Bonum Certa Men Certa

IRC: #boycottnovell @ FreeNode: July 11th, 2008



*RogerBacon has quit (Read error: 104 (Connection reset by peer))Jul 11 02:01
*dsmith_ (n=dsmith@c-76-114-142-224.hsd1.md.comcast.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 05:10
*yuhong (n=chatzill@pool-71-188-245-175.sttlwa.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 05:15
yuhong"Apple is not an ethical company"Jul 11 05:16
yuhongI would not go that far.Jul 11 05:16
yuhongIt is certainly better than MS.Jul 11 05:16
yuhongBut thanks for pointing out that MS is not the only company that does that.Jul 11 05:17
schestowitzYesJul 11 05:17
schestowitzI didn't put them in the same class.Jul 11 05:17
yuhongAMD tried to take reviewers to Tahoe for the Phenom launch.Jul 11 05:17
yuhongLuckily at least some reviewers didn't go.Jul 11 05:18
schestowitzThis I sisn't know,Jul 11 05:18
schestowitz*didn;t.Jul 11 05:18
yuhongI think that is the real gauge of reviewers.Jul 11 05:18
schestowitzIt's like lobbying. They are following competitors' tricks.Jul 11 05:19
yuhonghttp://techreport.com/dis...Jul 11 05:20
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:20
schestowitzAMD suffers from a much worse rival.Jul 11 05:21
yuhongI think the fundemental issue in the end, is that corporations onlyycare about profit.Jul 11 05:21
schestowitzIntel is a lot worse. From my point of view, Intel is run by people who should be kept behind bars.Jul 11 05:21
yuhongI would not go that far.Jul 11 05:22
schestowitzThere are market rules.Jul 11 05:22
schestowitzThose who don't obey the rules are never punished.Jul 11 05:22
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:22
yuhongAnd it applies not to just MS and Intel.Jul 11 05:22
yuhongFDA, for example.Jul 11 05:22
schestowitzYes.Jul 11 05:23
yuhongBTW, I originally were going to say that Intel kicked AMD out of the high-end.Jul 11 05:23
schestowitzBut the 'Chinese FDA' is worse.Jul 11 05:23
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:23
yuhongActually, I am not sure.Jul 11 05:24
yuhongAnyway, see my point.Jul 11 05:24
yuhongI think the fundemental issue in the end, is that corporations only care about profit.Jul 11 05:24
schestowitzThey should also care about rules.Jul 11 05:25
yuhongYep, but they don't, and that is unfortunate.Jul 11 05:25
schestowitzThe regulatory system fails to function. it's easily violated by influence.Jul 11 05:25
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:25
yuhongThere is a fundemental problem here, any solutions?Jul 11 05:25
schestowitzShowing where the system fails is one option. USPTO, ISO, etc.Jul 11 05:26
yuhongMaybe, but I am talking about the "corporations only care about profit" problem.Jul 11 05:27
schestowitzThat's down to education.Jul 11 05:27
schestowitzIn many countries, children are raises to admire and cherish the mighty buck. There's more to that in life.Jul 11 05:28
yuhongMaybe, but that is not what I am talking about.Jul 11 05:29
yuhongShareholders are one factor.Jul 11 05:29
schestowitzHigher fines need to be imposed.Jul 11 05:30
schestowitzDisobeying rules should have punishments that are severe enough to scare shareholder. Look at Microsoft's profits declining in the last quarter, partly due to fines.Jul 11 05:30
*dsmith_ has quit (Remote closed the connection)Jul 11 05:34
yuhongThat can help.Jul 11 05:38
yuhongChanging shareholder attitude can help as well.Jul 11 05:39
schestowitzWell, bad behaviour isn't tied to fines yet. Shareholders rarely care about behaviour or products. They care about stock value.Jul 11 05:40
yuhongThat is exactly the problem I am trying to solve.Jul 11 05:41
yuhongAny solutions?Jul 11 05:43
schestowitzYou can never solve it. It's human nature. It's why CO2 emissions would never be reduced and the planet is, assuming education isn't properly used, doomed to see some islands flooded.Jul 11 05:43
schestowitzYou can reduce crime, but you can't make it end.Jul 11 05:43
yuhongYep, that is what I mean by changing shareholder attitude.Jul 11 05:43
schestowitzThe angle explored by Larry Lessig, for example, is the fact that shareholder  bend the law to their interest. The US political system permits it.Jul 11 05:44
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:44
yuhongWhat really matters is that it is hard enough to break the law that people don't do it.Jul 11 05:45
