Bonum Certa Men Certa

TechBytes Episode 48: Will The Real Steve Ballmer Please Step Down?

TechBytes
Direct download as Ogg (1:04:41, 13.8 MB) | High-quality MP3 (24.4 MB) | Low-quality MP3 (7.4 MB)



Summary: Tim and Roy speak about some of the latest news items which pose danger to software freedom

TODAY'S show is unique as it is the first time we produce a Flash option for listening to the show. We talk about GNU/Linux in North Korea, HTC's Microsoft tax on Linux, and the pressure for Steve Ballmer to step down (among many other topics). Update: the show notes are out.

Today's closing track is "1977" by Anita Tijoux. The track comes from the usual source. All tracks are from SXSW 2010 (get the torrents legally here). In previous shows we played many good tracks such as April Smith's "Colors". There was also "Edge of My Seat" by Amber Rubarth, "Have This Drink" by Black Mike and Kemistry, "Joyful Noise" by Breakestra, "Sei La" by Erika Machado, "El Camino" by No te va gustar, "Future Eyes" by Ear Pwr, "Tokki no Rassha " by Dolly, "Quanto Tempo" by Doces Cariocas, "Cos I said so" by Fangs, "Iguana" by SambaDa, "We Should Give" by Amity, "Blackout City" by Anamanaguchi, and "She's Got You" by Cosmo Jarvis. We thank those artists for choosing to spread their good work. We have many more in the pipeline for future shows. We hope you will join us for future shows and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. You can also visit our archives for past shows. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date.

As embedded (HTML5):

















Download:

Ogg Theora
(There is also an MP3 version)



Our past shows:

November 2010



Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 1: Brandon from FedoraTechBytes Episode 1: Apple, Microsoft, Bundling, and Fedora 14 (With Special Guest Brandon Lozza)1/11/2010
Episode 2: No guestsTechBytes Episode 2: Ubuntu's One Way, Silverlight Goes Dark, and GNU Octave Discovered7/11/2010
Episode 3: No guestsTechBytes Episode 3: Games, Wayland, Xfce, Restrictive Application Stores, and Office Suites8/11/2010
Episode 4: No guestsTechBytes Episode 4: Fedora 14 Impressions, MPAA et al. Payday, and Emma Lee's Magic9/11/2010
Episode 5: No guestsTechBytes Episode 5: Windows Loses to Linux in Phones, GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Estimations, and Much More12/11/2010
Episode 6: No guestsTechBytes Episode 6: KINect a Cheapo Gadget, Sharing Perceptually Criminalised, Fedora and Fusion 14 in Review13/11/2010
Episode 7: No guestsTechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix14/11/2010
Episode 8: Gordon Sinclair on Linux MintTechBytes Episode 8: Linux Mint Special With Gordon Sinclair (ThistleWeb)15/11/2010
Episode 9: Gordon Sinclair returnsTechBytes Episode 9: The Potentially Permanent Return of ThistleWeb17/11/2010
Episode 10: Special show formatTechBytes Episode 10: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux19/11/2010
Episode 11: Part 2 of special showTechBytes Episode 11: Microsoft FUD and Dirty Tactics Against GNU/Linux - Part II21/11/2010
Episode 12: Novell specialTechBytes Episode 12: Novell Sold for Microsoft Gains23/11/2010
Episode 13: No guestsTechBytes Episode 13: Copyfight, Wikileaks, and Other Chat28/11/2010
Episode 14: Patents specialTechBytes Episode 14: Software Patents in Phones, Android, and in General29/11/2010
Episode 15: No guestsTechBytes Episode 15: Google Chrome OS, Windows Refund, and Side Topics Like Wikileaks30/11/2010


