Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation Pays News Sites to Plant/Embed Puff Pieces in Them. By Doing That It Associates 'Linux' With the Controversial Attack on Actual Journalism.

Sometimes those sites even disclose this upfront (or add disclosures at the bottom)

Linux Foundation as sponsor
One example among very many (this is where the money goes)



Summary: There used to be a time when news sites, including Linux.com, actually investigated things; now it's almost entirely PR, sometimes paid for by the Linux Foundation for its proprietary software sponsors (openwashing and greenwashing)

THE technical news is slow. Very slow. It's not that nothing is happening. There's just less interest or vastly lower incentive to actually write about it, to cover current affairs.



Was this predictable?

Certainly.

Judging by trends alone, even well before COVID-19, it seemed rather inevitable.

So what exactly is causing this? Why is it that amid many technical and technological developments press/media dedicated to this domain perishes? Why are we left with so many awful sites that rather than analyse issues are mostly repeating what corporate marketing departments put out there?

I mean, look at Linux.com. Look at that farce! What on Earth is that?!?!

"...it's hard to push ads and spam disguised as 'news' and 'reports' because sooner or later readers realise what's going on and then simply walk away."The Linux Foundation has very big budget (well over $100,000,000 per year by now), but it has turned Linux.com into a spam site. It pays one person to pretends that the site isn't a fossil (by bumping up publication dates every now and then). No wonder actual supporters of Linux (and GNU) are growing impatient. The sole editor there runs a spammy site himself. What a scam. What an utter embarrassment to Linux...

There's no lack of money, there's just lack of will/desire to allocate it to press that can hold Power accountable. The PR industry keeps growing, taking its toll on actual journalism if not hijacking what used to be news sites. No wonder a lot of people reject them and refuse to read them; it's hard to push ads and spam disguised as 'news' and 'reports' because sooner or later readers realise what's going on and then simply walk away.

"Apparently it was partly the fault of Larry Augustin, who trusted Zemlin et al to look after that site."Months ago we quoted actual users of Linux (and GNU) saying that it would be better -- for GNU/Linux at least -- if Linux.com just shut down (rather than carry on doing what it does at present). Linux.com represents actual users of Linux (and GNU) as much as the Linux Foundation does, i.e. not at all. If they don't want to use that valuable domain to do serious work, as it did for two whole decades, relinquish control and give it to someone who cares (and actually uses GNU/Linux). Apparently it was partly the fault of Larry Augustin, who trusted Zemlin et al to look after that site. Augustin works for Jeff Bezos right now (yes, Amazon) and he doesn't seem to care about GNU/Linux, either. They rake in millions in salaries, so Linux as a brand worked out well for them.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Matthew J. Garrett Behaved in a Similar Fashion to 4Chan and Kiwi Farms
Opposites attract? Are they opposites at all?
Drew DeVault Suggests "CoC Enhancement", Starts Trolling Projects in Microsoft GitHub
And it backfires immediately
What 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Could Learn From Jimmy Kimmel About the 'Streisand Effect'
Lawyering up is risky and is usually doesn't work
 
