Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation is a Tax-Exempt PR Firm With Glorified Trademark

There's often a misunderstanding because there's "Linux" in the name Linux Foundation

Jono Bacon tweet
From the sponsor prospectus here



Summary: The decline of the Linux Foundation (as a credible group) means its substitution of technical staff with mindless parrots who spread lies for corporate sponsors (for a fee)

LAST week we began refactoring our Daily Links template so as to better suit topics we cover. Here at Techrights we shall soon be moving the Linux Foundation out of its (nested) Linux section because ~90% of the time this front group says and does things which have nothing at all to do with Linux. Today's Linux Foundation, to put it quite bluntly, is a tax-exempt PR firm with a glorified trademark. Its sole aspiration is increase of revenue by all means possible.



It's really sad and it is also worrying. The Linux Foundation has become little more than GitHub outsourcing services. That's what it does on the 'technical' side, advocacy aside (advocacy like "Open Source loves Microsoft")...

"If you want openwashing, we'll build something on a Microsoft proprietary software platform (GitHub is proprietary, in NSA PRISM)..."

"The Linux Foundation has become little more than GitHub outsourcing services."That's one of the main propositions of today's Linux Foundation. It wasn't always like that.

After sacking all Linux.com writers and editors back in April (notice how nobody in the media covered that) the Linux Foundation remains nothing but a PR agency. No journalists, just PR people. The sole editor of Linux.com proudly describes himself as “filmmaker”...

But he never made a single film!

So he’s not a filmmaker but a liar. “Vlogger” at best...

He is trying to attract as 'clients' people who want a "vlogger" with a channel in YouTube (like SiliconANGLE theCUBE). That's just PR. "Guy with a camera..."

And Jono Bacon has once again unmasked himself (a few hours ago) as a marketing guy.

“Previously running marketing at EMC and Box, Whit has also advised numerous of companies…”

"He is trying to attract as 'clients' people who want a "vlogger" with a channel in YouTube (like SiliconANGLE theCUBE)."Bloody hell, Jono…

How much do they pay you per PR post? Any more than the thousands of dollars they pay for a tweet (see image at the top; it's from the Linux Foundation's brochure).

The sad thing is that Planet Ubuntu now amplifies marketing from Jono Bacon and his "clients", even stuff that has nothing to do with GNU, Linux, Ubuntu or even FOSS.

What have you become, Jono?

The openwashing industry won't call itself that (what it really is); watch out for groups, firms, companies or 'trade groups' whose income/revenue source is something like "consulting" or "sponsorship"; they're not charities and there's expectation of something in return. Bill Gates does it too.

"The openwashing industry won't call itself that (what it really is); watch out for groups, firms, companies or 'trade groups' whose income/revenue source is something like "consulting" or "sponsorship"; they're not charities and there's expectation of something in return."Openwashing by such large monopolies of proprietary software (and NSA collaborators) seems to be helping these monopolies recruit opportunistic defectors, who then become their moles. Even if they're desperate for money, that doesn't make a good excuse.

One reader has sent us this old article by Bob Weinstein. "You may be working for a corporate cult," the headline warns. In a sense, this is what this foundation of Jim Zemlin became and we know who is worshiped. ⬆

