Bonum Certa Men Certa

Software Freedom Makes the World a Greener Place, Too

Video download link | md5sum b9818d9e345d7dc111adbe5628e972f2



Summary: We probably need to improve our messaging along the lines of energy consumption and rejection of planned obsolescence in advocacy of free-as-in-freedom software

THE so-called 'Linux' Foundation is a total disgrace that is greenwashing the worst offenders and the biggest polluters on the planet, especially Microsoft [1, 2]. It's even plastered all over the 2021 annual report. But then again, it's not about software freedom but about openwashing and reputation laundering. The so-called 'Linux' Foundation should never even be called "Linux" anything; it's a misleading name. Similarly, FSFE was repeatedly asked by the FSF to rename, as it had violated an agreement on the use of the name. FSFE is a bunch of self-serving dictators bankrolled by Gulag and Microsoft. They try to censor actual proponents of software freedom, who aren't doing this for a salary but altruism and ideology. Same as the OSI, which they colluded with (against volunteers and lifelong activists).



"We need to think or rethink how we use (or reuse, recycle) technology; as gemini:// is 100% Free software (all software I've ever seen for it was liberally licensed) and works across many platforms -- including very old ones -- one stepping stone towards lowering "footprint" (energy and surveillance) is to encourage adoption of it."My rants about fake NGOs aside (the IRS needs to bust them for misuse of tax exemption status; maybe it already does), the video above concerns Dr. Andy Farnell's excellent article from last night. I show this article as GemText over gemini:// because I wish to encourage more people to adopt Gemini, which is vastly better for the environment, both in terms of system requirements and the energy it takes to load a page. Incidentally, those who use gemini:// to access Techrights did not notice the 4-hour downtime of the Web site yesterday (due to electric outage) and benefited from a secure connection that does not involve a CA like the so-called 'Linux' Foundation's Let's Encrypt.

We need to think or rethink how we use (or reuse, recycle) technology; as gemini:// is 100% Free software (all software I've even seen for it was liberally licensed) and works across many platforms -- including very old ones -- one stepping stone towards lowering "footprint" (energy and surveillance) is to encourage adoption of it. There are many other things one can do in order to lessen human suffering; in the video above I show my PDA, which is a model made in 2002, i.e. 20 years ago. It still works. My alarm clock and stereo were made in the 1990s and I use them every day. We need to demand from companies that they use components made to last, not to break after about 5 years, spurring another wave of sales (bad for the planet, not just for the wallet).

To make matters worse, some of the CAs are spurring further obsolescence; it's a known issue which we were reminded of last year because many old devices ceased to work with the Web. There was no workaround because the so-called 'Linux' Foundation with its silly CA had a "cert" expire (last year wasn't the first time) and then the software relying upon that "cert" -- somewhere further up the chain -- panicked over n nothing; Gemini does not force such a reliance on third party CAs, so it's not bad for the environment like the Web is.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 02/06/2025: Political Leftovers, DRM, and Patents
Links for the day
Links 02/06/2025: Microsoft Spins Layoffs as "Slop", Frontier Settles Lawsuit
Links for the day
When You Publicly Boast About Wanting to Violently Attack People (Even Colleagues) Finding a Job Will Prove Difficult
there's a lesson to be learned here
The Web We Lost, the Information Lost Due to Microsoft's Attacks on Companies Like Yahoo! (Before the LLM Slop Frenzy)
When it comes to news sites, what can we say?
Covering Corruption in Poland, Including a War on Science (Due to Bad Politicians)
What we're about to show is that skilled and experienced scientists in Poland are besieged by bureaucrats
Gemini Links 02/06/2025: "Star Wars Day" and "Security Day"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 01, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 01, 2025
The Openwashing Shills Initiative (OSI) - Part II: Lying to the IRS is a Big Issue
The OSI of today pretends to be something that it is not
Bloodlust and Love of Blades (Fascination With Murder) Nothing New Among Microsofters
Violence is not a joke and no group is magically entitled to make such "jokes"
Links 01/06/2025: Bird Flu, Food Price Inflation, and Growing US-China Hostilities
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: "Vibe Coding" Turns Out to be a Fraud and Amazon Merits Boycott, Argue Bloggers
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: "Stardust" and Ideal PC Setup
Links for the day
Links 01/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, "It's FOSS" Still Promoting Microsoft
Links for the day
Gemini Links 01/06/2025: Simplification and Networks Everywhere
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, May 31, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, May 31, 2025
Google Bribes EFF. EFF Promotes LLM Slop as 'Fair Use'. To GAFAM It's a Low-Cost Lobby Hedge.
So the bribes pay off ("slush fund") and the word spreads
Slopwatch: Fake Text and Images, Financial Bubbles, and Scams in "Intelligent" Clothing
Sometimes what they mean by "AI" is just cheap labour somewhere else, as we discussed in IRC a few hours ago
Why Microsoft is Collapsing (Similar to What's Happening at IBM), As Insiders See It
IBM seems like one heck of a mess
Reliable Computing Means Free (Libre) Computing
Sites that want to promote security ought to deal with the biggest issues
Links 31/05/2025: US Court Orders Sides With RFE/RL, War Updates From Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/05/2025: ARM Server and power_supply Subsystem
Links for the day
Links 31/05/2025: Slop Stigmatised as Disinformation, Catalyst/Driver of "Death of Communication"
Links for the day
Common Sense 101: Do Not Write Blog Posts Saying You Want to Murder Colleagues (or Yourself)
Only crazy people would think stabbings are a joke
Microsoft Bankruptcy
"Microsoft unit in Russia to file for bankruptcy, database shows"
Techrights Does Not Compete With LLM Slop, It Exposes the Bastards, Plagiarists and Scammers Who Do That
People like Scam Altman, still facing a lawsuit from his own sister for sexual abuse against her
Links 31/05/2025: Microsoft-Connected Builder.ai is a Fraud and US is Purging Students Based on Race/Nationality
Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/05/2025: Limmat, Doomscrollers, and Arguments Parsing
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, May 30, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, May 30, 2025