Yesterday: Microsoft Azure and Back/Bug Doors in GNU/Linux: Fool Me Once (Shame on You) / Fool Me Twice (Shame on Me) | Trusting Microsoft With Security is a Clown Show
In the news (when they say “Linux” they actually mean Windows):
Summary: Microsoft is just cementing its status as little but an NSA stooge
Video download link | md5sum ea4893af387306b6eb8e46e9d2d32748
Summary: Linux is 30, Android is Linux-based, and Windows is smaller than Android in terms of market share; but the biggest challenge right now is bringing software freedom to more people
EVERYBODY has been speaking about Linux turning 30 (although the actual anniversary of importance is debatable, as Alex Oliva explained last week).
“…Android is one of the Linux-based operating systems that harm one’s privacy and freedom (even if AOSP is mostly Free software) because it comes with loads of proprietary “apps” and typically tracks locations.”No doubt Linux “has won” so to speak; but Linux is not software freedom, it is just a GPL-licensed kernel which many freedom-respecting operating systems use for practical/pragmatic reasons (Linux has very extensive hardware support that is almost impossible to match). As noted in the video above, Android is one of the Linux-based operating systems that harm one’s privacy and freedom (even if AOSP is mostly Free software) because it comes with loads of proprietary “apps” and typically tracks locations (see “Google’s Software is Malware”).
The Linux (or GNU linux-libre) work by Oliva mostly involves ‘taming’ Linux to make it more freedom-respecting, in turn allowing freedom-oriented distros to avoid the more malicious parts of Linux. Oliva’s work is invaluable!
“The Linux (or GNU linux-libre) work by Oliva mostly involves ‘taming’ Linux to make it more freedom-respecting, in turn allowing freedom-oriented distros to avoid the more malicious parts of Linux.”In the video above I’ve repeatedly alluded to how ubiquitous Android became (one might say “popular”, but that’s not the same thing). Android news is everywhere, all the time, very likely outpacing Windows ‘news’ (mostly paid-for vapourware and puff pieces) because billions of people care about their phones and tablets more than laptops and desktops. There are also tons of anniversary articles about Linux, including some from Android-focused news sites. There’s growing recognition that Linux “has won” in some sense or some senses.
At whose expense?
Mostly Windows!
Microsoft is doing so poorly that it’s buying vendors and rebranding them “Azure” (in order to fake 'growth'), pretending that Azure is somehow an “operating system” now (it is not; they also reused the brand "Surface" in this way). Things have gotten so bad for Microsoft that we caught Windows at 28% market share earlier this year (here’s the latest data in OpenDocument format) and right now it’s still hovering around 30% while Microsoft constantly makes false claims about its market power, in effect defrauding shareholders. Here’s Android/Linux versus Windows, as per the end of August; if Android is combined with ChromeOS and GNU/Linux (“proper”), we’re talking about something close to 50% market share. █
Video download link | md5sum 5514dec2e40d846f250bd081d4da160c
Summary: “Defender” is to Microsoft just a Monopoly Defender; as it turns out, Microsoft rapidly loses its monopoly power/rents (this is the main subject of the video) and now it wants to put “Defender” even in GNU/Linux (we suppose just to censor software on other platforms as well, based on what Microsoft deems “safe”)
THE monopoly of Windows is waning, but the abuses of Windows have not ended. Moreover, it corrupts and infects the media. Money is being used to manipulate so-called ‘news’ sites.
Following this morning's charts about Microsoft's version inflation (Vista 10+1) I’ve decided to do a quick video, which ended up much longer than I had expected. It’s not a repetition of what’s of the text but rather a discussion of the tough situation Microsoft has found itself in — to the point of blocking parts of LibreOffice and other software in Windows. Here is a screenshot Ryan took last night (more information and further context in the video). █
Ryan: “I had it delete a help pack for LibreOffice even. Downloads QBittorrent and LibreOffice….Microsoft Defender: “AWOOGA! AWOOGA!!!! RED ALERT! SHIELDS TO MAXIMUM!”.” It would be worse than foolish to make LibreOffice dependent on a manipulative censorship network of this LibreOffice enemy, Microsoft, but check out this somewhat irrational post from yesterday; what next? Selling keynote slots to Microsoft?
