Bonum Certa Men Certa

Summer of Code or Nuclear Winter?

Microsoft claims to maintain a "vault"; Google claims to 'support' Free software, but both are mostly PR ploys that let monopolies 'boss' or 'police' their alternatives

Nuclear-Free Zone



Summary: 2 'seasons' or 2 'flavours' of PR charades; can we seriously trust companies that fight against freedom to somehow guard Free software and 'manage' communities that are stewards of key Free software projects?

THE company known as "GOOGLE" (GOOG) has long used GNU/Linux. It has been publicly traded for a couple of decades, about half as long as "MICROSOFT" (MSFT). The companies are inherently different because of their primary business models, so comparing them as though they're the same would lead us astray. We won't compare apples to oranges, only note that both merit their place in "GAFAM" (or "GIAFAM" as figosdev puts it, insisting IBM belongs there too).

"One thing that Microsoft and Google do have in common is disdain for freedom."Google's Summer of Code (SoC or more commonly GSoC) has long bothered me for a number or reasons. On the one hand, it encourages people to join Free software communities and improve existing stuff; the downside is, as we found out in recent years, Google leverages GSoC to muzzle or 'cancel' Google critics (former Debian Project Leader Ian Jackson and Daniel Pocock from Debian complained about it). A side note is that many GSoC students end up outsourcing their work to Microsoft (GitHub), but Google or GSoC program managers cannot be held responsible/accountable for it as it's typically students who make this choice, however careless if not reckless a choice.

Google is not a friend of copyleft, but it pays key people to pretend that it is (as does Microsoft, a serial GPL violator that goes out of its way to spread FUD against the GPL all around the Web, sometimes directly and sometimes by proxy, e.g. 'former' staff).

One thing that Microsoft and Google do have in common is disdain for freedom. Sure, Android uses Linux (kernel alone), but what is it used for anyway? Spying on people everywhere they go?

"It's a bit amusing that Microsoft brags about a so-called 'Arctic vault' while helping Donald Trump pave the way to nuclear confrontation with China."For ethics and morality look neither at Google nor Microsoft (or the rest of "GAFAM"). The founders of Google are long gone -- one of them reportedly tried to keep Google in compliance with the "don't be evil" mantra -- and they don't care about freedom. To them, Free software is just "free stuff" (to exploit or leverage to build proprietary, user-subjugating stuff).

It's a bit amusing that Microsoft brags about a so-called 'Arctic vault' while helping Donald Trump pave the way to nuclear confrontation with China. Good luck with that PR charade.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Slopfarms Slopping Away at "Linux" and Spreading Microsoft Misinformation
Slopfarms don't comprehend this as they lack actual comprehension, they're just parrots
GitHub the Company Has, in Effect, Just Died (Time to Look for Alternatives)
To Microsoft, what's left of GitHub after dismantling/folding it is some "training set" (people's code, without permission to "train" i.e. misuse under the guise of "GenAI" plagiarism)
Linux Foundation Says "Housekeeping", "Hung", "Normal", "Native Feature/Support" and "Girl/Girls" Are Offensive Words
Bombing people is OK, just use the right "terms"
It Looks More Like Microsoft GitHub Layoffs
GitHub is just losing loads of money
 
Physical Meters and Purely Mechanical Meters Aren't Dumb; It's Dumb to Mock or Dismiss Them as Antiquated
I've learned a lot this week, both online and over the telephone
"AI" Hype or LLM Slop is Not About Efficiency, It's About Lowering Standards
It does not seem like IBM is genuinely committed to the same goals (or commitments) as the original Red Hat
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 12, 2025
GitHub Will End Up like XBox and Skype
It is not likely that the XBox franchise will survive the next 5 years
Stones Thrown in Glass Houses
Projecting? You bet!
As Europe Gets Increasingly Serious About Software Freedom and Digital Sovereignty It Needs to Enforce a Ban on Software Patents ASAP
many councils in Europe move to Free software and US policy/companies cannot be trusted
Windows 12 in Bahrain (Microsoft "Market Share" Down to 12%, an All-Time Low)
They really ought to get away from Windows even faster
The Web Needs 'Pest Control' When It Comes to LLM Slopfarms
The goal is to discourage more sites becoming slopfarms
Microsoft Can Now Stop Reporting the GitHub Layoffs (Even When They Happen)
GitHub's original staff will see the true cost of becoming "b0rged" - something that Microsoft earned a bad reputation for
How to Get Very Bad or Even Malicious Code Into Linux? Write it in a Language That Linus Torvalds and Most Other Linux Developers Don't Understand.
One point nobody brings up is, what if code gets committed while evading audits and scrutiny?
Links 12/08/2025: Wikipedia Fails at UK High Court, Perlmutter Still Fights to Squash the Slop Lobby
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Field Recording and Digital Legacy
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: WinRAR Zero-Day, SonicWall Does More Harm Than Good
Links for the day
Links 12/08/2025: More Sabotage of Underwater Cable Ahead of Russian Alaska Summit
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Will Not Miss Microsoft GitHub, It Was Only Good at Harvesting a Lot of Code for Plagiarism-as-a-Service
investors are apparently willing to lose money for buzzwords
Links 12/08/2025: Science, Hardware, and Ukraine Excluded From Negotiations About Its Future
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/08/2025: Meditation, OpenStreetMap, Smolweb, and More
Links for the day
Google News is Dying: Most of Its Top Stories Now Are LLM Slop With Slop Images (i.e. 100% Fake 'Content')
Google News has been drowning in this sort of stuff for quite some time
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, August 11, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, August 11, 2025
Our Predictions Were Right: GitHub Dying as Losses Pile Up (as a Company It Cannot Continue to Exist, It's Not 'Free Hosting')
GitHub always lost money
Links 11/08/2025: Meritless Twitter Suspensions and Disney Scraps Deepfake Dwayne Johnson
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/08/2025: Upgrading Debian Bookworm and Better Quality PDFs From Gemini Pages
Links for the day
Currys PCWorld Lied a Decade Ago, 10 Years Later It Still Effectively Voids Your Warranty for Installing GNU/Linux Despite It Being Increasingly Mainstream
Microsoft gatekeepers
Team GNOME Has Libeled Me for Nearly 20 Years
we are not dealing with sane people
Experience With Airlines in 'Web Sites' and in 'Apps'
In a lot of ways, Stallman Was Right about what JavaScript would turn out to be
Open Does Not Mean Free
wiser to ask if some program is freedom-respecting
The Register MS Takes Money From Companies Banned by the Biden and Trump Administrations (National Security Risk)
today's sponsor
Sabotaging GNU/Linux PCs (and Users) is Not a 'Joke'
maybe cruelty is the very objective
How We Process Screenshots of Slop to Suitably Tag Them as Slop
everything is a single command
Links 11/08/2025: Data Breaches, Politics, and Climate
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, August 10, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, August 10, 2025
Gemini Links 11/08/2025: Tea Caffeine Hot and Super ZZ Zero
Links for the day