Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Fall of the Open Source Initiative (OSI): An Introduction

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Mar 04, 2025,
updated Mar 04, 2025

3d animation of the human skeleton in the gold bullion

In a nutshell: there's a massive conflict inside the OSI and the OSI stooges (staff serving Big Sponsors like Microsoft) try to hide it

Open Source Initiative (OSI) ENTRYISM, a Lobbyist of Microsoft

A DAY before yesterday we received a ton of information from informants, whistleblowers, and former insiders. Yesterday we published an introductory part and said we'd kick things off later that day or the day after (i.e. today). They say that "haste makes waste", so we've waited patiently for more clarity and completeness of supportive evidence, some of which we've saved locally (in case the OSI purges it later, i.e. in the interim or after publication) and will openly share here later this month. We'll do our best to preserve what they don't want people to see because transparency is paramount. Sunlight astonishes and kills vampires.

It seems increasingly clear that the "OSAID" openwashing is a highly sensitive subject - one involving the subpoenas in a class action case against Microsoft GitHub (and yes, that involves the Serial Strangler!). It's a case with billions of dollars at stake because it's about mass plagiarism and liability for it, even embezzlement likely implicating GitHub's CEO at the time. That Microsoft engages in "litigation tourism" is rather revealing, with censorship as the principal aim (they clearly understand that they have no "case"). It's about covering up corruption and competition crimes at Microsoft (the debt-saddled SLAPP firm might not even be aware of this), set aside actual strangulation of women [1, 2, 3].

With all that in mind, today we formally start the series about the OSI, Microsoft's front group and enabler of GPL violations (plus openwashing of proprietary chatbots, or whatever else happens to be GAFAM's agenda).

Based on this very recent blog post by a Microsoft operative (Nick Vidal), the election process at the OSI is closely controlled by hostile forces. The OSI should be considered nothing but an "occupied" organisation, led by people seeking to undermine its original goals for personal gain. A new article in FOSS Force provides an update on the Faraone scandal. To quote Hall, a former OSI insider (she had left for reasons she explained to me in private):

On Friday Open Source Initiative released the official roster of candidates for its upcoming board election. As has become the norm for the organization this decade, this election is already facing a major election irregularity. In the past, the organization has handled itself well in these cases. This time its decided to circle the wagons to defend a decision that many are saying is indefensible.

What this means is that when this election is over and done, and the votes have been tallied and logged into the record books, there’s going to be an asterisk placed somewhere amid the names and numbers to denote that self-nominated Debian developer Luke Faraone wasn’t allowed to run.

OSI claims that according the rules spelled out in an email broadcast to the organization’s membership, the nomination was filed well after the filing deadline of February 17 at 11:59 pm UTC. Faraone’s camp says that according to the rules spelled out on OSI’s website, where no time zone was mentioned, he filed three hours before deadline. Farone lives in the Pacific time zone, which is also where OSI is located

There is so much more going on behind the scenes, but people aren't seeing it, not just because of self-censorship but actual censorship by the OSI.

We too have been subjected to a lot of censorship by the OSI [1, 2].

We don't know how long this series will go on for (we expect a lot of face-saving reactions from the OSI as we go along), but hopefully it can be wrapped up before this month ends. It is connected in a number of ways to a number of cases we filed against someone who abused us for over a decade [1, 2]. The deeper we dive, the worse it'll look for them.

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft XBox is Dying as More Retailers Stop Stocking It and Massive Layoffs Planned Again
Microsoft is circling down the drain
Linux and the Freedom Paradox
Linux is losing freedom if some external actors who only use Microsoft tools for development wrest control
Watch the FSF Party Live (via Livestream)
It's in WebM format, which is widely supported by now
Advocacy of Software Freedom Changed, LUGs Became Less Relevant
The way we see it, support groups like LUGs sort of outlived their usefulness when it became easier to install GNU/Linux
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims or says can be trusted
Compromised by NVIDIA Proprietary Library
Meanwhile in Boston there are "[r]oundtable talk with FSF volunteers (both in-person and online)"
 
Mozilla: Throw Away Your "Old" PC and Enable "Digital Rights Management (DRM)"
This is heading in a bad direction
Controlling Our Computing for Another Forty Years
40 years of freedom
Motivational Small Place to Run Large Sites
We deem this scenery motivational and inspiring
Techrights' Text Version (Daily Bulletin) Turns Five This Month
our plain-text bulletins are turning 5 this month
We'll Continue Covering the Moribund OSI and Other Dysfunctional if Not Hostile Institutions
Stefano Maffulli's departure is due to his defection and due to him failing the mission in pursuit of money (his salary)
Links 05/10/2025: Lufthansa Layoffs (4,000) and More Spotify Woes (Aside From Massive Debt)
Links for the day
The Free Software Foundation's Livestream Has Ended, Video/s Might be Online Next
I've asked whether they'll upload video of some of the event; I still wait for an answer
The Register MS Does Not Know the Difference Between Microsoft GitHub and GitLab
At the time of writing (October 5) the article from "Thu 2 Oct 2025" remains uncorrected
"Bullshit Generators" (What RMS Calls LLMs) and Fake Images Already Target the FSF
Why does Google News promote fake articles about the FSF while omitting all the real ones?
Software Patents as a Bubble
Don't invest resources in hype; if you detect a bubble, run away from it
Links 05/10/2025: Political Leftovers, Climate Change, and Security Incidents
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 04, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 04, 2025
When Microsoft "Integrates" Something With "AI" It Means It's Losing Money and Is Generally Hopeless
how did Bing fare after 36 months of LLM slop being hyped up as "replacement" for search?
Most Certificates Don't Improve Security, They Mostly Increase Downtime (for No Good Reason)
The 'Gemini sites' (capsules) are a growing force
The statCounter Site Has Data Integrity Problems
Maybe we'll get back to statCounter when its data becomes more "stable" again
10 Ways to Combat Software Patents
software patents are loathed also by proprietary software developers
"Just a Little Bit of Meat..."
Free software "absolutism" is not a radical stance, more so if the only "radical" belief the user possesses is that he or she must be in control of his or her software, and by extension his or her computer
Red Hat is Ignoring the Free Software Community, It's a "Fortune 1000" Vendor
Red Hat's blog also participates a lot in promoting of Wall Street's latest pump-and-dump "AI" scheme
Free Software Foundation Party Has Begun
We shall be focusing a lot on software patents today
Former Head of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Lina Khan Knows Whatever Microsoft Touches Will Die
Just like Skype (as recently as months ago) [...] When Microsoft grabs things, or when it buys things, it almost never ends well
Slopwatch: Fake Articles About LibreOffice in Austria and Wine 10.16
very short
Links 04/10/2025: "attempted Coup" Noted in Facebook, Russia Kills Journalists via Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Anesthesia and Baudpunk
Links for the day
How Software Patents Were Viewed or Their General Status Changed Over Time
A rough summary
Links 04/10/2025: "Privacy Harm Is Harm", Criticism Outlawed in US
Links for the day
Garmin Uses Linux for Some of the Garmin Products, Now It's Sued by Strava Using Software Patents
Software patents should never have been granted in the first place
Richard Stallman Will Give a Talk in Sweden in 6 Days
Dr. Stallman, despite his battle with cancer is still alive and mentally sharp
FSF Turns 40
We'll be focusing on patent-related topics this weekend
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 03, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 03, 2025
Gemini Links 04/10/2025: Distro Hopping and "Part Time"
Links for the day
We Are Turning 19 in One Month, FSF Turns 40 in 3 Hours (CET)
For our anniversary next month we still have no concrete plans
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day