Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Poaching Efforts (Against GNU/Linux) Advance, Don't Fall Into the Trap

It's a trap



"I would love to see all open source innovation happen on top of Windows."

--Steve Ballmer, Microsoft CEO



Summary: Microsoft's attempts to embrace, extend, extinguish GNU/Linux (convert GNU/Linux virtual instances into Windows, in the long term) an important reminder of a long-established modus operandi

JUST less than a fortnight ago we showed that the Azure 'department' at Microsoft tries poaching GNU/Linux people in events that are about the very opposite of Microsoft. Microsoft propaganda sites (treated as 'news' site nonetheless) are now amplifying Microsoft's E.E.E. blog by saying: "If you’re looking for a job and possess some awesome open source chops, Microsoft might be looking for you. The Azure team is hiring, and they’ve laid out what they’re looking for over at the Microsoft Openness blog."



"Now, Microsoft is showing its commitment to open source technologies," Brian Fagioli wrote. No, they are just showing their E.E.E. strategy. Have they dropped the patent lawsuit? Have they stopped bullying FOSS rivals? Nope.

“Priorities may vary depending on the person, but if we want to make the world a better place we need to stop helping those whose ambitions are against public interests.”Microsoft is not about "Openness", it's about predation, bribes, blackmail, and mass surveillance. Days ago we mentioned how Microsoft had liaised with TASER (see the press release). Having given plenty of back doors for spooks, Microsoft now gets closer to very shady companies for income, even so-called 'law enforcement' (whose potentially-lethal/fatal tools are used domestically to torture dissidents like Matt DeHart in the US). Microsoft is also getting closer to the FOSS-hostile 'security' firm Trend Micro, based on puff pieces that accompany the press release or other puff pieces, e.g. [1, 2].

People should reject careers at Microsoft not just because it's a proprietary software company. It's an unethical company. Notoriously so. What comes first? Money? Freedom? Ethics? Priorities may vary depending on the person, but if we want to make the world a better place we need to stop helping those whose ambitions are against public interests.

"Really, I'm not out to destroy Microsoft. That will just be a completely unintentional side effect."

--Linus Torvalds



Recent Techrights' Posts

Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: The OSI Does Not Respect Anybody's Privacy
The surveillance mafia that bans dissent or key people (even co-founders) with dissenting views
The LLM Bubble is About to Implode, Gimmicks and Financial Shell Games Cannot Prevent That, Only Delay It
To inflate the bubble MElon is now doing the classic trick of buying from oneself for a fictional value
 
LLM Slop Piggybacking News About GNU/Linux and Distorting It
new examples
Links 31/03/2025: Press and Democracy Under Further Attacks in the US, Attitudes Towards Slop Sour
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2025: More X-Filesposting and Dreaming in Emacs
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 30, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, March 30, 2025
Links 30/03/2025: Security Breaches, Crackdowns on Dissent/Rival Politicians
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: London Soundtrack Festival, Superbloom, gmiCAPTCHA
Links for the day
Phasing Out Vista 10 in Nations Where ~90% of Windows Users Still Rely on It
Recipe for another Microsoft disaster
The Cost of Pursuing the Much-Needed Reform/Shield Against Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation (SLAPPs)
“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.”
Links 30/03/2025: Contagious Ideas, Signal Leak, and Squashing Lousy Patents
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: "Quantum Randomness" and "F-1 Visa Revoked" in US
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2025: US as a Threat, Returning to the WWW
Links for the day
Links 30/03/2025: Judge Blocks Dismantling Of VOA, Turkey Arrested Many Journalists
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 29, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, March 29, 2025
Judges Would Never Rule for Men Who Strangle Women or Against Women Who Merely Wrote Articles About Abuse They Had Received From Men
We don't intend to do "trial by media", so we won't be disclosing claims and defences until it's over
Windows is an Unnatural Disaster, It is Also Avoidable
there's a wide window of opportunity opening
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Less YouTube and More Station
Links for the day
In Some Countries, Such as Thailand, Firefox is Already Measured at Less Than 2% (One Day Firefox Will Get Blocked, Not Only Lack Support)
Web consolidation around Chrom-isms will doom the Web as we know it
Killing the News With Spam and Slop Benefits Those Whose Desire is an Uninformed Population
adoption of Free software depends indirectly on political activities/activism
Links 29/03/2025: Trademarks Battles, Fires Destroy More Than 3,000 South Korean Homes
Links for the day
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Privacy Fiasco in Detail: An Introduction
Perhaps tomorrow or perhaps next week we'll share more information about what happened and what was reported to the California Privacy Protection Agency
Links 29/03/2025: More Crackdowns on Science, "Hey Hi" Slopping is Flopping
Links for the day
IBM's BS (Bait, Switch) Regarding Ways to Stay Onboard
PIPs, RTOs, and forced relocations are just an illusion of choice (or ability to recover)
Costa Rica Almost Bankrupt Because of Microsoft
the incidents in Costa Rica are Windows incidents
Gemini Links 29/03/2025: Art of Looking, Wireguard, EMacs
Links for the day
Links 29/03/2025: Attacks on Social Security and War Updates
Links for the day
Banned evidence: Ars Technica forums censored email predicting DebConf23 death, Abraham Raji & Debian cover-up
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 28, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, March 28, 2025