04.07.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 10:10 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Linux is everywhere, sometimes with GNU, whereas racist Microsoft is gradually going away despite corporate bailouts
Windows at an all-time low, as plotted hours ago (Android is in amber, with market share of almost 42%)
Summary: Although the corporate media keeps insisting that Microsoft is doing well, government (or military) bailouts keep the company afloat while its desperate attempts to remain relevant (as the common carrier languishes) merit a debate
THE corporate media is at this very moment helping Microsoft attack Java as it did before. Well, .NET was a complete and utter failure in spite of all the openwashing and IBM/Red Hat tried propping up C# earlier this week (whilst attacking the FSF and its founder), which says a lot about IBM…
“The future is Free software and many nefarious attacks on Free software. Why? Because it’s the market leader.”In any event, a quick look at StatCounter reminded me of the trend; every now and then Microsoft offers ‘free’ giveaways of Vista 10, perhaps knowing (based on telemetry surveillance) how bad things really are for Windows…
GNU/Linux is a growing force. Sure, they’ll try to limit users’ freedom on it (Snaps, Flakpak, systemd, Chrome OS and so on), but vocal users will fight back and demand freedom. The future is Free software and many nefarious attacks on Free software. Why? Because it’s the market leader. Even Android is Free/libre at its very core (the kernel) and the whole API issue seems like a thing of the past. It’s based on Java. Microsoft could never kill Java or take control of it; but it keeps trying. █
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03.13.21
Posted in Deception, FUD, GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Servers, Windows at 6:18 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link
Summary: There seems to be a deliberately misleading campaign seeking to associate “Linux” with something about “malware” in “China”; the real “malware” or “China” (not really) news is actually about Microsoft and Windows
THREE days ago I began to notice distraction tactics or Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) tactics, seemingly aimed at distracting the public from the real news and set focus on some phony non-news, namely that old and unmaintained servers are a security risk. They just are. If you’re using something that has been out of support for years, that’s just bound to happen, no matter what operating system is used…
“Is this an ongoing ‘googlebombing’ campaign?”At the moment Microsoft risks losing perhaps hundreds of millions if not billions of dollars in contracts. IT departments put forth proposals to dump Microsoft, not just for Web servers (IIS is dying) but also for E-mail servers, maybe a lot more! Corporate media shoots its own foot in a major way by helping liars from Microsoft blame everyone but themselves for what’s happening right now to Exchange “Servers” [sic] and more shameless is the media campaign, led partly by Microsoft-connected sites, to associate “Linux” with something about “malware” in “China”. Is this an ongoing ‘googlebombing’ campaign? Or just a timely coincidence? We’ll leave it for readers to decide, but watchers of the video can see my findings, which I’ve accumulated and shared for 3 days now. █
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01.29.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Servers, Windows at 4:17 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link
Summary: Looking at the raw figures, courtesy of Netcraft (which has long tracked those sorts of things), it seems abundantly clear that IIS will be abandoned sooner or later and in order to still seem relevant Microsoft pretends that it “loves” (i.e. wishes to control) what’s rapidly replacing it
THE VIDEO above deals with a subject long explored here, more so during the first lock-down (spring of 2020). Many companies, with their staff working ‘offsite’, seem to have moved off Microsoft/IIS, belatedly saving money and improving reliability/availability/uptime.
“It’s getting rather difficult to name any high-profile sites that still (in 2021) run IIS.”Let’s face it: no solid CMS exists for or is being actively maintained/developed for Microsoft frameworks. When it comes to Web servers, Microsoft long ago lost the fight. Some estimates we saw earlier this week said GNU/Linux has 90% or more of this market. Much of the rest is probably BSD or some UNIX that needs replacing (because it’s severely outdated).
When it comes to active sites (what actually matters), Microsoft’s share is becoming rather miniscule and that number is probably a lot lower if one considers top sites (e.g. as measured in terms of reach/traffic). It’s getting rather difficult to name any high-profile sites that still (in 2021) run IIS.
