01.10.20
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft at 2:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The media plays along (more like advertising than journalism and Microsoft’s advertising budget for magazine space certainly plays a role)
Does this look like a Microsoft ad or an actual article? They also promote listening devices down at the bottom.
Summary: Microsoft keeps buying ad space in magazines, compromising their integrity and tarnishing brands such as “Linux” (making it look like merely a component available with Vista 10)
“Microsoft EDGE, the browser that’s better and safer than Chrome,” a reader of ours joked, having sent us the above photograph. “Or else, steal the Chrome rendering engine, add-in hooks to the underlying OS then rename it Microsoft EDGE. Have these people no shame?”
“What kind of “Admin” uses that toy? That’s like selling a rickshaw to truck drivers…”Remember that it has KHTML roots (KDE) — a topic we covered here about a decade back.
“Computer mags at the local WHSmith,” as our reader noted, show more of the same pattern. “See image,” he wrote. “See also the front page of ‘Admin’ magazine: “Windows Subsystem for Linux”. If you can’t steal Linux then at least you can steal mindshare :]”
In Microsoft’s very own words [PDF]: “Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!”
Here’s the latest pile:
Nowadays, with WSL, they use that “Linux” thing to offer more Windows ‘features’ while tying them to the underlying spying machine. Shades of AWS in the server space…
Look closely at the top pick:
Yes, WSL. What kind of “Admin” uses that toy? That’s like selling a rickshaw to truck drivers… █
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11.12.19
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft at 7:24 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: With help from the likes of the Linux Foundation Microsoft continues to misuse and ‘dilute’ the Linux brand (and registered trademark)
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10.16.19
Posted in Deception, Marketing, Search at 11:44 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
STARE-page, staring right at you
Summary: Startpage has sold out and may have also sold data it retained about its users to a privacy-hostile company whose entire business model is surveillance
FOR MANY years I had advocated ixquick (later redirected to Startpage); then it introduced some JavaScript mess and I stopped using it (went to Wikipedia and SearX instead). That mess was partly addressed recently, so I temporarily returned to using it. But then I was extremely disappointed to discover what had happened. I must share my findings and strongly insist that people stop using Startpage (or ixquick). They’re not what they seem. Not anymore.
About 3 weeks ago “Who are the owners of Startpage?” was published in the support pages of Startpage. It’s a bit vague and went under the radar. To quote: “Startpage, the world’s most private search engine, is owned by Surfboard Holding BV. Surfboard Holding is a privately held Dutch company registered in Zeist, The Netherlands. In its early years, Surfboard Holding had numerous shareholders. However, during its significant formative years, Surfboard Holding shareholders were substantially reduced to its core founders, who acquired a majority stake in 2006. We most recently welcomed Privacy One Group Ltd, a privacy-focused division of System1 LLC, as a significant new shareholder. Surfboard Holding’s founders and management continue to own an important stake in the company and lead its privacy focused-mission. You can find the press article here.”
“They’re not what they seem. Not anymore.”This linked to “Building a more private internet experience with Privacy One Group,” which gives the impression this is about privacy.
But this is System1. It’s a pay-per-click behavioral ad company. Startpage was sold to a pay-per-click behavioral ad company!
The Web site of the company says “System1 offers a new approach to attracting users and expanding audiences” and “We have buying strength across multiple networks and have unique search and ad partnerships with Google, Bing and Yahoo.”
“But this is System1. It’s a pay-per-click behavioral ad company. Startpage was sold to a pay-per-click behavioral ad company!”If Startpage becomes just another Spying Engine, what benefits are left to it? Nothing. But it’s even worse as it’s falsely being marketed as “privacy” (or “Privacy One Group” — a deliberate misnomer). Those who need privacy and private search can be physically harmed!
We’ve actually researched this for a while and spoke to people who might know more. But this is mostly shrouded in secrecy. Startpage prefers it that way and it issued vaguely-worded statements with words like “privacy” thrown in. “I have not been able to find anything on Privacy One Group at all,” one person told us. “I’ve checked the EU, US etc. Let me know if you find anything. Maybe it’s just a name that sounds good?”
