Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Register Has Been Mostly Microsoft Propaganda Disguised as 'News' After That Microsoft Partnership (Money)

Perception management operations 'on the cheap' (mere 'slush funds' to Microsoft)

I can see Microsoft critics. We don't need to refute our critics if we can just bribe them.



Summary: The Register (or El Reg) is becoming more of a Microsoft megaphone again; it all makes sense if one goes back a decade and a half to their Microsoft partnership (preceded by a lot of harsh criticisms of Microsoft)

THE VARIOUS "Linux" podcasts have more lately spoken quite a bit about "WSL"; it seems like a coordinated charm offensive, facilitatef partly by Microsoft and partly by Canonical. Similarly, in recent days we saw Red Hat pushing .NET quite a few times and some Python podcasts had Microsoft as guests. It's very clear Microsoft tries to dominate the discussion in order to push Windows, Visual Studio, GitHub, Azure and so on.



"It's very clear Microsoft tries to dominate the discussion in order to push Windows, Visual Studio, GitHub, Azure and so on.""The Register on "Microsoft Linux"," one reader wrote to us last night, is a trend worth taking stock of. "We would be familiar with the typical Microsoft strategy," he explained. "In this case, "partner" with a Linux company, generate some mindshare goodwill, then make sure the Linux subsystem isn't any use and will only run on Windows."

He cited yesterday's article about "multipass" -- a project Canonical released on... Microsoft GitHub. And guess whose agenda the article promotes....

As our reader put it (somewhat rudely): "What the fuck was Canonical thinking in 'partnering' with the borg?"

"No, we haven't missed the irony of Microsoft lovers with virtually no history in GNU/Linux development taking the 'lead' on this."He also took note of Canonical's decision to give Microsoft money for WSL's propaganda outlet. We alluded to this before.

"This is what Lenin refereed to supporters of Soviet-ism in the west "useful idiots"," our reader asserted, pointing to some of the culprits (we'll try to keep this impersonal and therefore redact some bits).

No, we haven't missed the irony of Microsoft lovers with virtually no history in GNU/Linux development taking the 'lead' on this. Nor have we overlooked their disdain for GNU/Linux and tacit support for Microsoft's patent blackmail against GNU/Linux. This is what WSL is. These are the people who take the lead! The managers...

Back to our reader: "Censorship at The Register" has meanwhile been claimed as well. They apparently censor a lot of comments that don't suit the narrative Microsoft wants. "Do an article on what advertising revenue (bribery) The Register gets from Microsoft, same with ZDNet and the rest," the reader said.

"They apparently censor a lot of comments that don't suit the narrative Microsoft wants."We actually wrote a lot about that in the past. Heck, we have a whole wiki page with articles about ZDNet -- a site I repeatedly encourage people to boycott (nowadays it's managed by a Microsoft fan, not even a closeted one, who writes clickbait as headlines and we know for whose agenda).

Our reader is certainty aware. It's difficult not to notice.

"I have a new slogan for The Register," he said. "The Register, whatever you do, don't mention 'MICROSOFT'. I'm afraid the Reg has gone bad for a long time. The only time you read about Linux is in relation to the MICROSOFT Linux sub-system, or Linux in relation to malware, but when it's on Windows then it's referred to as "banking" malware, else they keep pushing 'cloud' solutions."

A lot of their "Linux" or "FOSS" coverage (more so nowadays) comes from Microsoft Tim, just like Microsoft Peter (the pedophile) at Ars Technica up until his arrest. Their whole "Open Source" section was nothing except Microsoft lies and marketing. Literally all of it was just that when he was arrested. Need we mention that Ars Technica UK was -- by admission/confession made to me by its editor -- funded by Microsoft? Guess what dominated that site until it perished...

But let's go back to The Register. Microsoft Tim's case merits a post of his own. It's like Microsoft took journalistic authority over "Linux" and "FOSS". It calls the shots and sets the tone/narrative at The Register. Another person who once had this role, Ashley Vance, is nowadays doing propaganda pieces for Microsoft at even larger publishers (like some mythical Arctic vault -- basically fake news that helped distract from ICE controversies).

The reader suggested doing this search or that search. Find a negative article below...

Microsoft puff pieces



Microsoft Windows puff pieces



Need we remind readers that back in the old days The Register was renowned for Microsoft criticism?

Then Microsoft struck a partnership with The Register (yes, money involved).

"I've also noticed it's hard to find announcements of Bill Gates bribes (payments for particular publishes) -- which they openly disclose initially -- because they're once paid they're googlebombing the relevant search phrases with puff pieces (paid-for lies)."We would need to unearth that old article about the El Reg-Microsoft partnership. "Probably found in the 2003 or 2004 series," an associate of ours recalls, "but just as an announcement... not necessarily a main article."

These things are hard to find after all these years. I've also noticed it's hard to find announcements of Bill Gates bribes (payments for particular publishes) -- which they openly disclose initially -- because they're once paid they're googlebombing the relevant search phrases with puff pieces (paid-for lies). It's a real problem and it goes beyond advertising money. In the past we also showed examples of Bill Gates paying publishers critical of him and of Microsoft; soon afterwards they deleted all those past articles. It seemed rather clear what they were paid for.