yuhongIn fact, substitute the word "law" for "DRM" to see what really matters in DRM.Jul 11 05:46
schestowitzWho would make such a law. It's a fox-hen house thing.Jul 11 05:46
schestowitzThe corrupting force will ensure that illegal (should be illegal) things like lobbying can prevail.Jul 11 05:47
yuhongUnfortunately the Internet makes it easy to distibute the DRM-breaker's work.Jul 11 05:47
schestowitzDRM is about change of business model for increased profit (own versus rent)Jul 11 05:47
yuhongYep, there is a reason why DRM on things you rent matters less than DRM on things that you "own".Jul 11 05:48
schestowitzEben Moglen: "Everybody is connected to everybody else, all data that can be shared will be shared will be shared: get used to it."Jul 11 05:48
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:48
schestowitzForget about the Internet. People can sing to each other, they can swap CDs, USB drivers, etc.Jul 11 05:48
yuhongDongles have an advantage here.Jul 11 05:49
schestowitzWhat's needed is a new model, and it's /not/ DRM.Jul 11 05:49
yuhongBecause it is physical hardware, and physical hardware cannot be copied by using the Internet.Jul 11 05:49
yuhongI agree on the new business model.Jul 11 05:49
yuhongAll of the major music stores are selling music with no DRM.Jul 11 05:50
schestowitzInfinitely-duplicable things enjoy a high-bandwidth transaction and portability. Some companies still try to illegalise FOSS (original work on copylefted code)Jul 11 05:50
yuhongYep, again dongles have an advantage here for copy protection of software.Jul 11 05:50
schestowitzThe RIAA wants music DRM back. Either way, you now end up with ACTA, which means that you live in  gestapo state where threats make the law.Jul 11 05:51
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:51
yuhongDMCA, for example.Jul 11 05:51
schestowitzThat too.Jul 11 05:51
yuhongTelecom immunity is another example.Jul 11 05:51
schestowitzI still perceive the fight from Free software as one that opposes corruption.Jul 11 05:52
yuhongYep.Jul 11 05:52
schestowitzTelecon immunity? Well, but there's 'terrorism', no?Jul 11 05:52
yuhongAnd the best way to solve this problem is again to change shareholder's attitudes.Jul 11 05:52
schestowitzGo ahead and try.Jul 11 05:53
*dsmith_ (n=dsmith@c-76-114-142-224.hsd1.md.comcast.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 05:53
schestowitzI found this a moment ago: http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2008/0...Jul 11 05:53
yuhongBTW, terrorism is a common excuse used by the Bush administration.Jul 11 05:54
schestowitzIt's the IDC shills (paid by Microsoft, as usual), joined by the BSA which last week lobbied to illegaise Free software on behalf of Microsoft et al.Jul 11 05:54
yuhongIt isn't just MS, however, the music industry blame lost CD sales on piracy as well.Jul 11 05:55
yuhongBTW, on the people who wipe out Linux on new PCs for pirated Windows, how many do it?Jul 11 05:57
schestowitzIt's not even "piracy".Jul 11 05:57
schestowitzIt's not "pirated".Jul 11 05:57
schestowitzSee, that's just an insult.Jul 11 05:57
schestowitzAnd media people absorb the words.Jul 11 05:57
yuhongYep, there is a page on the FSF talking about that.Jul 11 05:58
schestowitzI'd love to see the media starting to absorb the word "criminal" when referring to the moguls.Jul 11 05:58
yuhongUnlikely, however.Jul 11 05:58
schestowitzYes, I know. :-)Jul 11 05:58
schestowitzThe problem is that the weathy is very influential so they get to glofitfy themselves in the press while portraying others as crooks.Jul 11 05:58
yuhongAnyway, I just treat the word "piracy" as a synonym for "illegal copying".Jul 11 05:59
schestowitzIt changes perception, but there's that old theory about hypocriisy and how the Big Ship thinks of the small guy in the dingy as a "pirate"Jul 11 05:59
yuhongAnd it is not limited to just software.Jul 11 05:59
schestowitzBig = good; small = evil.Jul 11 05:59
yuhongI agree that this is not good.Jul 11 05:59
yuhongRadio started as "piracy" and the record industry solved the problem.Jul 11 06:00
schestowitzI think of piracy as "copyright infringement"Jul 11 06:00
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:00
yuhongBTW, the word "consumer" is a misnomer, I was actually thinking about having two classes of people.Jul 11 06:01