Having done some further searching (not using Startpage, obviously!), we’ve found this Reddit conversation with about 100 comments.
“For the time being we can recommend SearX…”In summary, Privacy One Group is the very opposite of privacy, judging by the ‘upstream’ owner. It’s a mass surveillance operation, presumably for commercial reasons. Who the data gets shared with (e.g. search strings, what’s clicked and so on) we don’t know, but we must assume the worst. Oh, and just to be sure… everyone knows that DuckDuckGo (DDG) is also surveillance (and false marketing of privacy). Right? Everyone is aware, we hope. We covered this several times more than half a decade ago.
For the time being we can recommend SearX (when its pertinent instances are online, e.g. https://srx.sx/ which works at the moment but had uptime issues in recent weeks). It’s Free software as well, not just better at privacy (GNU Affero General Public License) █
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09.28.19
Posted in Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, IBM, Kernel, Marketing, Microsoft, OSDL, Red Hat at 3:33 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
The Linux Foundation (LF) business model, which revolves around marketing and openwashing, is draining the life out of Linux
Summary: Lack of devotion to Linux, the very thing that the LF is named after, is putting the project at peril; Linux is meanwhile, under the auspices of the LF and Microsoft GitHub, becoming IBM™ systemd®
HESITATION to publish this article can be attributed solely to largely speculative remarks about how Linus Torvalds thinks and feels. He has not spoken to me for a long time, though I don’t choose to interpret that as snobbery. I just don’t think he’s free to say as much as he did in the past (we corresponded even before the Linux Foundation existed).
Some time earlier this month (depending on one’s subscription/paywall status) I saw a photograph of Torvalds at LWN. I don’t see many photographs of him anymore even though I read Linux news all day long; he keeps a relatively low profile and he doesn’t make many public appearances any longer. The ‘face of Linux’ has changed. So anyway, earlier this month LWN published an article with the following photograph of Torvalds, who is only in his forties. I don’t want to ‘creep up’ and talk about his personal life, but this made me wonder if Torvalds even leaves the house much (he says he works in a bathrobe; he apparently exercises at home only, or so I’m led to assume because there’s a treadmill there); he looks older than he is in this photo. He looks/seems to have aged faster in recent years. Readers can judge for themselves. This is 2019:
5 years ago (famous picture, mirrored for comparative purposes):
Read the comments in LWN. “Is that really a photo of Torvalds on the left? Jesus, he looks like he has aged like, 20 years since 2012,” says the first comment.
“He’s not wearing glasses, looks like a very different person without them” was the unconvincing first reply. I saw him without eyeglasses many times before.
The next comment said, “bad photograph, perhaps, i saw him in 2018, he looked much younger” and immediately after that: “Was that before he took the politeness training break?”
This refers to the famous incident we’ll come to in a moment.
Out of 8 comments in total only a single comment (the one by Paul McKenney) isn’t about that photograph of Torvalds (and what it says about aging). So people were certainly taken aback.
I personally have a lot of respect for Torvalds. He’s a geek and he’s a hard-working person. Very hard-working. He typically releases Linux and its release candidates on a Sunday, sometimes even late at night or whilst on holiday. That’s dedication. It’s a 30-year (nearly 30) devotion.
Torvalds is in it for Linux.
Zemlin is in it for the money.
Microsoft is in it for sabotage.
“Zemlin is in it for the money.”The Linux Foundation is a facilitator of corporations’ power (including Microsoft’s). It may have outlived its usefulness (long ago). There’s also the IBM factor, which can give room for concern. In the 1980s we had RMS, FSF and his GNU project/manifesto. The 1990s saw media shifting all attention to Torvalds, the ‘new wunderkind’ (child prodigy) on the scene. IBM was happy to boost him as a poster child after he had made a kernel that went well with GNU (he said Linux was nothing professional like GNU). In the 2000s GNU was already ignored; “What’s that,” people might respond. “Oh….. You mean Linux!”
