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

KillerStartups.com is an LLM Spam Site That Sometimes Covers 'Linux' (Spams the Term)
It only serves to distract from real articles
 
Links 22/11/2024: Software Patents Squashed, Russia Starts Using ICBMs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, November 21, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, November 21, 2024
Gemini Links 21/11/2024: Alphabetising 400 Books and Giving the Internet up
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: TikTok Fighting Bans, Bluesky Failing Users
Links for the day
Links 21/11/2024: SpaceX Repeatedly Failing (Taxpayers Fund Failure), Russian Disinformation Spreading
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Earned Two More Honorary Doctorates Last Month
Two more doctorate degrees
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, November 20, 2024
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: Game Recommendations, Schizo Language
Links for the day
Growing Older and Signs of the Site's Maturity
The EPO material remains our top priority
Did Microsoft 'Buy' Red Hat Without Paying for It? Does It Tell Canonical What to Do Now?
This is what Linus Torvalds once dubbed a "dick-sucking" competition or contest (alluding to Red Hat's promotion of UEFI 'secure boot')
Links 20/11/2024: Politics, Toolkits, and Gemini Journals
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: 'The Open Source Definition' and Further Escalations in Ukraine/Russia Battles
Links for the day
[Meme] Many Old Gemini Capsules Go Offline, But So Do Entire Web Sites
Problems cannot be addressed and resolved if merely talking about these problems isn't allowed
Links 20/11/2024: Standing Desks, Broken Cables, and Journalists Attacked Some More
Links for the day
Links 20/11/2024: Debt Issues and Fentanylware (TikTok) Ban
Links for the day
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar), Magna Carta and Debian Freedoms: RIP
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Jérémy Bobbio (Lunar) & Debian: from Frans Pop to Euthanasia
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
This Article About "AI-Powered" is Itself LLM-Generated Junk
Trying to meet quotas by making fake 'articles' that are - in effect - based on plagiarism?
Recognizing invalid legal judgments: rogue Debianists sought to deceive one of Europe's most neglected regions, Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Google-funded group distributed invalid Swiss judgment to deceive Midlands-North-West
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 20/11/2024: BeagleBone Black and Suicide Rates in Switzerland
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, November 19, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, November 19, 2024