Links 21/02/2008: Lots on Open Source, Lots of Trouble at Redmond, WA
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-02-21 15:12:17 UTC
- Modified: 2008-02-21 15:16:19 UTC
Recent Techrights' Posts
- Links 06/07/2026: Artists Reject Slop (or Even de Facto Bribes to Market/Endorse Slop)
- Links for the day
- The Media Needs to Speak of Slop as a Climate Issue Like It Did With Bitcoin
- But the slop industry keeps paying the media to play along with the hype
- XBox is Practically 'Dead Man Walking' at This Point
- writings on the wall
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 128 Out of 200: Making Laws Work for Britain, Not Oversensitive Americans Looking for 'Revenge' by Lawfare
- The SLAPPs are intended to protect corporations (employers like Microsoft)
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- DW Documentary About Julian Assange Turns 2
- It was released just days after Assange had turned 53 and about two weeks after he had left the UK
- Independent Media is the Only Form of Legitimate Media
- Independent media is, indeed, what we need to demand more of
- The Story of the European Patent Office (EPO) Wagging the Dog (EU)
- The aim of the series is to properly inform the world - not just Europeans - how Europe's second-largest institution is run [...] How did a corporate hub of monopolies become so detached from the Rule of Law?
- GNU/Linux Up to New High in Libya, Windows Down to All-Time Low
- GNU/Linux touches 5% there, based on statCounter
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 129 Out of 200: Iranian Tactics
- Hunger for revenge compels people to do overzealous, irrational things
- Quiet Week
- Many in the US are still enjoying an extended weekend
- IBM's Fall
- IBM's fate is closely connected to that of the Free software movement because of the salaries
- Social Dialogue at the European Patent Office (EPO) is Dead, the Strikes and Work Stoppage-Like Actions Carry on
- What next for the EPO?
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 05, 2026
- IRC logs for Sunday, July 05, 2026
- Links 05/07/2026: Shadows of the Upper Peninsula and 2026 Old Computer Challenge
- Links for the day
- Not Everything Should be Electric
- technology has become detrimental to society
- Gemini Links 05/07/2026: Eye of the Beholder and Baldur’s Gate 3 and Alhena 5.6.5
- Links for the day
- GNU/Linux Market Share is Already High
- GNU/Linux has fast become and is still becoming mainstream in recent years
- The 9-Step IBM Algorithm: Gaming Wall Street While Shedding Off Staff and Bribing the Mainstream Media to Play Along
- Any time IBM preaches manners (e.g. CoC) to the community remember that IBM works closely with and flatters the dictator
- They Could Never Kill the Ideas of Richard Stallman (RMS), But They Are Still Trying
- Killing an idea is harder than killing a person and killing a person is illegal
- Only Germany Objected to Salary Adjustment (Reduction) Procedure of "Team Campinos"
- "flash report on the Administrative Council of 30 June and 1 July 2026"
- A "Never Slop" Policy in Quibble
- "every change in the repository must be made by a human"
- Series on GNU/Linux in Japan
- This series can last a week or longer
- 75% of All the Patents Last Year Were Software
- The corporate media has more or less ceased to discuss this matter
- At Microsoft "the Morale of Developers is at an All-time Low"
- Numerous reports today say that after at least 5 studios got marked for shutdown (mothballing) by Microsoft there are rumours about Obsidian as well
- Links 05/07/2026: Data Breaches, Heat Waves, and Weinstein Rape Conviction Upheld
- Links for the day
- Confidentiality at Risk With Slop 'Coding'
- People who continue to cheer for slop aren't just misguided fanbis and fangurls
- False Narratives of Slop "Efficiency" as Debt Climbs
- false stories about slop
- July 8 as "D-Day" for Microsoft, Mass Layoffs Planned
- Microsoft's grip on the market has slipped for a long time
- GNU/Linux Leaps to 6% in Thailand
- Can we expect 10% by year's end?
- EC Looking for Input on Digital Networks Act Until Next Month
- New initiative
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 04, 2026
- IRC logs for Saturday, July 04, 2026
- Gemini Links 05/07/2026: Ragebaited and Removing Lines in Emacs
- Links for the day
- Links 05/07/2026: "Tesla Slams Into Crowded Cafe" and "ChatGPT [Turned] Into a Sociopath"
- Links for the day
- BRICS and Windows: All-Time Lows
- Expect many more Microsoft layoffs in years to come
- Do No Evil, Do Not DDoS
- Sites that attract DDoS attacks because of their message are sites that are difficult to debunk or debate
- France is Winning the Race Against Windows
- France instructs, then orders, government agencies to adopt GNU/Linux
- Not 2.5% and Not 2.5 Billion Dollars for "Hey Hi"; 2 Waves of Microsoft Layoffs Rumoured This Month, July 8th, Then July 22nd (Just Before 'Results')
- People there join unions, knowing they will be terminated silently or otherwise
- Microsoft Double Trouble With Slop
- What does Microsoft even sell at this point?
