Bonum Certa Men Certa

At All Things Open (ATO) Microsoft is Embracing, Extending, Extinguishing GNU/Linux, Hopes to Do the Same to Android (Updated)

Brushing shoulders with one's archenemy because it paid the organisers

Manchester station



Summary: This season's large Free/Open Source software (FOSS) conference, which is hosted near Red Hat's headquarters, becomes an event that is all about Microsoft, by far the biggest foe of FOSS

MICROSOFT does not love GNU/Linux. Microsoft attacks GNU/Linux, and it is still doing this under Nadella's supposed lead ("it came from above" comes to mind). Microsoft is suing both Android and GNU/Linux using software patents -- a fact that even Microsoft's Ross Gardler acknowledged when he spoke for Microsoft at All Things Open (ATO) last year. So why are some people still so gullible? How short-term can one's memory be? One has got to be seriously misinformed (or dishonest) to genuinely think that Microsoft loves GNU/Linux. Microsoft hates GNU/Linux and it does a lot to show it.



"All in all, Microsoft has once again distracted the attendants (almost 2,000) in a FOSS event from the real goals of the conference."We regret to say that Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols let us down when he published this article (the headline may be the editor's), in which the Microsoft mole is said to have "explain[ed] to the Linux faithful how Microsoft is now embracing Linux and open-source software."

Utter nonsense.

Steven (SJVN for short) seems to genuinely believe that there is change of heart here, based on my conversations with him. I beg to differ.

What comes after "Embracing"? Extending? Extinguishing? This situation is no exception and the patterns are all too familiar. Microsoft's booster Julie Bort, citing SJVN, further accentuated the Microsoft propaganda (emphasised perhaps by the editor at CBS) and went along with another misleading headline: "If you know Linux, Microsoft wants you" (Microsoft wants you... to defect).

Taking note of a "1,700-person crowd", Bort went on to repeat the Microsoft "loves GNU/Linux" kind of lie. This is not good.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols went even further than this and almost all of his coverage from All Things Open (so far) has been about Microsoft. He is turning (or helps turn) an event near Red Hat into a Microsoft marketing/publicity stunt, with headlines such as "​Microsoft adopts Google's Go language into Azure". Adopting? As in embracing? Extending and extinguishing to come? Just like Java back in the days or even Android with Dalvik?

Bort's colleague, who is also a Microsoft apologist (Matt Weinberger), has meanwhile published this puff piece titled "Microsoft has been quietly laying the groundwork to build its own version of Android" (that's putting it hilariously softly).

"In order to have any chance at reviving something from the wreckage," he and a colleague wrote, "Microsoft is going to have to think creatively, which may mean creating a "forked" version of Google's Android that comes with the company's own services in place of Google's."

This is part of the "Embrace Extend Extinguish" strategy against Android, which culminated in taking Cyanogen while pushing for antitrust action against Google. This is a gross and blatant attack on the Linux-powered Android as a whole, not just on Google.

All in all, Microsoft has once again distracted the attendants (almost 2,000) in a FOSS event from the real goals of the conference. The majority of these attendees will almost certainly be pissed off, but most of them will keep the resentment inside (suppressed in the interests of politeness). "Pitching Microsoft to a Linux Crowd" is how FOSS Force put it (the first such event coverage from FOSS Force). It's all about Microsoft. "The recruitment pitch," explains Christine, "came near the end of his talk, when he jokingly invited the audience of mostly developer types to, “Pass your resumes up.”"

And now this alone dominates the headlines. It's almost as though this whole event has become a Microsoft propaganda platform.

What should event organisers do in this situation? They should simply not invite or allow Microsoft to enter (not even if it offers the 'sponsorship' bribe, as it typically does), simply because it is still attacking GNU/Linux in the courtroom and outside the courtroom, behind closed doors, where it engages in racketeering. Microsoft has no place in FOSS events because it maliciously tries to derail them and it helps distract the media, too. How did this happen? Microsoft paid the organisers. At Microsoft it's All Things Open... except the database, the operating system, the applications, the browser and so on. Oh wait, at Microsoft just about nothing is open. So get off the bloody stage already...

"I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?"

--Microsoft's chief evangelist



Update (23/10/2015): We have been watching this closely for the past 24 hours. Microsoft's 'embrace' of this event is not being appreciated by GNU/Linux proponents. Many of them find Microsoft's actions rather offensive, much as we foresaw, and they also speak out.

"Not as long as the company continues to use software patents as a threat against open source projects," said one of the comments in FOSS Force. There are many good comments there and after a lot of sceptics commented Dave Lane said, "it does me good to see the comments on this article. So good to see people who aren’t so naive as to think that MS has changed its spots."

This event is now over and the media seemingly covered nothing except Microsoft at this venue (FOSS Force was no exception in this regard, SJVN too). Mission accomplished? Another event being derailed? Microsoft stealing the thunder? No major articles except about Microsoft?

There is at least one new piece about it ("Azure CTO Says Microsoft Loves Open Source. World Keeps Spinning"). To quote:

He gave examples, including using OpenSSH for remote logins in Microsoft products and Hadoop products for Azure's big data service, which is also based on Ubuntu Linux.