In the 2010s Red Hat was propping up systemd after the ‘Pulseaudio experiment’. It was introduced initially as just an init system (process number one or zero); from “nothing professional like Linux” it’s quickly turning into a replacement to most of Linux. The 2020s, in IBM’s vision (now that it owns Red Hat), might be an IBM-controlled system with very frequent releases of systemd to keep the competition always behind, always chasing IBM.
The LF has had virtually nothing to say about technical aspects and competitive aspects of the above. Nothing. It’s too busy doing what it does best: outsourcing projects to Microsoft (GitHub, where systemd too is hosted).
“Torvalds might not be in real control of the project he started almost 3 decades ago. Maybe he should consider picking his trademark and relocating elsewhere, as he did back in 2007.”Maybe it’s time to begrudgingly reach the conclusion that LF became another OSDL. A lot of people don’t know or don’t remember it, but OSDL was disbanded after it had been mostly abandoned by key Linux people. This is a matter of suppressed public record. They hated the OSDL and thought it went all wrong. It used terms like “IP” to sell services (article by John Oates), it wanted its own ‘GitHub’ (article by Ingrid Marson), it wanted Microsoft Office, and it was generally getting close to Microsoft. Sounds familiar? To quote Slashdot: “Martin Taylor, Microsoft’s general manager of platform strategy, declined to comment on the specifics of what was discussed when he met with OSDL’s CEO Stuart Cohen, only to say that they met.”
Readers have long told us that Torvalds went sort of silent or at least quiet after serving some time in the ‘penalty box’ one year ago (due to a media lynch akin to that which ousted Richard Stallman; he’s being pressured to be more 'corporate' (a 'socially-engineered' Torvalds), never use strong words, or else risk ousting). Judging by the photo above (it’s public), he might not be all that happy either. Torvalds might not be in real control of the project he started almost 3 decades ago. Maybe he should consider picking his trademark and relocating elsewhere, as he did back in 2007. Jim Zemlin and his corporate friends can carry on running their PR agency under a different name. Maybe they’ll even be asked, belatedly, to pay their taxes (if the IRS reassesses their status). “Not under my name…” █
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09.26.19
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Marketing at 8:25 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
They’re ‘coming out’
Summary: The ‘nonprofit’ PR agency whose biggest asset is the “Linux” trademark keeps misrepresenting Linux and misusing the name associated with GNU/Linux (and a lot of Free software that runs on top of it)
OVER the past few days we’ve posted a number of articles about the Linux Foundation, demonstrating just how corrupt it gradually became. It’s just an openwashing/PR operation that misuses the “Linux” trademark. Whose agenda is served by it?
Hours ago we saw this article referring in the headline to the Linux Foundation as just “Linux”. To quote: “Edge computing is one of the latest hypes in today’s tech world. As most cloud computing is managed by centralized big data centers that are owned by Amazon or IBM, the problem is that these data warehouses are located fare from the customer that uses them. Edge computing is touted as a solution to this problem by distributing computing power at the “edges” of the network, which would be physically much closer to the user.”
“They’re being assigned (and paid) to spread lies.”This is not about “Linux”; but the Linux Foundation was basically paid for PR services it offers to IOTA. It’s marketing.
Media has sadly taken a turn for the worse; in Twitter we saw people registering complaints, seeing that the Linux Foundation now literally sells tweets (which is in violation of the terms of service in Twitter). It’s important to identify and watch the misinformation agents of the Linux Foundation because not all of them work directly with the agency disguised as foundation. They’re being assigned (and paid) to spread lies. █
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09.25.19
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing, Microsoft at 4:19 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Publicity rights (or personality)
Summary: The “Linux Foundation” has nothing to do with Linux anymore; it’s just an opportunistic and tax-exempt marketing agency looking to squeeze bucks out of the Linux trademark of Linus Torvalds
THE Linux Foundation is killing the Linux brand. It’s misusing it or “lending” it to things that have nothing to do with Linux. Similarly, as an associate of ours put it this morning, Forbes has, as recently as yesterday, resorted to “brand dilution, “open-source” vs “open source”, OSI is too quiet…”
I’ve pointed this out to OSI; but they rarely respond when I raise such concerns or register complaints with them. From the article’s summary: “Open-source relies on collaboration between contributors and companies – but profits make things more difficult. Part one of two.”
