Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Battle for Software/Digital Freedom Rages on

Cute cat



Summary: A word of caution (and optimism) about the long path towards people controlling computers instead of computers controlling people

THE growth of Free software is curtailed by monopolisation and centralisation efforts. Giant Pentagon-connected (sometimes Pentagon-funded) companies like IBM, Google and Microsoft want to tell us what operating system we can and cannot install on 'our' computers , what software we're allowed to install on the operating system, and then deny us access to the World Wide Web unless we run some arbitrary JavaScript code, executed and run by some proprietary Web browser with DRM inside/under its belly.



Not all hope is lost however; we need to point those things out and people who still care about software freedom will respond accordingly (e.g. dropping the term "Open Source", talking about Free-as-in-freedom software instead).

We've often stated that Microsoft isn't the sole threat. If Microsoft was to vanish tomorrow, we'd still have lots of problems. The threats are spreading and becoming more diverse, not just in terms of their names/brands but in terms of their nature.

Microsoft is, in a sense, already doomed to fail. They bleed, but as a cornered animal they resort to more aggression (and corruption).

With 3.41% market share in browsers, less than that in Web servers (IIS will die soon; it's no longer financially viable to maintain), and probably far less in E-mail servers in months to come (due to the Exchange fiasco, which is still ongoing) it seems clear that Microsoft will get busy badmouthing competitors, working behind closed doors to sign corrupt deals (e.g. bribing officials), infiltrating the competition (via corruptible vendors, e.g. Linux Foundation) and of course defrauding the shareholders while laying off lots of workers (quietly).

Browsers share

"It should definitely be noted that neither IBM nor Google worked to help Free software on the patent front; IBM is in some sense even worse than Microsoft in that regard."At the moment we focus a lot of our capacity/efforts on changing patent law for the better. Every single day we find stories about bogus patents being thrown out by courts; the Federal Circuit has just done so again, citing 35 U.S.C. €§ 101 (Alice/SCOTUS). Sometimes it doesn't even go above the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) because the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) squashes such patents on the cheap, e.g. with inter partes reviews (IPRs). So far President Biden has neither appointed nor even nominated a person to lead the USPTO; we wait patiently for candidates to be put forth. It should definitely be noted that neither IBM nor Google worked to help Free software on the patent front; IBM is in some sense even worse than Microsoft in that regard.

IBM logoOn the subject of IBM, we'll soon show something about how IBM (or Red Hat) fought against CentOS, in effect leveraging patents if not patent trolling. But for the time being we are 90% focused on our latest EPO series. Benoît Battistelli and António Campinos should be held accountable for their crimes, which are vastly more serious than their lobbying for fake European software patents (to the point where bullying judges).

The way we see it, there are far more of us than there are of "them" (the people who cheat the system and break the law). We just need resilience; the facts are on our side, we just need to repeat what's factual.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
 
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025
Open Source Initiative (OSI) Promoting Microsoft and Proprietary Software Using Microsoft Operatives
Because nothing says "Open Source" like GPL violations facilitated by Microsoft
Another Site Bites the Dust: "Open Source For You" Becoming a Slopfarm (LLM Slop)
What a shame. Another dead site.
Links 23/04/2025: Crackdowns on Dissent, Palin Loses Libel Retrial Against New York Times
Links for the day
Links 23/04/2025: Hard Times and Digital Amnesia
Links for the day
The GNU/Linux Site Formerly Known as "linoxide.com" is Back... as an LLM Slopfarm!
Better for linoxide.com to go offline than to do this
Richard Stallman to Speak in Oxford University Exactly a Day From Now
outsourced to GAFAM
Links 23/04/2025: "Hiding Corruption" and "The Cost of Defunding Harvard"
Links for the day
Microsoft 'Studies' Again? Leon Musolff is Writing Papers With Microsoft.
Even if one can see/find a link to "the study" (in the Bezos-controlled publication), most people won't look any further and just take everything at face value.
Towards GNU World Domination
The FSF led by Geoffrey S. Knauth with his friend Richard Stallman in the FSF's Board [...] Let's encourage people to adopt GNU/Linux. There has never been a better time.
statCounter Helps Visualise Just How Deep in Trouble Microsoft is (Especially in Africa)
Microsoft sabotaged efforts to connect Africans and equip them with GNU/Linux laptops
The Register is Using Linux-Hostile Clickbait in Articles of Linux Proponents
Don't be a "whore" to advertisers, team El Reg
Microsoft Windows in Cyprus Lacking a Future
Most people access the Web there from mobile
Matrix Has a Severe Problem With Illegal Images
If Matrix cannot get the CP problem under control, many projects and people will dump Matrix
Never Try to Justify Strangulation of Women (Not in the US and Not in the UK)
Joint post by Mrs. Rianne Schestowitz and Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Links 23/04/2025: Tesla Profits Plunge 71%, Intel Ready to Lay Off 20% of Staff, Microsoft and IBM Layoffs
Links for the day
Microsoft's Most Profound Issue is That People Moved to 'Mobile' and "App Stores" (Microsoft's Presence There is Negligible)
Expect a wild ride for Microsoft this year
Google News is Amplifying FUD and Lies About Linux (and OpenSSH/SSH) by Promoting Slopfarms With Machine-Generated FUD and Slop Images
Google should know better
Gemini Links 23/04/2025: Librarians, Anubis, and Refactoring a Gemini Capsule
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 22, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 22, 2025