Mass Layoffs in Starbucks... and Society Loses Nothing of Value
Society might even be better off if Starbucks shuts down entirely
Do Your Job and Demand Your Compensation - But in That Order.
We'll do our best to convince the Judge to award all costs to us (lawyers, barrister, LIP bills etc.) plus judgements against them, for abusive litigation and needless suffering associated with that abuse
Like Nazi Germany and Volkswagen
Tell us all about "freedom" when your government runs a Ponzi scheme
Microsoft Sponsored This Man, Microsoft Sponsored His Behaviour (and He Controls Microsoft)
They get what they paid for
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, September 26, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, September 26, 2025
He Talks Too Much, He Says Dumb Things
only British when that suits him
Slopwatch: FUD and Plagiarism (Working Against Linux) Promoted and Rewarded by Google News
Shame on Google News
Reminder: We're Unloading Some Publications to Tux Machines
About 15 years ago I was struggling to keep up with TechDirt
The E-mail Protocol is for Text
bad netiquette
Gemini Links 26/09/2025: Slop in OpenStreetMap and MOPML (My Own Private Markup Language)
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2025: More Provocations Against NATO by Russia (Near Alaska, USA), Microsoft Booster Accenture Has Mass Layoffs
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2025: Hardware, Security, Health, and Nuclear Armament
Links for the day
Links 26/09/2025: "Digital Fatigue" and Slop Frenzy (Hype) Ruining Work Productivity, Culture, Languages
Links for the day
Brett Wilson LLP Unwilling to Disclose or Explain How 'Hulk Hogan of UEFI' Pays for His SLAPPs Against Us (He Cannot Afford These), So We Are Escalating
Escalated in the British authorities
Linux is Replacing Apple
Apple is money down the drain. Not only are the gadgets overpriced; they cost a lot to maintain and keep going over time
"We don't have that kind of relationship with Microsoft. The only public key that every UEFI firmware is guaranteed to have is Microsoft's, and only Microsoft owns the private key."
This is how to sabotage GNU/Linux distros that Microsoft does not control
Slopwatch: linuxconfig.org, linuxsecurity.com, and Google's Promotion of the Worst and Most Prolific Slopfarms
Over in Google News it has been quite chaotic this past day
Gemini Links 26/09/2025: Reading RSS Feeds, ROOPHLOCH 202
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 25, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 25, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: More European Airports Shut Down Due to What Seems Like Russian Drones
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: Amiga Revived and Hackers (UTF-8)
Links for the day
Purchasing Concert Tickets in 2025 in Manchester: The "Modern" Experience
I recently spent a couple of days here testing the "terrain" in order to better understand how large public venues, for concerts rather than sporting events like football, currently "work"
Links 25/09/2025: French Unions Want Another Strike, Super Typhoon Ragasa Kills Many
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Secure Boot' and Shim as Barrier or Obstacle to New GNU/Linux Users Trying to Escape Microsoft
Just as intended all along
Lovers and Haters
Always beware hate preachers and demagogues (or how they frame issues or whose fault they distract from)
Focusing on What People Have in Common Instead of Killing and Cancelling One Another
Men and women of both "wings" stand to gain a lot by working together on common interests
'Cancel Culture' Isn't About Enforcing Ethics (and It's Done by People on the Right, Not "The Leftists")
Smarter folks would leave social control media
Russia's Attack on Europe (and NATO) Will Worsen Censorship and Corruption in Europe
Can we still debate issues that predate the invasion of Crimea?
Lawyers Should Permanently Lose Their Licence (and Worse) for Using Chatbots in Legal Work
They not only waste people's money and time. They pollute the literature with falsehoods. They commit perjury. [...] Brett Wilson LLP sent the Judge nearly 1,000 pages of material (mostly mine, copied without proper permission) shortly before a short Hearing, which lasted less than an hour
GAFAM and MATA (Mythical, Metaphor) as Explained by analognowhere.com
They're instruments of suppression that sponsor the oppressor
We've Already Mentioned Who Nowadays Funds Garrett's SLAPP Against Us (Not Garrett), Let's Examine Who Sponsored His Litigation Partner (Other Than Microsoft Salaries There's a Buddy of Bill Gates)
it's alleged that the Serial Strangler from Microsoft got money from him
Florian Müller: Using Software Patents to Attack Software Developers, Agitate Against Patent Reform
He also promotes attacks on the German Constitution and laws
Reliance on Typepad Seems to Have Doomed the Voice of Software Patents and Patent Maximalists in PatentDocs
Follow the money
UEFI 'Secure Boot' is Potential Mayhem to the Environment (Older and Leaner Distros Stop Working)
creating new problems, disguised as "solutions" to problems that do not exist
Sometimes 'Cancel Culture' Backfires Badly
There's no such thing as "too much" coverage
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 24, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 24, 2025
Links 25/09/2025: Jimmy Kimmel Returns to Air (With Limitations) and London Stansted Airport Latest to Have Incident (Fire)
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Fake Articles, SPAM With Slop, and Google News Directs People to Read Slopfarms
why does Google News insist on still linking to prolific slopfarms?
Gemini Links 25/09/2025: New Game for Gemini Protocol, Eleven, and Network Solutions Woes
Links for the day