiative's 2022 board election and wasn't entirely pleased with what he saw."

If Willis said this about the Linux Foundation, there would be disciplinary action. As we noted recently, the Code of Conduct (CoC) Committee received “2 reports of concern that several CNCF ambassadors were airing grievances about not having talks accepted at the event, which belittled the work of the program committee”.

So merely questioning a process is a CoC violation?

Anyway, this is where we stand now. The OSI is willing to berate and banish even its own founders. Criticism isn't permitted.

"They know who bosses them. The oligarchs bought and paid for both of those institutions, in effect rendering them lobbying apparatuses for the billionaires, who use the Code of Conduct to ban people who criticise them."The OSI is already sold (to Microsoft mostly, as that's where most of the OSI's budget goes). Like the so-called "Linux" (only in name) Foundation, community is now something to be marginalised and "disciplined". The corporations are concern-trolling us. They wait for a reaction and then they attack the community.

The OSI and the so-called "Linux" (only in name) Foundation are broken beyond redemption. They cannot be redeemed anymore because everything in them is controlled by corporate money. Their chiefs are a mix of corporate employees and people hired using corporate money. They know who bosses them. The oligarchs bought and paid for both of those institutions, in effect rendering them lobbying apparatuses for the billionaires, who use the Code of Conduct to ban people who criticise them. Openwashing is being force-fed now. Polluters are "green", proprietary spyware is "open", and racist corporations working for the Pentagon are all about inclusion and diversity (they claim).

LWN says Nathan Willis "wasn't entirely pleased with what he saw." What an understatement! We've not even seen part 2 yet. I express my views on the matter in the video above.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Inaction and Incompetence - Part III - The SRA is Vastly Worse Than Brits Realise, We Have a "Wild West" in London
In the next part we'll begin looking at correspondence with the SRA
SRA and Manslaughter: How the SRA Contributed to Agony in Proprietary Software Scandals With Clear Misuse of "Without Prejudice"
Trying to prevent the public from finding out the criminal stuff that went on, resulting in many deaths
Canonical (or Ubuntu) Rejecting IRC Isn't the Widespread Trend
Internet Relay Chat (IRC) adoption still growing by some yardsticks
SLAPP Censorship - Part 173 Out of 200: Two Years
It was exactly 2 years ago that we filed lawsuits against Garrett
Linux of America
We could not help but notice GNU/Linux in North America yesterday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 05, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 05, 2026
Gemini Links 06/09/2026: Internet Limiting (Limited Time Allotted) and Solar MiniServer
Links for the day
Eight Months of Strikes in EPO, Organised by the Staff Union (SUEPO) Also in Berlin
In Berlin, only one member of staff voted against the action plan
Links 05/09/2026: "Let’s Stop Buying New Phone" and 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop) Drowning in Lawsuits
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Polarization, Warped Maps, and Emacs rectangle-number-lines
Links for the day
Software Freedom, Even If Difficult to Attain Due to Outside Pressure, Does Make You Happier
Peer pressure and opinionated employers can make friends and staff more miserable if they dictate bad software
You Can Run GNU/Linux on a Desktop/Laptop for 1,000+ Days Nonstop
To me, the long uptime is a way of "marketing" GNU/Linux as robust and stable
Profiting From Global Warming (and Making More Money the More You Cause Warming)
Unregulated bank and pyramid scheme
SLAPP Censorship - Part 172 Out of 200: The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Complicit in the SLAPPs by Inaction (Didn't Even Study Any Evidence, Only Wasted Time and Budget)
"SRA placed into special measures due to 'disappointing standard of leadership'"
China Does Not Need American (US) Products Like GAFAM's
China has abundance of technical things it can leverage to preserve its autonomy
RMS Didn't Make Enough Backups
Making backups is important
Refresher: Why EPO Staff is on Strike This Year (Aside From the EPO Acting Like a Corrupt, Above-the-Law, For-Profit Corporation That Violates Its Own Charter)
One core issue at the EPO is erosion of purchasing power
Gemini Links 05/09/2026: Fireflies, Shore Pine, and ASCII Art
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 04, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, September 04, 2026
The Legal Services Board (LSB) Takes on Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) for Utter Failures, We'll Resume Our SRA Series to Illuminate How Bad the SRA Really Is
a quick overview of the latest news
Links 04/09/2026: Notorious Patent Trolls' Judge Enters the Private Sector (Corruption, Revolving Doors), Gloria Steinem's Life in Pictures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Worries, Upgrades, and CS Students
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Web Site Back Online, But It Seems Like a 2-Months-Old Snapshot
Latest political notes are dated July 2 (2026)
SPAM Disguised as Benchmark or Comparison: The Register MS "PARTNER CONTENT" is Getting Weirder by the Month
Sites that promote fake 'coins' or pyramid schemes to their audience(s) aren't worth tolerating
PIPs at IBMs are Layoffs Because They're Impossible to Satisfy (or They Terminate Workers Despite Satisfying Them)
What insiders say
In the United Kingdom You Can No Longer Make the Assumption People Use Windows (or 'Smart' 'Phone')
As autumn arrives Microsoft faces a crisis
SLAPP Censorship - Part 171 Out of 200: Talking About Corruption and Violence Against Women
Today the Labour Party (UK) speaks about corruption
Warming Up for Investigative Journalism About the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest and Probably Most Corrupt Institution in Europe
It continues to exploit diplomatic immunity for impunity
Microsoft Handing Out PIPs by the Thousands, Anxiety in GAFAM Building Up
Years ago I heard from people who pretended to be ill to avoid getting fired
BRICS in the Windows: Brazil's GNU/Linux Share (as Measured by CDN) Has Hit Highest Point in a Month
The largest Web CDN, Clownflare, sees GNU/Linux at 8.1% right now in Brazil
Corporate Media Will Always Glorify Its Owners (Corporations That Value Nothing But Capital)
Collecting "money" like it's a form of competition where they track "score"
We'll Never Do Slop!
Being against slop is not being "left behind"
Thieves Complain About the People They Steal From
"When you point the finger at someone, there are three fingers pointing back to you"
Links 04/09/2026: "The Rise of the Billionaire Lobby", the "Imperialist Delusions", and Digital Restrictions (DRM) From Nvidia
Links for the day
Buying From China
Nations must begin to speak about their digital sovereignty, which Free software is best equipped to grant and best positioned to assure in the face of outside resistance
GNU/Linux Continues to Grow in China
GNU/Linux reached its highest point in a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 03, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, September 03, 2026
Gemini Links 04/09/2026: Forgotten Realms Avatar Series and Slop Plagiarism's Footprint in Gopher/Geminispace
Links for the day