Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation's Open Source Summit is a Proprietary Software Marketing Venue

Not just the Open Source Summit, either



Summary: The distortion of the term Open Source and promotion of proprietary software such as GitHub shows that the foundation called after "Linux" is actually more of a front group of hostile corporations -- large brands and rich people to whom Open Source represents a threat that needs to be controlled

THE events that are called "open" something aren't necessarily what they're called. This isn't unusual and it isn't limited to technology. There are various other domains where events get called the opposite of what they are. That serves a purpose, especially for sponsors, e.g. events on patents being called "innovation" something and dogs of war calling their events "defense" something.



"Consider the event called (or so-called) 'open source' summit; it's mostly used for openwashing of proprietary software firms, or OaaS (openwashing as a service)."Staying focused on the subject of Open Source, and using the Open Source Summit as an example, look at the speeches and sponsors (more or less the same as keynote slots are nowadays blatantly sold to sponsors). Also look at VMworld, which is not about "VM" but about VMware. It is "hosted by VMware," as Wikipedia clarifies, so it is about proprietary software, which the Linux Foundation is happy to openwash for a fee. How about GitHub? Or the above "open" cloud event ("summit"), which Zemlin did with Microsoft in Tel Aviv less than a year ago? Sadly, this is what we've come to expect from his foundation and based on their own brochures, this is very much deliberate. Consider the event called (or so-called) 'open source' summit; it's mostly used for openwashing of proprietary software firms, or OaaS (openwashing as a service). Look who steers this event. Here's an example press release published earlier this week. The company called itself -- right there in the press release -- "SaaS" ("SaaS-managed hybrid cloud"), spicing that up with the "Serverless" lunacy/lie. Here they go:

Platform9 (https://platform9.com/), the leader in SaaS-managed hybrid cloud, today announced it will present three sessions at Open Source Summit North America. The company is also sponsoring VMworld 2019 US, and will present at a live webinar from VMworld about Kubernetes and cloud native for Enterprise IT.



Read VMworld as VMware.

They have a classic proprietary services-leaning Web site, but it would be unfair to single it out. Many others in Open Source Summit North America are equally bad if not much worse. Platform9 is 'special' in the sense that corporate media keeps openwashing it (lots of examples so far this month) or associating it with "Linux" for "good measure". Such media is perhaps not checking or not even caring about facts. Just like Zemlin's Linux Foundation doesn't seem to care who joins as long as they offer money. As someone said in a comment last night, "Reminder: Microsoft already acquired The Linux Foundation, in 2016, as a Platinum member."

"...the term "Open Source" no longer seems to mean anything. And yes, that's a very big problem."That may help explain Jim Zemlin's "Open Source loves Microsoft" moment (captured above by a manager from Microsoft and then uploaded by him to the Web). That's how they could appease regulators -- a push into approving the GitHub takeover at the time.

As someone put it hours ago in a response to something I had said: "Microsoft makes a 'open source' code editor under the MIT license. But when you download it, it's under a proprietary license from Microsoft. The app is Visual Studio Code and you can install the MIT version, so compiled from the actual public available code, from Flathub, called Code OSS. Typical open washing here. Nobody knows if they add any more code."

But does that matter? As we'll explain in the next post, the term "Open Source" no longer seems to mean anything. And yes, that's a very big problem.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

The FSF Board and FSF Beard
So the FSF's Board has grown
Law Firms Facing the Consequences for Patently Abusive Litigation on Behalf of Microsoft Employees Who Got Arrested for Strangulation and Had Done Even Worse Things
Having spent 1.5 years bullying me with patronising letters on behalf of Microsofters, last week they got served a massive bill and, in effect, lost the Hearing
 
Permutation in LLMs Does, Inevitably, Change Meanings and Therefore LLMs Cannot Properly Rephrase or Summarise Texts
LLMs lack actual grasp or comprehension of what they spew out
Links 23/06/2025: Many Security Breaches, Population Declines
Links for the day
Gemini Links 23/06/2025: "America at the Crossroads" and OpenWRT Surgery
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 22, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 22, 2025
Pure Dove
Different means different, and sometimes those who "deviate" from "the norm" have a point
Censorship is a Sign of Weakness Which Invites More Censorship Attempts
revolutionaries don't succumb to pressure from bullies
Why It's Unlikely That LLM Slop Will Dominate the Web in the Long Run
Slopfarms will eventually perish (they have no actual value) and "survivors" on the Web will be sites that never depended on search engines and social control media
At What Point Does Outsourcing Constitute Malpractice?
Brett Wilson LLP's new staff page is misleading
GNU/Linux in Argentina Now Measured Near 5%
Like in central Europe, they must be seeing an increasingly hostile US
BetaNews is Fake News, Composed by LLM Slop
nothing in BetaNews is written by humans anymore
Links 22/06/2025: Giving Up on Smartphones and 'Jaws' at 50
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Furniture Construction and Bubble for Comments
Links for the day
Links 22/06/2025: Windows TCO Tales and YouTube Getting More Hostile to Users
Links for the day
New Report From the EPO's Staff Representatives in The Hague (LSCTH) Reveals Many Unsolved Issues
Local Staff Committee The Hague (LSCTH) wrote to staff just before the weekend
LLMs Breaking Everything
Computing and the Net became a playground for scammers and "bros", like people who "invented" fake currencies and also try to tell us that LLMs spewing out things will have some real value
Links 22/06/2025: More Slop Lawsuits (Copyrights) and "America’s Oligarch Problem"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 22/06/2025: Gigantic Toolchest and Annoying Bots
Links for the day
The Calling
Persist and persevere, justice will come your way
So Far Every BetaNews 'Article' is LLM Slop, So BetaNews is Officially Just a Slopfarm
They just don't seem to value what they have
IBM Rumour: Mass Layoffs (RAs) Lists Being Made for Consulting, With Effect in July 2025
Bogus companies with no viable products and no world-leading (in their field) staff are doomed to perish
Links 21/06/2025: Data Breach With 16 Billion Passwords, Dutch Government Recommends Children Under 15 Stay off TikTok and Instagram
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Notes about Typst (and LaTeX) and Opos
Links for the day
Microsoft's Competition Tactics: Sabotage GNU/Linux Installs, Block Chrome
Edge is dying
1989: Free Software as "Open" Software (OSI Didn't Coin "Open Source", It Also Predates Linux)
"One man's fight for Free software"
The Microsoft OOXML Modus Operandi: Throw 1,000 Pages of Other People's Work for a Judge to Read Ahead of a One-Hour Meeting
No time to discuss this - that's the point
Formalities Officers (FOs) at the EPO Are in Trouble, Reveals Internal Report
We already know, based on an HR pattern we saw at IBM and elsewhere, that reallocating roles can be prerequisite for dismissal and those who do so expect many to resign anyway
The Web is Slop and FUD, Let's Go to Gemini Protocol
Lupa sees self-signed capsules at 92.4%
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 20, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 20, 2025
Links 21/06/2025: Phone Bans for Concerts, Tensions in Taiwan Strait
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/06/2025: Spoilers, Public Yggdrasil Node, Changes to AuraGem Search
Links for the day