Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft and Novell Overwhelm Linux Collaboration Summit; Microsoft MVP Publishes “Revisionist, Uninformed, and Narrow-Thinking” Article About GNU/Linux

Linux Foundation
2009 screenshot



Summary: Microsoft and Novell are omnipresent on the panels at the Linux Collaboration Summit; Microsoft's MVP Jason Hiner spreads Ubuntu disinformation again, through Tech Republic and ZDNet

LAST YEAR we showed that the Linux Foundation was unnecessarily stuffed by Novell staff, who obviously act as apologists for Microsoft and even put Microsoft code inside Linux [1, 2, 3]. They occasionally cause damage at Linux Foundation events.



Based on this article, Microsoft and Novell are on the panel/s again. The Microsoft presence takes the form of someone who pretends to have left Microsoft (but continues to serve Microsoft's agenda under a separate embodiment). Novell is not exactly loved in the GNU/Linux community, based on simple observations. Earlier today we cited an article about Novell's Pinta (developed by a Novell employee using Mono). Check out the resentment in comments at Linux Today.

“Novell is not exactly loved in the GNU/Linux community, based on simple observations.”Now, let's clarify something. This is a polite and factual observation. The message ought to be addressed here, not its messenger. We are well aware that everyone is naturally dismissing people who are critical or skeptical* (who are in turn being described as "negative", "poisonous", or "bad guys" [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8]).

Look no further than the latest argument between Sam Varghese and Caitlyn Martin. Both of them are being critical and slinging shots; neither is entirely innocent, but both can be described as "negative" here. It makes neither of them wrong, just a tad abrasive perhaps (it is a tenuous debate).

A few days ago we deliberately avoided linking to a piece from a Microsoft booster called Jason Hiner. He is a Microsoft MVP who routinely attacks GNU/Linux. He has done this for several years and he plays the 'Linux curious' card in order to bash the platform. Hiner's latest post about GNU/Linux may seem like flattery on the surface, but it's utter junk therein. Here is a response titled "Dear Tech Republic, it’s called FOSS and that’s just how it’s done"

Hiner’s whole list looks like it was derived from “Producing Open Source Software” (Fogel), yet the article reads as if this is something in OSes that only Canonical has figured out. In fact, what he describes is part of the whole reason Red Hat Linux became Fedora and Red Hat Enterprise Linux. Don’t think for a minute Canonical didn’t notice and learn from that, too.


The author later added (in response to Bob Sutor from IBM): "That article is revisionist, uninformed, and narrow-thinking, so I wrote -- but I doubt ZDNet will repub."

“Have you posted a comment to this effect on the article, and contacted the author directly? I find this very valuable in educating journalists.”
      --Adam Williamson
Yes, Hiner and Tech Republic are also connected to ZDNet (the latest Hiner piece was published in ZDNet too), which is responsible for a lot of the FUD against GNU/Linux. It repeats the lies over and over again, even in the "Open Source" blog. Earlier today we found ZDNet's "Open Source" blog making the claim that desktop GNU/Linux requires the command line, whereas Windows no longer needs DOS. The claim was made by Dana, who does not even use GNU/Linux. Last week he repeated the fallacious claim that GNU/Linux has less than 1% of the desktop market. For shame, Dana, for shame.

Anyway, two comments were posted in response to the response to Hiner's piece. Both are from Fedora/Red Hat developers. The first is Rahul Sundaram's, who wrote: "I do have to point out that GNOME learned six months release cycle from Red Hat Linux as I noted in http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Fedora..."

Another Red Hat employee, Adam Williamson, wrote the second comment which says: "Have you posted a comment to this effect on the article, and contacted the author directly? I find this very valuable in educating journalists. :)"

But Hiner is not a journalist; he is a Microsoft enthusiast with a blog (or rag/tabloid known as ZDNet). ____ * Netscape's former chairman, James H. Clark, once said: “Microsoft is, I think, fundamentally an evil company.” Does that make his an "irrational zealot"?

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
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 of says can be trusted
 
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
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October