schestowitzWhile it's easy to do so (sometimes accidentally, e.g. if you save a Web page to your HDD), it's a violation of a law called "copyrights".Jul 11 06:01
yuhongConsumer, and producer.Jul 11 06:01
schestowitzYes, consumer is another 'shareholder terminology"Jul 11 06:01
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:01
yuhongAnd it is unfair.Jul 11 06:01
schestowitzBut you don't get to name thing. It's the influential that maps things.Jul 11 06:02
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:02
schestowitzThere are parallels in politics, but that's another story.Jul 11 06:02
yuhongBTW, Palladium is evil, but the Fritz chip can be used for purposes other than that.Jul 11 06:03
schestowitzBudging this on topic, Novell too plays a role now in Micrsosoft's perception shaping for FOSS.Jul 11 06:03
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:03
schestowitzIt actually FUDs free software where it does not fit its definition. Novell is back to vanity days (Netware monopoly)Jul 11 06:03
yuhongBTW, how did samba respond to the doc release by MS.Jul 11 06:03
schestowitzspeaking of unjust system, see this:Jul 11 06:04
schestowitzJust in: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/0...Jul 11 06:05
schestowitzIn American, if you're rich, you can ignore the law and get away with it.Jul 11 06:05
schestowitzSame with Robert Bach at Microsoft. He was caught insider-trading last years and never even investigated by the SEC as a result. In America, being rich means being above the law.Jul 11 06:05
yuhongI know, but I care more about how much shareholders care about the public than about thisJul 11 06:06
schestowitzhttp://www.theinquirer.net/gb/inquirer...Jul 11 06:06
schestowitzhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap...Jul 11 06:06
schestowitzFrom AP (f* em for the new policy): "It gives the appearance that, 'I had a partner in crime and it was Steve Jobs,'" Munster said.Jul 11 06:07
schestowitzMicrosoft too: http://news.zdnet.com/2100-3513_2... (Microsoft's past stock options practice poses questions)Jul 11 06:07
schestowitzhttp://www.smh.com.au/news/Tech...Jul 11 06:07
yuhongBTW, the Sound Recorder in Vista default to saving as wma, unless you are using the N edition that is without media player, then it defaults to saving to WAV.Jul 11 06:15
schestowitzThey want to spread their proprietary, DRM-ready garbage. Later they try to sell Red Hat 'licences' to these filetypes. The company still plays dirty. It should use industry standards or royalty-free formats.Jul 11 06:16
yuhongThank EU for stopping them.Jul 11 06:16
*dsmith_ has quit (Read error: 104 (Connection reset by peer))Jul 11 06:21
schestowitzNot yet. It's not over until "the fat lady sings" (or gets bribed)Jul 11 06:22
-dmwaters-{global notice} Good day folks, it appears that there are over all internet problems that are causing us to drop quite a few users. Hopefully things will resolve themselves soon. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for using freenode!Jul 11 06:25
yuhong "the fat lady sings": what do you mean?Jul 11 06:31
schestowitzIt's a nice phrase: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_ain't_over_'til_the_fat_lady_singsJul 11 06:33
schestowitzWatch this news: http://www.heise.de/english/ne...Jul 11 06:34
yuhongBTW, on the EU lawsuit, how did samba respond to the docs released by MS thanks to this lawsuit.Jul 11 06:36
schestowitzProbably too well at the time, but Microsoft wants 'Samba tax'.Jul 11 06:36
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:36
yuhongBut luckily that is not what they did.Jul 11 06:37
yuhongI am talking about the docs however, not the tax.Jul 11 06:37
schestowitzNot quite. I'm not following this closely, but I think they want to make 'pulling a Samba' the norm, i.e. charge projects $10,000 for docs (+per copy royalties). They are losing it at Redmond, so they try to set precedence, also with Novell.Jul 11 06:38
schestowitzThey make it convenient for those that sell out, e.g. Novell, Linspire.Jul 11 06:38
yuhongYep, but luckily they ended up making it so that only one organization pay the cost.Jul 11 06:39
yuhongThat organization in this case is the PFIF.Jul 11 06:39
yuhongBTW, again as I said, supporting OOXML is not evil.Jul 11 06:40