“The Linux Foundation is killing the Linux brand. It’s misusing it or “lending” it to things that have nothing to do with Linux.”Notice they’re not even speaking about code! This is pure openwashing.
Yesterday we wrote about how Zemlin’s PAC had been selling (or licensing) the “Linux” brand to dying/unpopular projects (“The Corporate Linux Foundation [LF as Agent of Microsoft and Other Serial GPL Violators]”) while outsourcing almost everything to Microsoft. Thomas B. Rücker wrote in response that “LF is an industry association and pay-for-play is their raison-d’etre. At some point it was supposedly ‘just’ about paying Linus, but those days are *long* gone. A lot of the projects that get labeled “LF project”, there’s a vendor paying for this fronting. They’ve been doing this for years. I’ve seen this first hand and was privy to meetings.”
Someone has just pointed out this article to us. It’s about “LF Edge” and it says: “Two open-source foundations – IOTA Foundation working in the sphere of blockchain and the open-source Linux Foundation have come together for Edge computing, specifically the LF Edge.”
“What other ‘snake oil’ is the Linux Foundation willing to be associated with?”What does that have to do with Linux? The Corporate Linux Foundation doubles down on marketing as a business model, misusing the “Linux” brand for quick profit (never mind the dilution of the brand). A few hours ago this site published news entitled “IOTA {MIOTA} Foundation teams up with Linux; may facilitate mainstream interest” (got that? It’s about brand recognition, right?)
Nonsensical sites such as these aren’t even about Linux. To quote the summary: “IOTA is ranked at #16 above Dash but underneath Huobi Token in the market. The price declined at a rate of 11.73% in the course…”
“As for the site known as Linux.com? Forget about it. It’s ‘sold’…”What other ‘snake oil’ is the Linux Foundation willing to be associated with?
As we noted over the weekend, corporations are taking over both “Open Source” and “Linux” (their identity); Microsoft now pays people to relay the lie that Microsoft is authority or commands its competition. As for the site known as Linux.com? Forget about it. It’s ‘sold’… its soul is sold because all editors and writers got fired back in April; all that’s left is a Microsoft-friendly stenographer.
“And now we have a so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation which does more or less the same (you must create an account with Microsoft to participate in “LF” projects) while its news site, Linux.com, promotes .NET.”Welcome to Linux.com? No. Should we call it Linux.NET? Seems reasonable in light of this latest story from Swapnil (“AWS Joins the .NET Foundation”). Whose agenda is being served here? What does that even have to do with Linux?
Need we mention again how the ‘Linux’ Foundation outsources pretty much everything to Microsoft? The code is hosted by a proprietary software platform called GitHub and check out what Pete Zaitcev (Linux developer) published only hours ago:
A job at LinkedIn [owned by Microsoft] in my area includes the following instruction statement:
Don’t apply if you can’t really write code and don’t have a github profile. This is a job for an expert level coder.
I remember the simpler times when LWN authors fretted about the SourceForge monopoly capturing all FLOSS projects.
P.S. For the record, I do have a profile at Github. It is required in order to contribute to RDO, because it is the only way to login in their Gerrit and submit patches for review. Ironically, Fedora offers a single sign-on with FAS and RDO is a Red Hat sponsored project, but nope — it’s easier to force contributors into Github.
We previously covered examples where sponsorship or invitation to events was limited only to those with a GitHub account, i.e. those imprisoned by proprietary software of Microsoft. It’s totally absurd. And now we have a so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation which does more or less the same (you must create an account with Microsoft to participate in “LF” projects) while its news site, Linux.com, promotes .NET. █
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09.12.19
Posted in GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing at 7:04 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Lie and spy” – surely the steward of the Linux trademark could do better than that!