Recent Techrights' Posts

GAFAM "doesn't depend on any sort of lock-in, humans just don't want to be free anymore," according to MinceR
As many readers are aware, our criticism of UEFI (restricted boot in particular) attracted a lot of online harassment against us, including stalking and libel
 
EPO People Power - Part XIII - If the EPO's Chief Propagandist (Berenguer) Told the Police He Was a Spanish Tourist (or Similar) or That He Does Not Reside in Munich, Then He May Have Lied to the Police (in Addition to Doing Cocaine in Public)
Lying to the police in Germany is a criminal offense
Links 15/12/2025: Chromebooks as Work Machines, "Americans [Who] Moved to Australia" to Avoid Cheeto
Links for the day
Breaking Your Proprietary Router in the Name of "Security"
Each time they "patch" the router something that previously worked OK is likely to just break
IBM May be Breaking the Law to Silence Staff It Laid Off
Observation to add regarding IBM layoffs
Demonisation Attacks on Richard Matthew Stallman (RMS) - Including Antisemitic Attacks - Have Not Worked
Name-calling doesn't work
Slop ("AI") Will Replace People and Take Away Jobs, Say the Slopfarms With Fake (LLM-Generated) Text and Slop Images
"AI" often means slave labour in a poor country
More Than a Million Bytes Should be Enough for Most Computer Programs
Who said computing would improve over time?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, December 14, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, December 14, 2025
Another "AI" (Slop) Use Cases Turns Out to be a Fraud
Those who talk about this fraud get SLAPPed
They Say Rules Are Made to be Broken, at Microsoft That Became an Imperative (e.g. Accounting Fraud, Bribery and So on)
Its biggest client is itself
In Russia, Microsoft is Already a Dying Breed Online
A lot of Europe also dumps Microsoft. Europe is a big revenue source of Microsoft.
The Future of News on the World Wide Web
No "greener pastures" on the Web
𝐈𝐁𝐌 𝐂𝐄𝐎 𝐀𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐊𝐫𝐢𝐬𝐡𝐧𝐚: Proof That at IBM People Fall Upwards
IBM is collapsing
EPO People Power - Part XII - The Mobbing Got So Bad People Were Unable to Work
What's at stake here isn't just the EPO or the patent system
Links 14/12/2025: "Chile to ban smartphones in classroom" and "Portugal updates cybercrime law to exempt security researchers"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/12/2025: "GUI TUI CLI" and EmacsConf 2025 Video
Links for the day
Links 14/12/2025: Tensions in Asia, US Making Deals With Belarus
Links for the day
A Utopian and Very Dumb Vision of Technology, Based on Accounting Fraud
the "industry" has become insane and a lot of "the media" is going along with it
Links 14/12/2025: "The Slop of Things to Come", Goldman Sachs Nervous About Slop Bubble
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 13, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, December 13, 2025
Google News is Google Noise
Google News is really hopeless, even on weekends
IBM: We Pay You to be Obedient or Deny You What You're Entitled to If You Don't Act Obediently
Good luck starting legal battles with a company that has almost as many lawyers (including aggressive patent lawyers) as it has geeks
Links 13/12/2025: Jimmy Lai and Media Freedom on Trial, "OpenAI Researcher Quits, Saying Company Hiding the Truth"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/12/2025: Extensive Catchup With Gopherholes
Links for the day
Deliberate Lies or Glaring Distortions
Calling Torvalds anything "Soviet" or "Russian" would overlook the fact he comes from Finland and has Swedish roots
Canonical and Ubuntu: Working for Microsoft, Promoting Proprietary Surveillance (Dis)Services
Canonical started with a rich and overambitious Debian Developer. He wanted to become richer.
Russian "Hybrid Attacks" Are Typically Microsoft TCO and/or Windows TCO (Total Cost of Ownership)
Information-related warfare relies a lot on computer systems
EPO People Power - Part XI - The Media in Europe is Ill and Complicit in Ills
We must all recognise that there's a problem here
Running With Technology
At least they always run Linux (all of them, since 2015)
Dealing With "Tech Cults"
If you think you identified a "Tech Cult", walk away
It Seems Like IBM is Firing 'Everybody' (Anywhere, Any Age, No Matter What Team)
Healthy companies would sack IBM's management (sacked by Board, bylaws etc.) but IBM is a sick company
Latest Stallman Talk (Event in Argentina) Published
Less than a day ago they released his talk
GAFAM is a Financial Problem and Sovereignty Risk, a Policy-Level (National Level) Boycott is Needed
Europe has plenty of skilled computer engineers
LLM Slop Becoming Rarer
Today we've found no LLM slop in our RSS feeds regarding "Linux"
2026 Could Very Well be Last Year of XBox, Microsoft Dropped the Ball
It would be shocking is XBox can stage any kind of comeback
Links 13/12/2025: Social Control Media Bans and "Could Finland be Hiding a Blue Zone?"
Links for the day
Expecting Mass Layoffs, More Microsoft Workers Join Unions
they see tough times ahead
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 12, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, December 12, 2025