December 2010



Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 16: No guestsTechBytes Episode 16: Bribes for Reviews, GNU/Linux News, and Wikileaks Opinions3/12/2010
Episode 17: No guestsTechBytes Episode 17: Chrome OS Imminent, Wikileaks Spreads to Mirrors, 'Open' Microsoft5/12/2010
Episode 18: No guestsTechBytes Episode 18: Chrome OS, Sharing, Freedom, and Wikileaks11/12/2010
Episode 19: No guestsTechBytes Episode 19: GNU/Linux Market Share on Desktop at 4%, Microsoft Declining, and ChromeOS is Coming16/12/2010
Episode 20: No guestsTechBytes Episode 20: GNU/Linux Gamers Pay More for Games, Other Discussions18/12/2010
Episode 21: No guestsTechBytes Episode 21: Copyright Abuses, Agitators and Trolls, Starting a New Site20/12/2010
Episode 22: No special guestsTechBytes Episode 22: Freedom Debate and Picks of the Year27/12/2010


January 2011



Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 23: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 23: Failuresfest and 2011 Predictions2/1/2011
Episode 24: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 24: Android, Microsoft's President Departure, and Privacy10/1/2011
Episode 25: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 25: Mono, Ubuntu, Android, and More14/1/2011
Episode 26: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 26: €£98 GNU/Linux Computer, Stuxnet's Government Roots, and More18/1/2011
Episode 27: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 27: Linux Phones, Pardus, Trusting One's Government-funded Distribution, and Much More22/1/2011
Episode 28: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 28: The Weekend After Microsoft's Results and LCA30/1/2011
Episode 29: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 29: KDE, Other Desktop Environments, and Programming31/1/2011


February 2011



Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 30: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 30: Microsoft at FOSDEM, Debian Release, and Anonymous7/2/2011
Episode 31: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 31: Nokiasoft and Computer Games13/2/2011
Episode 32: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 32: Desktop Environments, Computer Games, Android and Ubuntu as the 'New Linux', Copyright Mentality22/2/2011


March 2011



Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 33: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 33: Patent 'Thieves' and News That Deceives6/3/2011
Episode 34: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 34: Done on a Dongle13/3/2011
Episode 35: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 35: You Can't Please Some People19/3/2011


April 2011







Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 36: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 36: “Come to Take Me Away”3/4/2011
Episode 37: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 37: Escaping the Soaps4/4/2011
Episode 38: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 38: Thanks for Reaching Out11/4/2011
Episode 39: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 39: Groklaw wins, Microsoft me too's and trolls fail13/4/2011
Episode 40: Tim, Gordon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 40: Video Begins at 4017/4/2011
Episode 41: Tim, Gordon, Rusty, and RoyTechBytes Episode 41: Going Rusty24/4/2011
Episode 42: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 42: Bandwidth, Android and Patents, Games, and Computer Nostalgia29/4/2011


May 2011









Show overviewShow titleDate recorded
Episode 43: Tim, Jono Bacon, and RoyTechBytes Episode 43: At Home With Jono Bacon, Ubuntu Community Manager4/5/2011
Episode 44: Rusty, Gordon, Tim, Roy, and Brandon LozzaTechBytes Episode 44: The Four Horsemen Reunited; Fedora Ambassador Interview7/5/2011
Episode 45: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 45: Skype, Facebook, and Weekly Musings14/5/2011
Episode 46: Rusty, Gordon, Tim, and RoyTechBytes Episode 46: GNU/Linux in Germany, Android's Openness, and More15/5/2011
Episode 47: Tim and RoyTechBytes Episode 47: Unity With the Wife21/5/2011


Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft's Windows in Gabon: Still Moving Down
What is this Unknown? Who knows...
GNU/Linux is 486 in Ireland
4.86% that is
"Secure Boot" is a Security Problem, Not a Solution
These people don't try to improve security but to undermine security
 