There’s no potent strategy for restoring the monopoly on desktops/laptops
On desktops/laptops, put aside mobile devices and servers, Windows is perpetually declining (original dataset as ODF file)
Median of Windows market share (%) on desktops/laptops, over time (year-month)
Summary: Across all form factors, Windows may already have less than 30% of the overall share, but even on desktops/laptops in isolation Microsoft has quite a crisis and no signs of turnaround/recovery
TAKING into account some figures with caveats, ‘classic’ GNU/Linux is already on about 3% of desktops/laptops, not even counting Chrome OS and other forms which count differently (or don’t get counted at all, e.g. “Unknown” at over 8% of the whole), it’s hardly surprising that Microsoft is attempting new (but still-failing) attacks on GNU/Linux with strategies akin to E.E.E. Too many ridiculous ‘news’ sites are presenting Vista 11 like it’s something that 1) already exists, is final etc. 2) not just a marketing slant/media propaganda campaign to rebrand Vista 10. It’s Vista all over again. We’ve seen it before!
Those shameless puff pieces (a Vista 11 PR onslaught, or media with vapourware placements 24/7 for 2-3 weeks) came at a convenient time for Microsoft because there were many simultaneous scandals/blunders to distract from.
“The graphs above (with source data) tell a story.”There are old sayings along the lines of, what hurts them most they will try to hide or distract from. Vista 11, we believe, is generally seen as a much-needed distraction from the disaster Windows has had since Vista. Internally? An empty promise for morale boost. The graphs above (with source data) tell a story. █
“If you can’t make it good, at least make it look good.”
–Bill Gates, Microsoft
Related (old): Negative Review of MS Surface Published, Microsoft Contacts Blogger and Has It Removed
So-called ‘upgrade’ to Vista 11 = Vista 10 + paid-for media hype (PR/marketing and censorship of dissenting/objective views) + additional restrictions (vendor lock-in)
Summary: Microsoft’s expensive vapourware marketing campaign (whitewash or powercycle of Vista 10) isn’t going according to plan
THERE is not much to say about Vista 11 (notice we’ve barely mentioned it, even in Daily Links) because it’s mostly a branding move. It’s designed and timed to cover up Vista 10′s failures amongst other things.
Yes, Vista 10 and the “version inflation” (“11″) are pretty much the same thing. Under the hood it’s the same spaghetti. We saw that before with Vista and the hyped-up “7″, which boiled down to a massive media propaganda campaign. Including bribed bloggers.
“If you’re still using Windows, give GNU/Linux a go; it’s free and if you like it, then you can keep it perpetually.”As always, we strongly urge people to examine real alternatives, including GNU/Linux distros (Apple is just a brand change). In technical terms, freedom aspects put aside, GNU/Linux has been ahead of Windows for well over a decade. We put together some video demos of GNU/Linux about 13 years ago in this page. A lot of things have improved since then and in terms of functionality KDE is vastly ahead of Windows (Microsoft only ever copies all the good features — stuff already inherent and integrated into GNU/Linux distros). If you’re still using Windows, give GNU/Linux a go; it’s free and if you like it, then you can keep it perpetually. It will also respect your freedom, which is something money cannot buy.
With keyloggers, “telemetry” and other malicious ‘features’ (like listening devices) becoming ‘standard practice’ in the proprietary world we need to urge people to make the switch. The sooner, the better. Our dignity sometimes depends on our peers’ choice of technology. We need to eradicate malicious technology and if the companies that make such technology collapse, then so be it and good riddance. █
KDE does far more and costs nothing:
Video download link | md5sum abae31beaaf4edf1877fa381600ebe98
Summary: The rapid decline of Microsoft, Windows and IIS in servers is undeniable; it’s just a damn shame that corporate and so-called ‘tech’ media never writes about this subject
EARLIER today the “July 2021 Web Server Survey” was released, stating that “[t]“he number of websites powered by Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Services) fell by 1.92 million to 51.6 million this month. These sites are spread across 13.5 million unique domains and use several different versions of IIS.”
