Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Recent: The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
They say that when you write something "harsh" or make damaging claims (even correct assertions) you should at least give the other side - the scrutinised party - an opportunity to reply. Well, I contacted the editor of The Register, whom I spoke to several times before. I received only an automated reply, saying he had left. So I contacted the FOSS person of The Register, as per the site's contact/s page. He seemed like the best or the most suitable person to contact.
I sent:
Hi Liam,Thanks for the good articles.
I wanted to ask, that latest Gates article... was it your idea of the assignment/idea of the new management?
If I don't hear back, I'll just say "no comment".
Br,
I know for sure that he got it, on two addresses or at least one. It has now been about a day. Remember that Bill gates used his money to take more control of the Linux Foundation, resulting in all sorts of ridiculous things - reputation laundering for the most part.
For a decade or two (maybe even three) Liam published many things about Free software, so for sure he knows me. I'm not some "online stranger" to him. Maybe he is just afraid, or "reluctant", to respond, knowing that he has a Microsofter as his Editor in Chief and this publisher is tight with money (see link at the top).
Out of genuine interest I decided to check what the company says about itself. "Jessica Lyons Hardcastle has been appointed as Cybersecurity Editor for The Register," says one press release (almost most recent).
Jessica Lyons is fantastic and we're happy that they gave her a platform. When I spoke to the prior editor he told me they hoped to get "more Liams" or something to the effect of hiring more people to cover GNU/Linux, BSD, and Free software.
This is how the company presents itself in its Web site:
"B2B" is the sort of thing SPAMnil does. But now it's even worse; now it's bombarding readers with Windows and Microsoft promotion, as we showed several times in recent days (before we discovered they had replaced the editor with a Microsoft booster).
It also turns out that Microsoft Tim still works for The Register, but in a different domain, DEVCLASS.
He has been there for a while, promoting Microsoft, his valentine. Microsoft even sent him expensive gifts.
They operate two more sites. To quote this page: "The Next Platform is part of the Situation Publishing family, which includes the enterprise and business technology publication, The Register."
So an 'offshoot' of The Register. There is also Blocks and Files, which says at the bottom "© Situation Publishing, 2018-2024". We're almost in August already and it still says 2024.
Something isn't right at The Register. We intend to watch it even more closely in weeks to come. If it carries on posting SPAM/marketing for Microsoft, we'll point that out. It can be the site's downfall.
I know for a fact they know they're being watched and here is their front page right now:
In that bottom one Liam says "systemd is the industry-standard init system these days".
That's misleading.
systemd is not an init system, it was just sold that way over a decade ago.
There are also many systems (e.g. BSDs and ChromeOS) that don't use systemd. █