yuhongBut claiming that it is as open as ODF because of such support is.Jul 11 06:40
schestowitzYou miss the point.Jul 11 06:40
yuhongsupporting I mean opening and saving OOXML files.Jul 11 06:41
schestowitzCare to implement it? 12,000 pages? Then, if it's FOSS, Microsoft can sue you.Jul 11 06:41
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:41
schestowitzThe whole thing is a fiasco that gets worse. I'll post about it later today.Jul 11 06:41
yuhongBut supporting it is at worst as evil as supporting .doc.Jul 11 06:41
schestowitzISO is equally corrupted if it thinks it can sweep abuses of the rules under the rug.Jul 11 06:42
yuhongYep.Jul 11 06:42
yuhongBut supporting it is at worst as evil as supporting .doc.Jul 11 06:42
yuhongsupporting I mean opening and saving files.Jul 11 06:42
schestowitzBeing more evil than something else doesn't make it "not evil"Jul 11 06:42
yuhongDo you mean less?Jul 11 06:42
schestowitzIt's again that shareholders dilemma.Jul 11 06:43
schestowitzMicrosoft will be anti-fair competition as long as it wants to make more money. Its goals make it evil, by definition, and it has to change through regulation that balances things differently. Then, obeying the rules is a reward-worthy thing.Jul 11 06:44
yuhongI'd support both ODF and OOXML.Jul 11 06:44
yuhongAgain supporting I mean opening and OOXML files.Jul 11 06:44
yuhongAgain supporting I mean opening and saving files.Jul 11 06:44
schestowitzWhy multiple standards?Jul 11 06:44
yuhongThat is evil as well.Jul 11 06:44
schestowitzWould you like fragmentation that revolves around HDDVD and Blu-Ray too? Who benefits?Jul 11 06:45
yuhongI agree.Jul 11 06:45
yuhongBut supporting i mean adding support to a word processor for opening and saving.Jul 11 06:45
schestowitzAsk Van Der Beld (??? can't recall name) why there should be mutiple ones.Jul 11 06:45
yuhongI agree.Jul 11 06:45
yuhongBut supporting i mean adding support to a word processor for opening and saving.Jul 11 06:45
schestowitzHe said (using CD/DVD formats as an example): "you are well paid, shut up"Jul 11 06:46
yuhongAnd that is not hard.Jul 11 06:46
yuhongThat is not really true.Jul 11 06:46
yuhongThat is hard actually.Jul 11 06:46
yuhongBut my meaning of "support" here is different from your meaning.Jul 11 06:47
schestowitzODF is universal. It needn't collide with any app.Jul 11 06:47
yuhongI know.Jul 11 06:48
yuhong>But my meaning of "support" here is different from your meaning.Jul 11 06:48
schestowitzWhat is it then?Jul 11 06:49
yuhongsupport i mean adding support to a office suite for opening and saving.Jul 11 06:49
schestowitzYes, and all office suites could do that with ODF.Jul 11 06:51
yuhongOf course, and they should support (open and save) OOXML as well.Jul 11 06:52
schestowitzNo, OOXML should never have existed in the first place.Jul 11 06:52
yuhongIt is at worst as evil as supporting .doc.Jul 11 06:52
yuhongAnd they already do that.Jul 11 06:52
schestowitzIt's Microsoft's attempt to decommoditiseJul 11 06:52
schestowitzSame with the Web and stuff like ActiveX (+neglect of Web standards)Jul 11 06:53
yuhongEven "embarse and extend" is better, but it is too late.Jul 11 06:53
yuhongOffice 2007 and some OOXML docs has already come out.Jul 11 06:53
yuhongSupporting (opening and saving) it is at worst as evil as supporting .doc.Jul 11 06:53
yuhongAnd the suites already do that.Jul 11 06:53
schestowitzThe first step should be to strike OOXML out of governments.Jul 11 06:54
schestowitzIt needn't penetrate any place where it doesn't exist, for the scam that it is for starters.Jul 11 06:54
yuhongYep. But this is a different topic.Jul 11 06:55
yuhongBTW, I just installed Sun's ODF converter on top of Office.Jul 11 06:55
schestowitzYou could get even better support with OOo or Symphony .Jul 11 06:56
yuhongI am talking about whether a word processor support OOXML, not which organizations are supporting OOXML.Jul 11 06:56
yuhongNeoOffice support opening OOXML.Jul 11 06:56
yuhongAnd that good.Jul 11 06:56
yuhongBut claiming that it is as open as ODF is bad, and that is what Novell is doing.Jul 11 06:57
schestowitzNovell is a Microsoft company in the making (in my eyes). I don't take anything it says serious (on FOSS).Jul 11 06:57
schestowitz*seriouslyJul 11 06:58
yuhongBTW, on the matter of Apple, a lot of the mixed records of Apple on open source is i think due to internal politics.Jul 11 07:00
