Microsoft is Aiming for the Destruction of All Free Software
In their own words:
Diversionary tactics, holding action, and retreats may each seem contrary to the achievement of the overall objective when considered solely in their own terms, but taken in light of the overall conflict, may contribute to overall success. In the Chinese Civil War that followed World War II, Mao Tse Tung's Army ran away from every battle, until they won the war. They knew that overall victory, not local victory, was the objective.
Thus it is imperative to measure each action in accordance with its contribution to overall, not just local, victory.
Victory
"A computer on every desk and in every home, running Microsoft software." This is the mission statement of Microsoft itself; it is the definition of the conditions under which Microsoft itself can declare overall victory.
--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]
The next few days will be "controversial". Over the next 2-3 days we'll relay older (around 2022) articles from Daniel Pocock, who had volunteered for Mozilla, Fedora, Debian, GSoC etc. When he spoke out about abuse inside the FSF-EEE the retaliation against him was swift and super-harsh.
As a person who has been involved as an active contributor to Free software since the 1990s, Mr. Pocock understands the corrosive impact and harm done not just by Microsoft but also IBM and Google. They only look to serve themselves and, at the end of the day, their cash cows are proprietary software.
What we're going through right now isn't "conventional" war but an information war. They try hard to censor people who tell inconvenient truths. They try to silence/hide and even deplatform sites that present evidence. That's easier than to actually refute the arguments, and it's faster than ad hominem attacks (years dragging a person through the mud).
Suicides are a sensitive subject. Exposing war crimes is also difficult. But blinding ourselves to reality isn't an option.
Microsoft continues to attack the Free software movement. It's sort of a "hybrid" war and Microsoft's war "special operation" has enlisted participants with overlapping agendas, including IBM. It's a sad reality, more so considering the allegiances of Microsoft and of IBM in the SCO lawsuit.
Our goal should not be for Novell or IBM (or Red Hat) to "win" because corporations aren't our flag bearers. If some corporations want to adopt and help develop community-run and community-managed Free software, then fine! Welcome! So be it!
What we've seen in recent years is Microsoft buying GitHub to exercise control over many projects and developers. At the same time IBM et al weaponised a Code of Censorship to marginalise and sometimes remove project founders, rendering the projects temporarily orphaned and then adopted (stolen) by those corporations. Because "nobody is perfect". Apparently the Linux Foundation's chief, who never wrote code, has replaced Torvalds and stories in support of GNU's founder are to be censored by Reddit.
The enemy isn't one single company. It's a mindset of pillage and plunder.
Don't give up; don't let the plunderers get away with it (and with our collective work). Keep on fighting. Because the saboteurs certainly do, and they do that for a salary. █
