Bonum Certa Men Certa

Starting 2021 on a Strong and Positive Note

Video download link



Summary: With changes that make Techrights more widely accessible (even outside the World Wide Web) and almost impossible to censor we'll start 2021 later this week; we already have some EPO leaks lined up for publication

SO, AS we noted last night, some things are changing for the better. We try to reduce strain/load on the site's server, we are constantly looking for new ways to make it more censorship-resistant (decentralisation among the means), and we're adding videos where they help explain some points. It should be noted that videos will never replace text, as text is inherently more useful and important; videos can be faster to make though, unless there's editing or scripting.



"We've not yet moved the site to the new datacentre, but that's intended to happen later this week."As mentioned above, the new front page is designed for performance and it lessens clutter. It leads to all the important sections of the site and the latest changes. The search is still somewhat fragmented, due to the way the site was historically put together and how it evolved. The old front page is still around, but it is now merely a subsection which targets new visitors. We expect to have a very productive year ahead. Our IRC bots, notably "viera", should have service restored soon (hardware issues, serious enough... to the point of causing downtime of about 4 weeks). We still plan to get better recording equipment if this presentation format (articles complemented/aided by videos) sticks. It's mostly experimental at this stage.

Last night we managed to compact our WordPress database by flushing out some cruft that wasn't needed. This means that backup windows will be shorter and downtimes (around the backup window/slot) will be somehow shorter. We've not yet moved the site to the new datacentre, but that's intended to happen later this week.

Techrights logo



Readers have meanwhile notified us that the parent company of ZDNet is now corrupting SoylentNews by interjecting Microsoft spam into it (or maybe the site has simply been tricked into posting Microsoft's anti-Linux spam, only to be confronted in the comments section). If SoylentNews isn't careful, it'll end up like Slashdot (which it sought to outdo). People inside Slashdot (like Chris DiBona) told me about what had happened. Microsoft plays hardball. They have not only moles but also trolls. They infiltrate publishers like they do companies (Nokia as an example was mentioned yesterday), so it's getting hard to trust publishers' (or their editors') integrity. InfoWorld Editor Nicholas Petreley wrote 21 years ago: "Even as a longtime critic of the company, I must admit that Microsoft occasionally flirts with the truth. Well, perhaps 'flirt' is too strong a word. Let's just say Microsoft sometimes honks and waves as it drives by her house."

Microsoft loves bribing publishers and there are many ways to pass a bribe. Microsoft attorney Jim Lowe once said: "If the price seems too good to be true, it generally is."

Trolling sites like Slashdot (with corporate funding, like Microsoft's) isn't uncommon, as Bruce Perens explained some years ago. Here's the key part:

Bruce Perens on trolling



As our associate put it this morning, "there are a lot of people who do not realise that so much of what is left of the trade press is actually owned by mass marketing media companies like Red Ventures. Thus they aren't really reliable trade press any more."

Sites that cannot be corrupted by Microsoft are relatively few. Groklaw was one, but now it's offline (since October), not just inactive. This seems to be permanent (we've attempted to contact people who maintained the site, to no avail) and Microsoft couldn't be happier about it! It helps revisionism.

"On the same day that CA blasted SCO, Open Source evangelist Eric Raymond revealed a leaked email from SCO's strategic consultant Mike Anderer to their management. The email details how, surprise surprise, Microsoft has arranged virtually all of SCO's financing, hiding behind intermediaries like Baystar Capital."

--Bruce Perens

“What’s this about pay-grade? It’s a military term, often misappropriated by civilians who are avoiding an ethical decision. It’s a good excuse in the military: politicians are accountable for the decision to enter a war, while the military are oath-bound to follow orders at pain of court-martial and possibly execution, and are only accountable for the conduct of the war. But Miguel is no soldier. He’s the founder of a company previously merged into Novell, and would not be subject to treason charges or capital punishment over this issue. Others, like Jeremy Allison, chose to leave the company while Miguel stayed.”

--Bruce Perens

Recent Techrights' Posts

Datamation, Where I Used to Publish Articles, Appears to Have Been Sold to TechnologyAdvice Only to Become a Slopfarm
I'd prefer to not associate with that site anymore
 
Patent Docs (or PatentDocs) Learned the Wrong Lessons From the Death of TypePad
Had they gone ahead with an SSG, they'd become a lot more future-proof
USPTO Patent Bubble Already Imploding, After Decades of Artificial Inflation, Entire Offices Close for Good
we can deduce that financial pressures (lack of "demand" for monopolies) play a role
TikTok is Not Harmless (Being CheeTok in the US Will Advance Orange Agenda)
Social control media isn't "fun and games"; it's a digital weapon that lets hostile groups or nations infiltrate others, then turn them against themselves
Andy Farnell and Helen Plews Explain What "Modern" Tech Does to Old People
Imposing terrible tech "religion" on people is not helping them
Tomorrow the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 and Its Web Site is Still Slow Due to DDoS by LLM Slop Bots
For an advocacy group, uptime is important (for its message to remain accessible)
Slopwatch: Google News as a Firehose of LLM Slop About "Linux"
Google News is really bad
Links 03/10/2025: "NPR’s Economics Lessons Come With Neoliberal Spin" and Canada Post at Risk
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/10/2025: Panic Attacks and Food Adulteration
Links for the day
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October