This is nonsense because, as we wrote yesterday about OpenSSH, it's more of an example of "embrace, extent, extinguish", not a genuine contribution. It's all about proprietary lock-in such as Windows.

Responding to Microsoft's attempt to recruit GNU/Linux people (or convert them), iophk asked: "Trying to pull another Borland? Hire up developers and then put them on ice?"

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Week to Come
Planning ahead
LLM Slop Has Only Been a Boon for Misinformation Online
The very same companies that were supposed to maintain quality (again, not limited to Google with PageRank) are now actively participating in generating and spreading slop
When They Tell You It's Free, Does That Mean No Charges (If So, Who's Paying and Why)?
there's "no free lunch"
Pushers of systemd Rewrite History (Richard Stallman Said UNIX "Was Portable and Seemed Fairly Clean")
Unlike systemd
 
Gemini Links 28/07/2025: Bila Yarrudhanggalangdhuray and Running pkgsrc in a FreeBSD Jail
Links for the day
Microsoft Turns News Sites Into Spamfarms
Is the site The Register MS the next IDG?
The Register MS/The Register US
On Saturday I contacted them for a comment (before issuing criticism)
Hacking revelations at Vatican Jubilee of Digital Missionaries
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, July 27, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, July 27, 2025
We're Going to Focus Less on the Molotov Cocktail-Throwing Microsofters and More on Patents
We can get back to focusing on what we wanted to focus on all along
Just Trying to Keep Web Sites Honest (Journalistic Integrity)
the latest articles in LinuxIac are real
Links 27/07/2025: Political Affairs, Data Breaches, Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: Hot in Japan and Terminal Escape Codes
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: More Microsoft Layoffs Coming, Science and Hardware News
Links for the day
Links 27/07/2025: FSF Hackathon and "Hulk Hogan Was a Very Bad Man"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/07/2025: DAW Mixer Chains and Simple Software
Links for the day
The Register MS is Inventing or Giving Air Time to New Conspiracy Theories so as to Distort the Narrative As High-Profile Agencies Fall Prey to Microsoft Holes
But the problem is holes, i.e. Microsoft making bad products; the problem is Microsoft
Most Editors at The Register Are American, Including the Editor in Chief, a Decade-Long Microsoft Stenographer (Writing Prose to Sell Microsoft)
It's not easy to tell where the site is based (we tried) because it's hiding behind ClownFlare and CrimeFlare hasn't been well lately
"New Techrights" Soon Turns 2 (A Few Days Before the FSF Turns 40)
We have a lot more to say about LLM bots
When Silence Says So Much
Garrett, a 'secure' boot pusher, will need to defend himself in the UK High Court
The Register in Trouble
There is not much that can be done at this point
Trajectory of The Register: From News Site/s Into "B2B"... and Into Microsoft Salespeople
Something isn't right at The Register
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, July 26, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, July 26, 2025
Misinformation in Social Control Media
Social control media passes around all sorts of tropes
Slopwatch: Fake Linux 'Articles' and Slopfarms With "Linux" in Their Names/Domains
throwing bots at "Linux" to make some fake articles
Links 26/07/2025: Amazon Shutdown in China, Russian Economy Slows
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: History of Time (1988) and Gemini Games
Links for the day
Links 26/07/2025: 50 Percent Tariffs in Amazon, Dying Intel Offloads Network and Edge Group (NEX)
Links for the day
Doing My Share to Tackle Online Slop and SPAM
Trying my best to 'fix' the Web
Blaming Programming Languages for Users' and Developers' Bad Practices
That's like blaming cars for drivers who crash into things
Slopwatch: Fakes, FUD, Duplicates, and Charlatans Galore
The Web as we once know it is collapsing. Some opportunists try to replace it with low-quality slop.
The Register UK Seems to Have Become American and Management is Changing (Microsofter as Editor in Chief)
The Register 'UK' is now controlled by the Directions on Microsoft guy
Many People Still Read Techrights Because It Says the Truth, Produces Evidence, and Does Not Self-Censor
Unlike so many other sites
The Register is Desperate for Money, According to The Register
I decided to check how they're doing as a business
Microsoft Finally Finds a Use Case for Slop?
Create low-quality chaff to shift the media's attention?
Microsoft Windows Lost 400 Million Users in a Few Years, Why Does The Register Double Down on Windows With New US Editor?
days ago they hired a new US editor
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 25, 2025
For Libel Reform One Must First Bring (or Raise) Awareness to the Issues and Their Magnitude
I myself know, from personal experience
Links 26/07/2025: Rationed Meals in the US and TikTok Repels Investments (Too Toxic)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 26/07/2025: "Bloody Google" and New People in Geminispace
Links for the day
Response to Solderpunk (Father of Gemini Protocol) About the Gemini Community
Solderpunk responds to non-sequitur
HTML and the Web Used to be Something a Child Could Learn, "Modern" Web is a Puzzle of Frameworks, Bloat, and Worse
When the Web was more like Gemini Protocol