- Based on US Government Sites, GNU/Linux Has Reached About 8% "Market Share" in Desktops/Laptops
- Culled to exclude mobile platforms, GNU/Linux would likely be above 8%
- TheLayoff.com is Deleting Comments About IBM Offshoring
- Meanwhile, rage-baiting Internet trolls and sometimes trolls who paste in LLM slop are immune from censorship
- American Independence Needs Independent Media
- The American regime's hostility towards media is an international problem
- Techrights Was Always a Community Platform
- Techrights is about whistleblowers
- Phenomenal Growth for GNU/Linux in Afghanistan
- This is impressive because for many years it was registered at near 0%
- Daniel Pocock Pursuing Complaint in the United States Against Software in the Public Interest (SPI) et al
- It seems like the only people who don't support him are those whom he criticises
- Gemini Links 04/07/2026: Busy Squirrel, Independence Day Celebrations, PalmOS Programming
- Links for the day
- Canonical/Ubuntu is Breaking CP (cp) to Help Microsoft Turn Coreutils Into Proprietary Software for Windows
- What we could do reliably in the 1970s (before GNU) we cannot do in 2026?
- Brett Wilson LLP is Downsizing, Apparently Closing Down the Oversized and Overpriced Office
- Address changed 13 hours ago
- Free Software Has No Kings or CEOs
- The kingdom is a cross-border phenomenon, so national flags and other such symbolism overlook the core problem [...] Free Software can help lead us out of the current imbalances
- The United States Lost Freedom of Speech
- independence refers to a condition, not an activity
- IBM Replacing the People Who Built IBM With Cheaper and Younger Staff, According to IBM Insiders
- This is a very common sentiment in IBM
- For USA 250 Microsoft is Messing With Our Minds (2.50%) to Distract From Mass Layoffs
- The slopfarms contribute to this noise
- "Defective by Design" Turns 20
- DBD is still as relevant as ever (probably more relevant than ever before)
- A Bicycle for the Feeble Mind, or How Computers Got Worse for Productivity (Intentionally)
- Many of us still adopt and champion the "workstation" mentality
- Links 04/07/2026: Microsoft Tax Haven (Evasion) Tactics, Tobacco Bans, and More
- Links for the day
- Links 04/07/2026: 2026 Old Computer Challenge and Trying Gopher
- Links for the day
- SLAPP Censorship - Part 127 Out of 200: Lawsuits by Americans Filed in the UK a Burden on British Taxpayers, No Way to Recover the Funds When Americans Lose Their Cases
- Are Garrett and Graveley 'pulling a 4Chan'?
- Links 04/07/2026: USMCA (Covering Software Patents) Might Not be Renewed, Slop Bros Try to Pay Weird Al to Endorse Their Scheme
- Links for the day
- Over at Tux Machines...
- GNU/Linux news for the past day
- IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 03, 2026
- IRC logs for Friday, July 03, 2026
Comments
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:45:45
steve got pwned by larry.
seriously i think M$ is loosing out and steve has lost control over what he is doing. this is a guy who has zero technical knowledge, has never written a single line of code, cant make out any difference between a asp or php code...lol. i dont know if any m$ executive has advised steve over the technical hurdles of moving yahoo to m$ technology.
rofl.i think no one will dare to go near the chair throwing ninja.
entire blame of M$ doom will be on steve and bill has side stepped out of this mess really easy.
by doing a hostile take over - this is really going to blow out of proportion. everyone is making fun of m$ so openly, they have become a joke of what m$ used to be a decade back.
look at the action figures / toys stuff m$ is doing lately. everyone is laughing at them. they are trying so hard to be like google. haha.
just cant stop laughing.
CoolGuy
2008-02-21 16:49:00
BoomBoom
2008-02-21 18:28:35
- A BB for a brain in an empty head. Shake him and hear him rattle! - A pile of stolen patents for things someone else invented! - Extra sweat! - Awesome monkeydance action! - Developers developers developers developers! - Buggy software that doesn't work! - Buggy patches for buggy software that *still* doesn't work! - A fake sense of security! (along with thousands of exploits and weaknesses) - An EULA written by the Ghost of Stalin and the RIAA! - MONO! (Both the poisonware and the disease) - Office chair grenades! - FUD machinegun! - Arrogance out the wazoo! - Megalomaniac world domination plans! - And not a snowball's chance in Hell of ever having a clue.
:P
Roy Schestowitz
2008-02-21 22:39:12
This VNUnet article dovetails nicely with the recent piece on Groklaw[1]
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2210121/microsoft-engages-proxy-fight
I wonder if a deep-cutting summary or analysis can be written to Slashdot without using the M-word.
The plan seems to be to lobby and intrigue behind the scenes to replace the board with a more obedient set. Before that happens, Yahoo should re-license Zimbra as GPL. Also, how big a contributer is Yahoo to open source development in general and BSD in particular? That could be one of the main motivations for hostile take over.
I also notice that the astroturfers have returned to slashdot in droves since about Monday or so and, probably related, there is article after article of advertising.
[1] http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20071023002351958
Also, about the last attempts to save the cash cow :
Houston, we have a problem ... ... when trying to paint a nice face before the BRM ...
Google News Alert for: (OpenDocument OR ODF) AND ("Ecma 376" OR OXML OR OOXML OR "office open xml" OR "open XML")
Microsoft pledges not to sue over open source CNet News.com Blog - USA The company does not natively support the alternative Open Document Format, or ODF, standard in Office 2007. Although it does not mention ODF specifically ... See all stories on this topic
MS to publish free APIs for Windows, Office Electronista - Santa Clara,CA,USA Office 2007 has been a particular subject of investigation and has been criticized for its switch to the Microsoft-made Office Open XML (OOXML) standard, ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft Promises Interoperability Digitaltrends.com - Lake Oswego,OR,USA Microsoft also says it won't sue open source developers who build or distribute non-commercial implementations of its protocols, although developers who ... See all stories on this topic
Microsoft is fighting. Don't give it too much room for manipulation.