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft is Paying Many Workers to Leave the Company This Year, Just Don't Call it "Layoffs"
in some cases Microsoft pays people to leave while calling it "voluntary"
Gemini Links 19/10/2026: Orchids, Reducing GAFAM Reliance, and Deploying on OpenBSD
Links for the day
Links 19/10/2026: Intense Protests in France and "Zelenskyy Says Russia Seeking Blackout In Ukraine"
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part VIII - How We Convinced British Police That the Americans Were Just Manipulating and Tricking Them at the Expense of British Taxpayers
Their job is to protect communities, not the feelings of Americans who threaten violence
IBM CEO Boasts to the Media About "AI" Momentum While Sacking His Workers Who Worked On It
Recently, IBM took a bailout and got rid of many workers
Corrupt Media Benefits Corrupt Officials (the Case of IBM)
IBM’s Pre-Earnings Publicity Blitz
Links 19/10/2026: "Investors Disturbed by Anthropic's Financial Data" and "The "Dead Internet" Is Here" (Slop and Bots Running on Huge Debt)
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/10/2026: ICEYE/SAR, Smol Servers, and Starting an Open Access Journal
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 18, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, October 18, 2026
Gemini Links 18/10/2026: Hobbies, RAM Prices, and Avoiding GAFAM
Links for the day
Intercontinental Brigading - Part VII - Weekend Abuse Reported to British Police (Rogue Actors Take No Breaks)
Some time in the next few days I'll share an elaborate report
Gemini Links 18/10/2026: Hospitals, Literature, Fixed IP Addresses, and Sunday Types
Links for the day
Links 18/10/2026: Brazil Reduces Deforestation, Some 4-5 Gray's Inn Square Scandals in Insolvency Petition of Reform UK
Links for the day
UbuntuBuzz is LLM Slop
Tragic
"Assisted by NSA" and "It's Just a Tool" (So Fine!)
Free software is meant to be produced by people who value and pursue Software Freedom
Slop is "just a hobby, won't be big and professional like GNU."
What Torvalds says about "hey hi" ("AI") does not prove he is in charge
Gemini Links 18/10/2026: Movies, Greenland, and Detectors of Slop Plagiarism
Links for the day
Links 18/10/2026: TikTok Censors Criticism of MElon, "Trump’s Latest Attempt to Be the King", and "Big Tech Oligarchs Have a Terrible Plan for Humanity"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 17, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, October 17, 2026
Gemini Links 17/10/2026: Big Glowing Advertising Screens, Busy October, and Art
Links for the day
The First Casualty: The Reputation of Linux Developers (and of Linux)
The last thing you can take from a person is pride
Links 17/10/2026: Europe Divorcing US President Putin (Kompromat), MElon and Kapo-berg ("Meta") Buying US Elections Again
Links for the day
GAFAM LLMs Seem to be Causing Veteran, Experienced Linux Developers to Quit, Only to be Replaced With GAFAM Bots and Unaudited Slopfest 'Code'
Better than 'pulling a SCO'?
30 Years of KDE and "Project Banana"
KDE recently turned 30 (many blog posts about it this past week)
Intercontinental Brigading - Part VI - Racism Against Blacks
Systems don't always work as intended
Inevitable Things
"Bitbucket was Inevitable"
Andy's Passing Thoughts on Media Dying, Not Reporting News (Even Critical News About Itself)
No more news
Stallman Was Right About Torvalds
The crowd/audience Linus Torvalds panders to is paid by GAFAM to go attend and dominate (speak at) LF events. They're people whose employer forces them to use slop, it's inorganic.
Links 17/10/2026: "Why Math Dumped OpenAI", US Third Circuit Has Confirmed LLMs and Other Slop Constitute Plagiarism or Copyright Infringement
Links for the day
GPL Was Right (About Hoarding, Now Automated With Plagiarism Blenders)
Some time next year the UK's High Court might listen to arguments related to this
Microsoft Allegedly Asks Many Workers to Leave at the End of This Year (or Get the Boot), It's Called Voluntary Exit Program a.k.a. Voluntary Early Retirement Program (or VEP) Even for People Far Too Young to Retire
"Everyone at Microsoft knows what those acronyms mean."
The Torvalds-led Slopfest as a Reminder to Pursue Software Freedom, Not Plagiarism Endorsed (for Money) by 'Linux' Foundation
What's happening this month moreover proves that he is not in control of important decisions in his project
Why We Never Got Back to IPFS
Practically speaking, we could get back to IPFS any time
Trillions of Dollars in Debt Are Not "Investment", More People Realise This Now
"Investors started offloading shares on Wednesday in response to an X post about the debt load of CoreWeave Inc..."
Red Hat Silent Layoffs: October 1 Bluewashing, Then Leaving IBM Altogether
It's said that weeks from now there will be another "round" (of "RAs")
Gemini Links 16/10/2026: Metrovision, Smartwatches, and Rekindled Love for Geminispace
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 16, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, October 16, 2026
Intercontinental Brigading - Part V - Keeping Linux Under Users' Control, Not Microsoft's (NSA) Control, Leads to Weaponisation of Cops (Killing the Messengers)
Transatlantic lawfare