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

LLM Slop Has Virtually Killed unixmen.com and Many Other Sites
There's no longer any incentive to write real articles in there
Taking a Moral Stand Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs) and the Worst Offenders/Facilitators
Any other stance would sidle with moral depravity or moral hazard
France: Apple and Microsoft Down, GNU/Linux Up to New Record Levels
How will tariffs against France impact things in the coming months?
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: What Was Reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA)
We hope to finish this whole lot within a week, then move on to election, lobbying etc.
 
One Person's Take on Jef Spaleta, the New Fedora Project Leader
"With a little searching, I wonder what else may be found regarding Microsoft."
Links 06/04/2025: Flood, Cool Gemini Capsule, and Long Form
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2025: Science, Politics, and Pricier Goods
Links for the day
Sharp Declines for Microsoft Windows in Bangladesh (Pop. ~175,000,000), Big Gains for GNU/Linux
Microsoft Windows has been having a really hard time in poor countries
Links 06/04/2025: Fake Reviews, Privatisation Heists, and "AI" as Smokescreen for Impoverishing Humans
Links for the day
Links 06/04/2025: Many New Acts of Repression and Elements of Financial Depression
Links for the day
In Qatar GNU/Linux Rose From Under 1% to Over 4% in Two Years (or Over 5% If Counting ChromeOS)
It's a big improvement compared to what we saw last year
LLM Scrapers Are a Nuisance, But They're Also a Reminder It's Time to Make Your Site Static
Perhaps the best protection is the ability to endure surges
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, April 05, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, April 05, 2025
Links 06/04/2025: Attacks on Education, Fake Patents, and Fake (Illegal) Patent Courts
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2025: Tariffs Backfiring, YouTuber Arrested, X/Twitter Set to be Fined
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Offline is For Everyone, Copyright Colonialism, and More
Links for the day
Links 05/04/2025: TikTok Unsold (Still), Royal Society is Dead
Links for the day
Techrights Will Spend the Next Few Years Writing a Lot About Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
It's a growing problem
The State of EPO Staff's Health in Rijswijk or The Hague
We're going to cover the EPO some more later in the month
NVIDIA Corp Lost 36% of Its "Value" Since Cheeto Inauguration, But "Gen Hey Hi" (GenAI) is Totally Not a Bubble
Selling loads of unneeded hardware based on hysterical hype; like selling shovels during a Gold Rush
GNU/Linux Growing in East Asia, Windows by Default No More?
GNU/Linux is now on the shelf
Slopwatch: Anti-Linux 'Articles' From Linux-Hostile LLMs
It is almost always negative things and nobody can be held responsible for it except the charlatans prompting the LLMs
Links 05/04/2025: Fentanylware (TikTok) "Sale Looks Highly Imminent" (US), Stock Market Drowning in Panic
Links for the day
Gemini Links 05/04/2025: Moving Plants, No to Smartwatches, RAID Hygiene
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 04, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 04, 2025
Techrights Has Dealt With More Potent SLAPPs Than Violent Microsofters Begging to Hide What They Did to Women
I became accustomed to SLAPPs
Links 04/04/2025: Fury in South Korea, Flight MH370 Remains Mystery
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Anger and Raspberry Pi CM4
Links for the day
Links 04/04/2025: LLM Slop Bubble Bursting and Korea Music Copyright Association Bans Slop 'Music'
Links for the day
Traf-O-Data, the Company That Jeffrey Epstein's BFF (Bill Gates) (Co)Founded 53 Years and Went Out of Business Due to Heavy Losses
Who will die first, Bill or Microsoft?
Why Microsoft's Shares Sank Almost 20% in Recent Months (the Bubble is Imploding)
verified press reports from the past 24 hours
A Note on SimilarWeb
Or why SimilarWeb is meaningless for more than 99% of the sites on the Web
GNU/Linux Rises to Almost 5% in Algeria While Windows Sinks to All-Time Low
GNU/Linux grew tenfold
Where to Get More Gags
A valued reader recommended that to us
Links 04/04/2025: Tech Stock (Inc. GAFAM) Fall, Google Pretends to Do End-to-End Encrypted Emails (With Google in Control)
Links for the day
IBM Said to be Shutting Down Offices or Sites in the United States
the press can no longer avoid admitting that IBM moves many jobs to India
To Participate in Fedora Diversity You Must Use Proprietary Software
Not for the first time either
LLM Slop as Attack Vector on the Reputation of Linux
The attacks on Linux have escalated to information warfare
Yandex About to Be Three Times Bigger Than Microsoft (Bing) in Asia
That's about 60% of the world's population
Gemini Links 04/04/2025: Decoupling Updates, Elaho as Gemini Client
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 03, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 03, 2025