Summary: The marketing agency that controls the name “Linux” is hardly showing any interest in technology or in journalism; it’s just buying media coverage for sponsors and this is what it boils down to for the most part (at great expense)
THE Linux Foundation (LF) Inc. — a tax-exempt PR firm that sells media coverage — is ‘on a roll’…
An LF event has just kicked off (big money!), Cloud Foundry Summit. Its ‘media operatives’ are at this event, based on puff pieces and tweets.
“An event has just kicked off (big money!), Cloud Foundry Summit.”A day later, after this press release from LF Swapnil and other media operatives of the Foundation produce puff pieces based on this press release. It’s all bought and paid for.
“If proprietary software companies pay them, they’ll cheers for them.”This thing they call “reactive foundation” is more openwashing of surveillance, so it’s hardly surprising to see Swapnil and other Linux Foundation-connected sites such as DevOps.com participating. A day earlier these LF partners smeared FOSS as usual (this is their business model; they also do it for the LF’s client Snyk) and we’re not even surprised anymore. If proprietary software companies pay them, they’ll cheers for them. But FOSS? No. Nicht. In fact, they actively attack FOSS, as we noted yesterday morning.
As a side note, Linux.com (now edited only by Swapnil) has malware in all of its pages now. Google Analytics (JavaScript spyware, proprietary software) is being run on the client side of all visitors. But again, this is what you expect from a GAFAM-sponsored ‘Linux’ Foundation. In fact, the same is true for Swapnil’s personal site (malware in all of its pages).
“Suffice to say, there are underlying technical and legal reasons to avoid GAFAM. Not just moral arguments.”Go ahead and try to lecture these people on freedom. They treat freedom as a disease or a form of radicalism because it doesn’t pay their bills. They take money from freedom-hostile companies to buy positive media coverage for them. LF just sets up the platforms and “media kits”.
Suffice to say, there are underlying technical and legal reasons to avoid GAFAM. Not just moral arguments.
Corporate media, however, having received funding from proprietary software monopolies (through proxies like LF), tries to distract us from all that. Because a lot of today’s media is corrupt; it’s paid to do this. LF is an intermediately or facilitator. █
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09.11.19
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, FUD, GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft at 5:12 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Snyk is an anti-FOSS company (or snake), but the Web site called Linux.com is promoting it
Summary: As the Linux Foundation transitions into the Public Relations (PR) industry/domain we should accept if not expect Linux.com to become an extension of PR business models; the old Linux.com is long gone (all staff fired)
THE silence surrounding the layoffs in Linux.com (all staff writers and all editors fired) is rather mysterious, especially when one compares that to outpouring eulogies for Linux Journal (for the second time in about two years because it got ‘bailed out’ the first time). Do people not care about Linux.com? It has been around for over 2 decades, as a news source for nearly 2 decades (compared to 25 years of Linux Journal). Why was Techrights the only site/blog that mentioned these layoffs (which were totally not necessary)? That very much resembles what happened to European Patent Office (EPO) coverage. What compels people to not take note of totally noteworthy and newsworthy events?
Linux.com passed through some hands over the years. We chronicled that in some screenshots extracted from the Wayback Machine. It was around the time we published “The 'New' Linux.com Sometimes Feels Like a Microsoft Promotion Site“.
The shift in focus is hardly surprising. Might even say it was “well overdue” or “just a matter of time…” (like removal of any remnants of “community” from the Linux Foundation).
“The shift in focus is hardly surprising.”Remember that it was only in ~2000 (i.e. 9 years after Linux became known or came out to the public), based on publicly-accessible interviews, that Jim Zemlin ‘discovered’ this thing called “Linux” (never mind GNU; it had already been ‘erased’ from history after years of revisionism).
No, he didn’t actually use it.