It then goes into a long ramble about IIS versions and Azure, which is failing (there are even layoffs). Microsoft is nowadays trying to become a Web host, seeing that as a provider of web-hosting software it is failing very fast. That’s also why Microsoft bought a bunch of companies such as GitHub, hoping to somehow leverage control/power over developers (they moved away from there as well).
“Right now the strategy of Microsoft is a hostile takeover of alternatives to Microsoft.”In the video above I show that Microsoft was delisted from almost all the tables due to its irrelevance (miniscule market share).
It’s likely that Microsoft’s “Plan B” or contigency would be to hijack the competitors. It is a classic Microsoft move and it is the reason Microsoft ambushed GitHub for a takeover since 2014. It’s a very malicious cult that presents itself as a company. Jeremy Stretch has just published this article entitled “Corporate Participation in the Open Source Community” and he seems to be unaware of the risks of Corporate Takeover. This article mentions GitHub as if it is something desirable, but it is a hostile abduction of projects to undermine the freedom of software and to interfere with communities (giving Microsoft control over them). This obsession with business at the expense of communities (like Microsoft’s meddling in NGINX and other projects, even Apache) is something that needs both explaining and understanding. Right now the strategy of Microsoft is a hostile takeover of alternatives to Microsoft. We can’t let them do it. Just go away and leave us all alone. You’ve done more than enough damage. █
Summary: In order to entrap GNU/Linux users or to send them Microsoft’s way Microsoft has secured some strategic alliances with companies that were all along supposed to compete with Microsoft; antitrust officials seem to be M.I.A.
SABOTAGE by Microsoft has long been the modus operandi, combined with cult tactics like charming and bribing decision-makers and public officials. Microsoft is basically a criminal operation; but it doesn’t want people to see that. It spends a lot of money for people not to notice.
Check out the following from Microsoft (yes, officially):
“Give this a read then try to find it on Google,” told us the person who had sent it along. “It’s been scrubbed since I’ve started pointing this out with regard to anti-trust and my links to it are broken now. This behavior is anti-trust AF and I’m going to start reaching out about it now that I know they’re concerned. [...] Them scrubbing this post shows that they’re afraid of it being realized.”
But the reason we are writing this post is actually this this new press release from Canonical (“Canonical recognized as a 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year finalist”), followed very soon afterwards by shallow puff pieces like this one (“Ubuntu Linux-maker Canonical is 2021 Microsoft Partner of the Year finalist”).
Microsoft has been grooming Canonical like this for quite some time instead of buying Canonical, raising antitrust stink. Canonical has been spying on potential clients in cahoots with Microsoft, promoting Windows (WSL), and working for the company that is attacking us in various other ways.
Why are they so openly bragging about being associated with gangsters who use political corruption to incite against rivals even though Microsoft is a lot worse and much more deserving of antitrust scrutiny, including split-up? This ought to make people think twice before installing Ubuntu, choosing it either for a server or a desktop. Has Mark Shuttleworth (MS) become part of the other MS? Has he sold out to the schoolyard bully? █
“That’s extortion and we should call it what it is. To say, as Ballmer did, that there is undisclosed balance sheet liability, that’s just extortion and we should refuse to get drawn into that game.”
–Mark Shuttleworth
“Microsoft is asking people to pay them for patents, but they won’t say which ones. If a guy walks into a shop and says: “It’s an unsafe neighbourhood, why don’t you pay me 20 bucks and I’ll make sure you’re okay,” that’s illegal. It’s racketeering.”
–Mark Shuttleworth
The next version will fix everything, always
Summary: Microsoft wants you to know that the solution to all your problems is right around the corner; just stay with Windows…
Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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