So, Microsoft’s IIS share (active sites) has collapsed another 4 percent in just one month. One month. This is part of an ongoing trend which further sped up or accelerated during the pandemic. While Microsoft makes claims and allusions to “Clown Computing” (to pretend there is growth by reclassifying old stuff) the matter of fact is that there are many layoffs and issues. They're going nowhere fast.
From the latest survey of servers:
Microsoft observed the largest drop of 2.2 million domains, while nginx and Apache lost 903,000 and 303,000. This resulted in a small loss of market share for all three, the largest drop being seen by Microsoft which fell 0.8 percentage points to 6.3%.
Steve Ballmer, back in September 2008, said that “[f]orty percent of servers run Windows, 60 percent run Linux…”
He probably meant Web servers. Well, right now Microsoft is somewhere near a tenth of that. At this point it becomes almost financially un-viable to carry on. The costs of maintaining this thing likely outweigh/surpass the gains/income.
Maybe one day in the future Microsoft will put IIS in some “Arctic Vault” somewhere. But of course IIS is proprietary software, i.e. secret code, pretty much like everything else of any significance, contrary to the false narrative of Microsoft becoming “open” (e.g. by buying a proprietary prison that besieges Free software, namely proprietary GitHub). █
“Microsoft has had clear competitors in the past. It’s good that we have museums to document them.”
–Bill Gates March 10th, 2005
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01.24.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 6:07 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“There’s a lot of Linux out there — much more than Microsoft generally signals publicly — and their customers are using it…”
–Paul DeGroot, a Directions On Microsoft analyst
Video download link
Summary: Contrary to what some publishers try to tell us, GNU/Linux is still growing and mostly at the expense of Windows
IT has been getting very cold here again (almost minus five, on the centigrade scale, i.e. a lot lower than usual) and I’m losing my voice again. So pardon my sipping of tea throughout this video. It’s a priority to keep producing regardless of side factors, including illness (last month).
“This is probably noteworthy as mainstream media, deep in the pockets of companies such as Apple and Microsoft, won’t entertain such observations.”The video speaks of GNU/Linux market share on desktops/laptops, Android and Chrome OS aside (it’s a lot higher if those too are counted). Anyone can download the data from the site in question or use this copy (granted, however, just like the Steam gamers’ survey, this one does not count privacy-conscious or freedom-aware users) and look at prior charts from the same source. We use that as a rough reference to assess some trends, especially now that there are lock-downs.
The main takeaway or the key point is that since 2009 (earliest available data point) GNU/Linux market share grew a great deal and based on this one survey/source it is now at a new all-time high (higher than in 2015). This is probably noteworthy as mainstream media, deep in the pockets of companies such as Apple and Microsoft, won’t entertain such observations. There’s nothing to be gained (financially) from such stories. █
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01.20.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Windows at 7:59 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Intel Inside®? No, Microsoft inside. Shoehorned using buzzwords and marketing hype.
Summary: The video above is continuation of the previous part about a document full of superficial buzzwords (not technical jargon anywhere), in effect recommending to managers that they blindly follow trends and cargo cults (such as Clown Computing) and not what’s most suitable for technical excellence
THE sorts of material we receive from and about Intel is embarrassingly shallow. The company has put its future in the ends of clueless clowns, who are better at reciting buzzwords and putting together fancy presentations at the expense of technical arguments.
“Intel is pivoting towards Microsoft also for clown computing,” told us a former Intel insider, “because Amazon, Oracle and other clown companies are moving towards (their own) ARM processors for their respective clowns [and] at least with Microsoft they will be able to sell their processors for running backdoored servers and desktops in the clown…”
We’ve already heard all about the backlash at Intel. They’re being pushed around by people who instead of striving to make better products basically cheat the market.