Links 18/08/2025: "Microsoft Store" Gets Increasingly Hostile, "Cracking Abandonware DRM"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Summer "Gone" and Web Reposts in Gemini
Links for the day
Links 18/08/2025: LLM Reputation Damaged, Australia Catches Google Foul Play
Links for the day
Geeks Like GNU/Linux
The technical community seems to be consolidating and rallying around GNU/Linux
End of Reliable Media
it makes the world a worse place, it renders the Web a misinformation machine
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 17, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 17, 2025
GitHub Won't Last Much Longer
Many things at Microsoft are going to go the way of the Skype (or "dodo"). GitHub will be among those.
We've Never Used Large Language Model (LLM)
we just never used an LLM
Gemini Links 18/08/2025: Retro and Endless Escape from the WWW
Links for the day
Working Whilst Away From Home
Decades ago being away meant all sorts of problems associated with workflows and connectivity
The Next Version of Windows Will Always be the Best (for Microsoft)
It's worse and slower over time
"End of the Smartphone Era" According to Jeffrey Epstein's Key Enabler
They call it "sour grapes"
Links 17/08/2025: Strike Downs Air Canada, Postmortems of Putin's Red Carpet Summit
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Slow Tools and Enshittification of YouTube
Links for the day
Don't Talk to Bullies
This serious matter is still being examined by British authorities
Links 17/08/2025: "The Performance of Power" and "My Undesirable Friends"
Links for the day
Growing Our Reach
Our goal was never "hits"
The Russian Vision of Technology
Russia's surveillance is very extensive
Sooner or Later Almost Everyone Will Know "AI" is Just a Go-To, Misused, Misapplied, and Grossly Overused Term of Liars and Con Jobs Who Ride a Ponzi Scheme
At the expense of people gullible enough to "invest" in this or take salaries/bonuses in the form of "stock" (tied to a Ponzi scheme)
The Register MS Has Begun Using Slop Images
It's not clear when it started; but it's definitely getting worse [...] Worst of all are 'articles' about slop that are themselves slop
Reddit Funded by Microsoft
Reddit is merely a filter and we knows who controls that filter (using money)
When It Comes to Technology, Mozilla and Firefox Are Illiberal
Last month in Planet Debian we saw one more person explaining to everyone how to "turn off" DRM in Firefox and hide the pop-up/s
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, August 16, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, August 16, 2025
The Open Source Initiative Has Many Scandals, We'll Try to Summarise Them All
Open Source Initiative (OSI) hates facts
Open Source Initiative (OSI), Wikipedia, Molly De Blanc, and Censorship/Reputation Laundering
OSI is like SPLC. The old name remains, the mission changed
Gemini Links 17/08/2025: Misunderstanding "Geminiverse" and Let's Encrypt
Links for the day
Links 17/08/2025: Breaches, Layoffs, and Scams
Links for the day
The Case for Software Freedom in Europe Becomes Stronger as GAFAM and the US Become Allies of Those Who Invade Europe
"One would think that both sides of the pond would be very interested in this valuable commons and work to not just protect it but cultivate it further, rather than work to saw the legs from under it by advancing software patents instead."
Slopwatch: Google News, LinuxSecurity, LinuxBSDos.com, and Garbage From Brian Fagioli
nowadays when people search the Web or when one researches some topic (looking not just for news in Google News) one is increasingly likely to land on a fake 'article' spewed out by some Microsoft LLM
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Back After Hiatus and News Aggregators in Geminispace
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: mRNA Being Abandoned, Putin Plant Flags in Alaska, Faces No Sanctions
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Science Besieged, Confidentiality Standards Breached
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Loners and Vacation, Climate Issues
Links for the day
Links 16/08/2025: Chatbots Bad for Kids, Software Patents Apple Battle
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 15, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 15, 2025
Slopwatch: WebProNews and Google News Promoting Fake Articles About "Linux"
Google News is being flooded by these slopfarms, so when Linux news is being sought online (via Google News) many people will read bots that spew out FUD
Original European Patent Convention (EPC, 1973), Routinely Violated by the European Patent Office, Now in Geminispace
hundreds of thousands of European Patents must be immediately revoked
Gemini Links 16/08/2025: Politics and Alhena 5.2.8
Links for the day