yuhongiPhone is a good example.Jul 11 07:00
*PetoKraus (n=Peter@host-77-247-224-25.isper.sk) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 07:01
schestowitzAhJul 11 07:01
schestowitzYes, I mentioned that yesterdayJul 11 07:01
schestowitzThey misuse open source like a dead horse.Jul 11 07:01
schestowitzOne of the most locked down things (software, hardware, carriers) is trying to get 'open source' type publicity. Even Microsoft is more open.Jul 11 07:02
yuhongInternal politics are a factor here.Jul 11 07:02
yuhongWhether locking down is a good thing is another factor.Jul 11 07:02
yuhong*matterJul 11 07:03
schestowitzit's not. It permits Trust (in the antitrust sense).Jul 11 07:04
yuhongI'm sure those in charge in open source at Apple advocates open source.Jul 11 07:04
yuhongThat is why I say internal politics are a factor here.Jul 11 07:05
*yuhong has quit ("ChatZilla 0.9.83 [Firefox 3.0/2008052906]")Jul 11 07:05
schestowitzThe press is humming with that stupid article that calls IBM Symphony "open  source" (it's not)Jul 11 07:27
schestowitzIBM is still faking it. I've spoken to the journalist who published this and referred him to IBM's Sutor at the end. IBM is a proprietary software company, as usual.Jul 11 07:27
schestowitzMental note: "Eclipse, Microsoft, Sun and Zend are RedMonk customers, while ActiveState (Komodo) and MacroMates (TextMate) are not." http://redmonk.com/so...Jul 11 07:31
schestowitzSo they are paid by Microsoft now.Jul 11 07:31
*PetoKraus has quit (Remote closed the connection)Jul 11 08:14
*PetoKraus (n=Peter@host-77-247-224-25.isper.sk) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 08:14
*moparx has quit ("leaving")Jul 11 10:42
schestowitzPetoKraus: I said I'd write it today. I just did. http://boycottnovell.com/2008/0... (you'd have to look back at old links too, for context at the very least)Jul 11 10:46
PetoKrauscheers manJul 11 10:48
*rufus (n=rufus@65.167.248.148.dynamic.hamilton.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 14:29
schestowitzThe anti-Linux activists will have a field trip over that news from the Philippines about a school, so be prepared (it has just been published). Microsoft uses application lock-in to stifle portability (ActiveX, DirectX, COM, etc) and this one is no exception, just like in Vienna.Jul 11 14:42
*rufus has quit ("Leaving")Jul 11 15:22
schestowitzSpinola du jour: http://www.businessreviewonline.com/os... Characterising abusive Microsoft execs as "Linux fans".Jul 11 16:51
schestowitzAnother blitz in the making (Linus dissing to be expected): http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Enterpr...Jul 11 17:25
*moparx (n=moparx@pdpc/supporter/base/moparx) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 20:56
*lis` (n=lis@pub082136116248.dh-hfc.datazug.ch) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 22:13
*lis` has quit (Client Quit)Jul 11 22:14
*yuhong (n=chatzill@pool-71-188-245-175.sttlwa.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 22:56
yuhongFrom http://forum.roughlydrafted.com/fo...Jul 11 22:58
yuhong"Well, there is a paradox here. Remember back in WWDC 2008, they talked about how the "task manager" is bad. Another reason is that it is too technical for the average user. The average user will most likely blame the phone instead."Jul 11 22:58
yuhong"And add the fact that the average user don't care about "openness", and see my point? "Jul 11 22:58
*PetoKraus has quit (Read error: 113 (No route to host))Jul 11 23:25
*yuhong_ (n=chatzill@pool-71-188-245-175.sttlwa.dsl-w.verizon.net) has joined #boycottnovellJul 11 23:30
*yuhong has quit (Read error: 110 (Connection timed out))Jul 11 23:32
*yuhong_ is now known as yuhongJul 11 23:32
yuhongFrom http://forum.roughlydrafted.com/forum/comments.php?Discu...Jul 11 23:48
yuhongWell, there is a paradox here. Remember back in WWDC 2008, they talked about how the "task manager" is bad. Another reason is that it is too technical for the average user. The average user will most likely blame the phone instead. And add the fact that the average user don't care about "openness", and see my point?Jul 11 23:48
*yuhong has quit ("ChatZilla 0.9.83 [Firefox 3.0/2008052906]")Jul 11 23:49
*moparx has quit ("leaving")Jul 11 23:51

Recent Techrights' Posts

It's Inevitable Anyway, So...