To give an example, the former insider quotes European authorities as saying: “First, according to the contested decision, Intel awarded four OEMs, namely Dell, Lenovo, HP and NEC, rebates which were conditioned on these OEMs purchasing all or almost all of their x86 CPUs from Intel. Similarly, Intel awarded payments to MSH, which were conditioned on MSH selling exclusively computers containing Intel’s x86 CPUs.”
“But Intel has changed logos,” I jokingly responded, “so all is forgotten now…”
Here’s an article about the slap-on-the-wrist fines, noting that Intel “paid retail stores rebates to only stock x86 parts.”
“competing on merit my ***,” said the former insider. Ryan noted that “Intel-based laptops have gotten MUCH cheaper lately.” Increased competition tends to lead to that and Intel never tolerated competition. It has this in common with Microsoft. “Lenovo knocked the $1,500 Thinkbooks down to like $850,” Ryan added, as “probably Intel and Microsoft had to lower their prices significantly. There’s just not much more you can do with a Windows computer these days than with anyone else’s.”
The latest news suggests that Intel will lose some of its biggest clients. This will be a boon to GNU/Linux and hardware from Chinese firms (with or without back doors, which Intel has anyway).
Big blow to Intel, do doubt…
The video above does not deal with the fluff Intel commissioned or paid for; instead it speaks in more general terms about the aimlessness of the company, driving away its talent while pulling in Microsoft’s orbit (and then imposing it on GNU/Linux developers).
This document which we show here (HRI tools analysis report) is a research report from a 3rd party to Intel, in effect “recommending Microsoft/proprietary tools,” including “the recommendation to partner with Microsoft,” according to a source. We’ll come to this at a later stage and discuss the ramifications. In the meantime we can dwell in the superficiality and lack of insight. █
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01.18.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Windows at 2:42 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link (see this series’ index for more)
Summary: Things aren’t rosy at Intel because the hires aren’t suitable for the job of documenting and/or presenting GNU/Linux-centric products (whose target audience is Free software developers)
THE situation at Intel seems grim because everywhere one looks there are Microsoft boosters who deal with GNU/Linux like it’s just Windows. They don’t understand GNU/Linux and probably never used it.
This is clearly a recipe for disaster.
“…Intel is choosing Microsoft, not GNU/Linux, and Intel snubs software freedom except when it needs openwashing PR perks, shoehorned for money by the Linux Foundation (another faker full of people who never even used Linux).”Before we proceed to the second ‘phase’ of this series — a phase that deals with other kinds of documents — we explain in some brevity the sort of scenario GNU/Linux professionals find themselves in when they work for Intel. They’re basically surrounded if not besieged by people who don’t understand Free software and don’t even wish to understand it. They impose bad practices on everybody else and it should come as no surprise that many skilled and experienced developers are leaving (I personally know two who left last year).
As we shall show in the next so-called ‘phase’, Intel is choosing Microsoft, not GNU/Linux, and Intel snubs software freedom except when it needs openwashing PR perks, shoehorned for money by the Linux Foundation (another faker full of people who never even used Linux).
Intel is risking becoming a fossil, circling down the abyss of irrelevance. Hours ago Phoronix published “Itanium IA-64 Was Busted In The Upstream, Default Linux Kernel Build The Past Month,” saying that:
While Intel formally discontinued the Itanium processors just under two years ago, the Linux software support for IA-64 continues. However, as a possible sign of the times, the Linux 5.11 kernel build for it has been broken the past month.
As what might set off Linus Torvalds on a Monday morning, it turns out since the Linux 5.11 merge window the Itanium “IA64″ kernel code has been broken and unable to even successfully carry out a “defconfig” default configuration kernel build. This wasn’t due to some foreign change within the kernel regressing the support but a change made by IBM to the IA64 Kconfig to enable SPARSEMEM by default.
