Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Corporate 'Cancel Culture' Industry — Part II: People Who Defamed Linus Torvalds Say Torvalds Was “Grateful” for It

Torvalds is bossed by women from Microsoft now

Linus Torvalds spanked



Summary: We've seen it all before; the concern trolls and 'cancel culture' warriors try to pass off their brigading as "help" and "advice" to the target of brigading; today we give some more concrete details

MY recent writings about the Linux Foundation 'provoked' some people and this is, in some sense, the fourth post on the reaction. I wrote about it on the same day and recently started this ongoing series which explains what's going on behind the scenes.

The previous part was intentionally vague. No need to personify things or "harass" the provocateurs, siccing a 'mob' on them. We reject their tactics. This short part will hopefully be clearer, but no names will be named here. The short story is, the people who sought to cancel and destroy the career of Linus Torvalds got in touch with me. As I shall explain at a later stage, the motivations seem disingenuous and I've already informed/alerted Torvalds, seeing that he should at least be aware of what's going on.

The person who wrote me said: "Hey Roy -- thanks for getting back to me. As you must know, Torvalds took a leave of his own accord and is still running Linux. From what I've heard -- I'd be interested if you've heard differently -- he is grateful that the article gave him a chance to re-assess how he was treating contributors."

"The previous part was intentionally vague."No, not really. The very same people who forced him to see therapists and make a public apology (as a tacit condition for getting back to his own project) keep using that malicious talking point. We saw Gulagboy doing the same, in effect claiming that their victim of attack (concerned trolling) appreciated and was grateful for the attack.

That went on: "But, I must confess that your response reminds me of an interaction I once had with a prominent Silicon Valley figure who disagreed with a thesis I would explore in my book, namely that Stanford University greatly influenced how the Internet developed. His condition for speaking with me, I came to learn, was that I agree he was right and I was wrong. We never did have that conversation. As I mentioned at the top, I'm glad for all the links you've made and if you want to speak about them, please do let me know."

"The short story is, the same people who months after IBM had taken over Red Hat (on paper) unseated Torvalds and months later defamed Richard Stallman (it helped distract from what Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein did at MIT) are once again looking for "blood"."Facts don't matter to these people. They have a mission and they want to topple people on behalf of rich liars. I could suggest a raw interview, but that's not what he was after. I even said. "I can suggest we co-author an article that explains pertinent, verified facts about LF." He was not interested, either.

The short story is, the same people who months after IBM had taken over Red Hat (on paper) unseated Torvalds and months later defamed Richard Stallman (it helped distract from what Bill Gates and Jeffrey Epstein did at MIT) are once again looking for "blood". Whose? Hard to tell. But be very suspicious. In the next part we'll analyse the motivations

Recent Techrights' Posts

X.Org is Still Not Dead
Oracle still developing it
Microsoft is getting ready to cause many employees to resign
Having already laid off many workers earlier this month, it now tries another approach
"Maybe the Problem is You"
they probably felt like they had no choice because they really needed this Microsoft money
GNU OS, Powered by Hurd
Choice is good, as long as choices exist that respect the users' freedom
 
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Politics and Alhena 5.2.8
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: "Hey Hi (AI) Data Centers Are Driving Up Electricity Bills for Everyone" and the Case Against Booking.com
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/08/2025: Leasehold, Slop Bubble, and Xobaqu
Links for the day
Links 15/08/2025: Flight Attendant Strike, Floods, and Tropical Storms
Links for the day
Links 15/08/2025: German Government Falls Short on Free Software, Russians Breach EU Systems
Links for the day
Microsoft is Still Losing Cyprus
The market share goes down, so share prices go up
Microsoft Accenture is in Trouble
For one thing, its debt doubled in a matter of months
News Will Slow Down and Slop Will Contribute to the Slowdown
In recent years every time there was some holiday or major break the number people who "came back" shrank
Upgrading IRC Network of Techrights
a new version of the daemon we've used since 2021 was released very recently
"Register Debate Series" About Microsoft in the UK is Controlled by Microsoft (US)
The Register is run by Microsoft "Analysts", so the debate is doomed from the get-go
IBM is a Terrible Model for Red Hat
"Most likely caused by laying off too many people"
Microsoft Problems in Palestinian Territory and Israel
Microsoft stock (share price) goes up when market share goes down
Slave is Not a Bad Word, We Need to Use It Sometimes
Who does such exclusion of words benefit? What sort of expression will be deemed impermissible and subjected to CoC enforcement?
National Day of Action
"This Friday, August 15th, there is an organized, petition-based, protest of Wells Fargo in major cities across the US," Richard Stallman wrote
Our Gemini Editions Now Contain 100,000+ GemText Pages
Our Gemini Editions aren't small, even if Gemini Protocol is still the 'underdog'
The Relations Between the United States and Europe Deteriorate, Should Europe Continue to Rely on American Tech Giants?
The shallow notion that made-in-USA software is fairly safe for Europe to rely to is coming to a standstill
Techrights and Tux Machines Running as Usual During Vacations
No interruptions, maybe temporarily slowdowns
Gemini Links 15/08/2025: ADHD and "Random Weird Things"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 14, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 14, 2025
"Article 52. PATENTABLE INVENTIONS" in the European Patent Convention
Some time tomorrow we'll have a complete local copy of the EPC
Serial Slopper (SS) Still at It, Still Misusing Plagiarism Tools and Cheatware for Images and Text About "Linux"
All the slopfarms are a very big problem
Reddit Deletes Stuff, But Not for Being False or Misleading
Yet another one of those articles that speak of a man in his 50s as if he's terminally ill
Times of India and India.com Are Clickbait and LLM Slop
Google continues to reward bad actors
The More "Market Share" Microsoft Loses, The Higher the Shares Go
People joke about the same sort of thing in relation to IBM
To OIN, Software Patents Are Not a Problem
Had software patents ceased to exist, OIN too would cease to exist and its staff would be unemployed.
Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia is Only the Beginning
Due to politics it mostly makes sense that Windows is being phased out, also in part due to policy changes
Microsoft-Funded Publishers Lied to Us About Vista 10 and Now Advocate Us Owning Nothing
They want you to own nothing, but they also want you to buy a PC on which to become Microsoft's slave and they make it harder if not practically impossible to remove Windows
Articles Promoting and Celebrating Wayland Are LLM Slop
New example (100% slop)
European Patent Office (EPO) Reformation Project
It's a stain on the EU's reputation
The Register MS, Dominated by American Editors, Says UK Should be Run (Digitally) by Microsoft US
The Register MS is sponsored by American money, run by Americans, and its chief editor is a Microsofter from the US
Slopwatch: Google News and Other Slopfarms
Google News is rewarding sites that misuse LLMs and cheat the Web
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Drought, Climate Experiments, and LLM Slop Considered Detrimental
Links for the day
Links 14/08/2025: Second-hand ThinkPad and Enhanced Surveillance on Chipsets from the United States
Links for the day
Moral Standards From the Masters of Linux
They get hung up on minor language issue and promote this crazy theory that racism will go away if only everyone spoke a little differently (no matter where he or she came from)
Links 14/08/2025: Data Brokers Hiding Opt-Out Pages From Google, "Fight Chat Control"
Links for the day
FSF Infrastructure Under Constant Attack
The disconnect (literally) has had an effect on credibility
Feels Like The Register MS is Trying to Diversify a Bit
If The Register MS goes back to being The Register US (or UK), that will be a nice improvement
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Reading Journal and LLM Fatigue Revisited
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 13, 2025