of course blame Chinese Communists for the "anti-AI" messages
Giving 'Free Publicity' to the People You Hate and Attack
Be careful what you wish for in social control media
Andrew Lee Has Turned Freenode Into a Slopfarm (Because Who Needs IRC Anyway?)
The site is churning out slop all day long
SLAPP Censorship - Part 168 Out of 200: When Choosing Clients Recklessly and Poorly Self-Harm is Inevitable
"If you're doing something hard and nobody hates it, you probably aren't doing it. If the right people hate it and those people happen to be some of the worst people alive, so much the better."
 
GNU Turns 43 This Month, GNU/Linux Turns 35 Next Year
It seems like no area of computing has not been impacted by the GNU/Linux revolution
Uber Debt Grew 2.5 Billion Dollars in 3 Months, Company Lays Off at Least 10% of Workforce
The media repeats the "official" numbers
Links 02/09/2026: The Machine Stops, AuraSearch, and DOOM 1/2
Links for the day
1-1 Meetings at IBM This Week, PIPs Expected, Maybe RAs Too
As usual, we invite whistleblowers to tell us what's going on
Links 02/09/2026: Germany Blames Russia for Leipzig Airport Drone Attack and China Gains Power as US Faces Humiliation in the Midst of Presidential Cover-up
Links for the day
Quit Talking About "AI Layoffs" and Talk About How Chatbots and Other Bots Broke Recruitment Processes by Cheating
Bots talking to other bots isn't HR; it's a catastrophe
Robotics Isn't "Hey Hi", Robotics Isn't New Either
Is the official Arduino blog becoming shilling platform for Qualcomm's "hey hi" [so-called 'intelligent'] chips?
Today We'll Focus on Growth of GNU/Linux
We've meanwhile noticed that Clownflare statistics for north American nations show 19% of requests (CDN) originating from GNU/Linux
IBM Secret (or Silent) Layoffs in September 2026
We need whistleblowers
Gemini Links 02/09/2026: GAFAM's E-mail Cartel, ROOPHLOCH 2026, and Homeworlds
Links for the day
Not Only Microsoft and IBM Hide Layoffs (Secret Layoffs) and Fail to Follow the Law (or Bypass It)
Microsoft's tactics are not so unique
People Who Participate in the Slop Plagiarism Pyramid Scheme and the Moral Dilemma (What's Acceptable for a Salary?)
giant pyramid scheme
State of the Slop, Linux Edition
Whether slop about "linux" becomes rarer by the end of this year, well... time will tell
Links 02/09/2026: 'Open' 'AI' (Proprietary Slop Plagiarism) Destroying Evidence, "Data Center Backlash Has Officially Rattled Scam Altman"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 01, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 01, 2026
FSF Staff Uses 'CoC' to Stop Conversation About Autistici/Inventati in Relation to Free Software
The list is already heavily moderated
IBM Allegedly Stopped Hiring (This Tends to Coincide With Mass Layoffs)
Is a hiring freeze an echo of layoffs? Yes, definitely.