The world is moving past the Intel monopoly (and by extension x86). The Wintel monoculture won’t save Intel anymore because this monoculture too is rapidly eroding, becoming perhaps a mere niche some time later in this decade. █
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01.17.21
Posted in GNU/Linux, Microsoft, Windows at 6:47 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link (see this series’ index for more)
Summary: A look inside Intel explains what holds back the technical team, which bemoans the lesser technical people getting in the way and not even using the product that they are writing about
THE GEEKS at Intel aren’t having an easy time. They’re being made to work or ‘cooperate’ with people who mostly get in their way, justifying their very existence using biased ‘studies’ which they themselves control. The resentment isn’t due to jealousy or zealotry; it’s due to issues of a technical nature and there’s reluctance to actually listen to technical people. The net effect is, Intel products and documentation of those products suffer. The end users (or developers) suffer.
This issue isn’t unlike many that we’ve seen in other companies. Non-technical or barely technical people are made to enter positions of power, in turn driving out the real talent and leaving in place unsuitable people who aren’t able to produce good products. If the real goal is to seed disharmony and harm products (or projects), then well done, mission accomplished. The Developer eXperience (DX) team seems to be self-harming… to Intel.
“I find it difficult to understand Intel’s line of reasoning when it comes to hiring people for DX,” told us a person who knows Intel from the inside, “as the company where I worked in mixed Linux/Unix/Windows environments gave adequate training to new hires to fill any gaps in Linux knowledge and skills.”
He continued: “I also always made sure to test scripts and code in the environment they were supposed to run in in order to minimise the chance of bugs occurring and to get as close to the customer environment as possible. This really helped when working on solutions to problems, so it is disappointing to see Intel not having similar levels of documentation and support.
“Intel doesn’t seem to see the urgency in doing this and it makes you question if they don’t want that training effort to be made. This in turn will lead to more people with a Microsoft background being employed until there are few if any people with GNU/Linux skills left.
“Last but not least I realise now that it is a good thing that the people who do the actual technical work should also be the ones writing the documentation, even if this takes time away from doing other technical work.”
The rest of this series can be found in the relevant wiki page. The video above deals with only a few examples (more to come tomorrow). █
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01.04.21
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, Hardware, Microsoft, Windows at 2:05 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Summary: GNU/Linux developers inside Intel are being surrounded by non-technical and harmful employees; it’s as if Intel wants to merely pretend that it supports “Linux” when all it really supports is Microsoft
The series was preceded by an introduction and part I, which was a bit of a deliberate spoiler. Part II has the first actual leaks in it. Today we dive a little deeper and explain the scandal at hand.
Have a look at this:
“Looks like whatever they’re building is remarkably fragile and they’re bringing a Windows mentality to Linux where you should pay consultants to work on a program targeting already-rotten software as if it will never become unsupported,” Ryan noted in IRC some moments ago.
But wait, it’s going to get worse as we dive yet deeper. They not only adopt a “Windows mentality”; they wish to outsource the whole shebang to Microsoft. That’s the subject of future parts.
“Microsoft is still fostering this mindset with LTSC versions of Windows 10,” Ryan explained, “which are quite different than consumer ones. Companies are so resistant to change that even the built-in components that are being deprecated and removed in favor of Universal Windows Platform on other SKUs still have the legacy components in LTSC. Even the calculator. Because you move even the smallest thing around, and something breaks. LTSC doesn’t even have UWP, so the name is misleading. If you build a Universal Windows App, it will not work at all on Windows 10 LTSC. Which is because the UWP runtime and the Windows store are trash and corporations know that. The Win32 “Classic” API is actually far more capable, and Microsoft doesn’t want to admit it.”
How about this:
Or this:
Sometimes you must wonder why companies insist on outsourcing to Microsoft (GitHub), perhaps forgetting that many important decisions aren’t being made by geeks with a clue but by clueless nontechnical managers and so-called ‘consultants’ who may be covertly working for cults such as Microsoft. █
“Working behind the scenes to orchestrate “independent” praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy’s, is a key evangelism function during the Slog. “Independent” analyst’s report should be issued, praising your technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). “Independent” consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). “Independent” academic sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money granted). “Independent” courseware providers should start profiting from their early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should be sought and turned to our advantage.”
–Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
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