He’s a marketing person.
He discovered “Linux” was hot and as a marketing person (people who look for ‘buzz’) he decided to exploit the brand.
Zemlin isn’t technical, by his very own admission (made upfront in an interview with Swapnil; he doesn’t want to be asked technical questions); he has been quiet and has been keeping a low profile lately; not hard to guess why…
Zemlin just leveraged the “Linux” trademark to create his “marketing firm”; the site of Zemlin’s firm now makes it very clear that this thing called “Linux” Foundation isn’t about Linux anymore. He also consults non-Linux companies ‘on the side’.
“Zemlin just leveraged the “Linux” trademark to create his “marketing firm”; the site of Zemlin’s firm now makes it very clear that this thing called “Linux” Foundation isn’t about Linux anymore. He also consults non-Linux companies ‘on the side’.”“Seems Black Duck FUD against copyleft has found a new home at Linux Foundation,” Simon Phipps wrote two and a half years ago (it was already getting that bad), referring to a Microsoft-connected firm similar to Snyk. Snyk and Black Duck are both connected to Microsoft. They’re also connected to the Linux Foundation and the sole editor of Linux.com (see screenshot at the top). This sort of selection of editor is a perfect fit for Linux Foundation sponsors such as VMware and Microsoft, which he's openwashing and whitewashing (reputation laundering). Hardly surprising that after firing all the site’s staff — people who actually promote and use GNU/Linux — they’d put such a person in charge to dish links (sometimes to his own Web site or Microsoft’s sites).
Look at Linux.com right now. Top of page? There’s a special feature… linking to a Microsoft PR agent in ZDNet, connecting Stallman to Microsoft. Why was this put at the very top? My wife and I remember when the site used to be about Linux (like the name of the site and the domain name); we fondly followed this site as a source of news for many years. The wife says it would be better to just suspend or shut down Linux.com than to run it like that. The site actually used to be about GNU/Linux. It’s sad to say this, but Linux.com does more against Linux than for it (archives of the site, i.e. old articles, notwithstanding or not accounted for).
“It’s sad to say this, but Linux.com does more against Linux than for it (archives of the site, i.e. old articles, notwithstanding or not accounted for).”We’re meanwhile concerned about the openwashing site of Swapnil. That site is copy-pasting-editing press releases to manufacture fake ‘articles’ (example from last night; compare text to this press release; another article from last night was entitled “Red Hat Quay 3.1 Features Repository Mirroring”; it’s just ‘copypasta’ of a press release, mildly edited to make this fake ‘article’ seem original).
This amounts to integrity zero. Just what’s expected from a courier of Jim Zemlin and his openwashing PAC (essentially a tax-exempt PR firm). If they had lost their tax status (having become something else over the past decade), Big Sponsors like Microsoft and VMware would have to increase their ‘contributions’ (lobbying, buying seats etc.), right?
Linux.com after all staff got fired is not a news site. They link to openwashing press release (example from last night) and won’t produce original articles…
A salad of ‘marketeering’ nonsense. How shallow. This is what’s killing genuine journalism.
“A salad of ‘marketeering’ nonsense.”Swapnil’s site is a PR and ‘copypasta’ mill… which sometimes receives links (by Swapnil himself) in Linux.com. Last night Swapnil promoted a Microsoft proxy that attacks Linux. In Linux.com as if the site is an enemy of Linux and ally of Linux enemies. It linked to a puff piece from Globes (financial press in the firm’s country). His site then prepared some ‘PR’ for them in his Web site; so did some other media sites, e.g. [1, 2] (readers alerted us about these promotions of a FUD firm, with “open source” in the headline).
GNU/Linux advocates, users and developers ought to feel very much entitled to be furious at the “Linux” Foundation, which is misrepresentation of their interests… for a profit. This same so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation works against the licence of Linux and outsources lots of stuff to Microsoft (GitHub). One day GitHub will shut down (it’s inevitable) and many developers will lose ‘their’ platform against their will. █
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