Something Big is Happening at IBM This Week/Month
Some people at IBM (and Red Hat) are panicking
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Biscuits, Epstein Files, Power Users, and Alhena 5.6.8
Links for the day
Links 01/09/2026: Almost 5,000 Missing/Dead in Nepal-China Flood and Marijuana Factory Explodes
Links for the day
September at IBM: Silent Layoffs on Day 1
PIPocalypse at IBM
Last Month IRC Entered Its 39th Year and It's Still Growing (New IRC Networks)
There are 511+ known IRC networks
Links 01/09/2026: Climate, Disinformation, Microsoft Overworking People
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Site Still Offline (Third Day), But Richard Stallman is Active Online
he is busy online despite his site not being accessible so far this week
PIP Layoffs at Microsoft, Even in India
Microsoft is trying to hide the true scale of the layoffs
Layoff Trackers Are a Sham, They're Like US 'Unemployment Data'
Layoff trackers are similarly misleading as they only measure what companies openly admit and register with WARN notices
The Peculiar Case of OSNews, Which Experiments With Slopfarming
It wasn't published in error. It has been there for two months.
Russian Federation is Removing Windows From Computers
Windows is going "out of fashion"
XBox CEO Has No Clue What She is Selling
Some people believe Microsoft will parcel and offload the whole "gaming" unit to some other companies
analognowhere.com and xkcd.com Selling Physical Copies of Webcomics
That's one way to support their work
PIP/GVSA at Microsoft: Mass Layoffs Disguised as Something Else
Microsoft is trying to cheapen the workforce because the numbers don't add up
Microsoft Lunduke Uses Twitter ("X") Because It's Algorithmically Designed to Boost His Worldview/s, He Ignores What "X" Is
Maybe all those people really deserve one another
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 31, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, August 31, 2026
Censorship by Threats
It should be noted that the Web site of Richard Stallman will soon enter its third day of downtime
In Romania, GNU/Linux Reaches 6%, According to Clownflare
Tomorrow we'll see the latest data from statCounter (for September)
Gemini Links 01/09/2026: Denali Park Train Trip, Crafts, and Community-Building in smol.pub
Links for the day
Microsoft Workers Doing 80 Hours a Week After Microsoft Culled Their Colleagues
there are days when they work 17 hours a day (barely any time left to sleep and eat) and work starts at 5AM
IBM Defrauds Shareholders With Fake News (Bribed Press) About "Quantum"
That says a lot about the state of "Tech Giants" and also the utterly shameless state of the media
Record Highs for GNU/Linux, Especially in the United States of America
the "market share" of GNU/Linux is about 9%, still about a third of what Vista 11 stands at
PIPocalypse at IBM
Silent layoffs
Spending Over a Million Bucks on Lawsuits Abroad When There's a Big Mortgage to Pay in America
Priorities, priorities...
Gemini Links 31/08/2026: Announcing ROOPHLOCH 2026, smol.pub Discussion, and LLM Plagiarism Engines Target Geminispace
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's GNU Turns 43 in 4 Weeks, FSF Growing
In a few weeks GNU turns 43
IBM's Cuts Are Worsening Security in GNU/Linux
IBM is still run by the same idiot who proposed taking over Red Hat
Microsoft: Work Weekends Too
Microsoft literally working its workers to death
Links 31/08/2026: Anthropic Sued Again for Copyright Infringement of Massive Scale, 'Tokenmaxxing' Shows Slop is a Worthless Liability
Links for the day
Links 31/08/2026: "Teslas Are Still Driving Into Oncoming Freight Trains" and "LLM Moats Quickly Evaporating"
Links for the day
Stallman Has Explained Slop is "Marketing Hype Campaign" and Torvalds Agreed. The Difference is the Bribes.
So be like Stallman
Debian Project Discards About 25% of the Votes on LLM Slop, Microsoft Votes in the General Resolution (GR)
"[t]he rules of the vote saw community members asked to rank each of the eight proposals. Just under 600 people voted, but Debian’s election team rejected many for unspecified reasons, leaving almost 450 valid votes to count."
Essentiality of Rest and Killing Oneself for Vicious Companies
Working for Microsoft is foolish
In the UK, Bing (Microsoft) Down to Lowest Level Since January
our tax money being passed to Microsoft via MoUs (back door deals with kickbacks)
SLAPP Censorship - Part 167 Out of 200: The Court of Appeal Might be the Next Step
Today is our last vacation day
German Government Sponsors IBM Because of GNU/Linux
Flatpak is sponsored by, run, and controlled by IBM
Richard Stallman Speaks to Christine Hall of FOSS Force, stallman.org is Down for Over a Day
interview does a good job addressing the hype about LLMs too
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 30, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, August 30, 2026
Gemini Links 31/08/2026: Holidays, Stream of Consciousness, and Posting Online
Links for the day