Bonum Certa Men Certa

Latest Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt (FUD) Patterns Against “Linux” (the Real Issue is Proprietary Software)

Video download link | md5sum 39cf4b2e4c48595eba70964bdba9dc34 FUD Attacks Which Mostly Distract Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Fear-mongering/dramatisation (or FUD) tactics have been used a lot so far this month, mostly in an effort to associate Linux with illegal activity, unethical users, untold risk, and great liability/ies

THE video above covers a subject I've been wanting to comment on all week long but lacked time to (until the weekend). Now that the dust has mostly settled and the fear campaigns run out of Steam (pun intended) I want to comment on VMware's attacks on "Linux", as noted in passing 4 days ago.



"Generally speaking, VMware and Microsoft are close and they're both prolific GPL violators that hate Linux."It all started about a fortnight ago (and about Fortnite) when Epic Games Store among other things indicated a shift towards GNU/Linux for gamers. At the same time there were quite a few headlines about VMware security blunders, so VMware probably wanted to shift blame/culpability to "Linux". Generally speaking, VMware and Microsoft are close and they're both prolific GPL violators that hate Linux. It's not unthinkable that there's some degree of coordination between them in these latest FUD attacks. We leave readers/viewers to decide based on the available evidence.

To those who dispute our assertion that this is FUD, please pay careful attention to editorial comments in Daily Links and in the links above. The short rebuttal is, malware that targets VMware is mostly the fault of negligible administrators or administrators that actively install malware (not "Linux"), which can in turn curtail VMware/ESXi (that in itself is a security risk and huge attack surface). As for ransomware, that's mostly a Windows issue, barely a Linux issue, according to statistics. Regarding Steam and Epic, DRM never belonged in Linux and demanding rootkits ("anti-cheat") is a whole new level of compromise; then again, Epic competes against Steam, mostly ignores Steam Store (where it mostly shuns Windows users, not GNU/Linux users), and a bunch of random "tweets" -- or tweet-mining -- doesn't make good journalism. It looks like Microsoft is trying to 'crash' the launch of Steam Deck, seeing that it threatens the last remaining reason often given for staying with Windows.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Links 15/04/2026: Geelong Corio Refinery Fire, Journalist Sentenced for "Insulting the President"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/04/2026: Organiding .bashrc with Imports, Oddμ as SSG
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 14, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 14, 2026
The Deleted Article About Mass Layoffs at IBM (April 2026)
Resurrected
Lots of Positive News Lately, Microsoft GitHub in Trouble
it's not too crazy to speculate about GitHub being the next Skype (or CodePlex)
The Register MS Has "Webinars" (Marketing); They're Promoting Ponzi Schemes or Slop But Disguised as "Intelligence"
These "webinars" are just spam displayed to people as if it contains real information
It Was Always About Freedom and Sovereignty (or Self-Determination)
About 24 hours from now Richard Stallman (RMS) will be giving a talk in Texas
Mass Layoffs at IBM Again, Just in Time for the Fake "Results" Next Week
Slopfarm will issue some chaff to give an illusion of journalism
Windows (Microsoft) in Botswana Falls to Another New Low
Botswana is a fairly large country
SLAPP Censorship - Part 47 Out of 200: British Courts Are Not Censorship Offices for Americans Funded by Affluent Third Parties
Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) was scrutinised by our government
More Than 6 Months After a Very Close Friend of António Campinos and EPO Official Caught With Cocaine Campinos is Cracking Down on - or Stealing From - EPO Staff
Now they go after the "Education and Childcare Allowance"
Links 14/04/2026: Data Breaches and LLM Slop in Courts
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Mastodon in the Terminal and a Voxel Engine
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Against US Monopolies in UK, Legal Action Against Twitter
Links for the day
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) Under Scrutiny Today in the British Government's Meeting, Grilled for Its Failure to Regulate Rogue Law Firms
Things are not improving
The Series About SLAPPs Funded by Third Parties: All Parts Thus Far
index for today
SLAPP Censorship - Part 46 Out of 200: Alex Graveley's Attorney Rick Cofer Did Not Deny That Graveley Had Strangled Women; He Did, However, Pay Local Officials
some background about SLAPPs that began in 2021 very shortly after I wrote about corruption at Microsoft GitHub
The EPO's Attitude Towards Women and Media Silence on EPO Unrest
There's media blackout about very critical matters
Gemini Links 14/04/2026: Greed Versus Stability; Board and Card Games
Links for the day
Links 14/04/2026: Cheeto Loses Defamation Lawsuit Against the Media, "France Takes Its 129 Tonnes of Gold Uut of New York"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, April 13, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, April 13, 2026
IBM Agrees With Microsoft That Slop is Just for "Entertainment" and "at Your Own Risk"
So what can IBM sell now?
Microsoft Windows "Market Share" in USA Down to 40% According to Government Sites or 31% Overall
The world is changing, so do Americans
SLAPP Censorship - Part 45 Out of 200: Garrett and Graveley Cases Inherently the Same, Their Legal Team Can Barely Even Distinguish (Full Timeline)
"million-dollar men"
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Pronouns for an LLM, Fakecoins Promotion Piggybacking Iran, "Your Face is Now a Search Query"
Links for the day
Links 13/04/2026: Higher Costs Hurt Both Rich and Poor Country, a "Landslide Win to Oust Orban"
Links for the day
Tens of Thousands of Days of Strike at Europe's Second-Largest Institution, Nobody in the Media Has Mentioned It
Since the "extraordinary general meeting"
SPAM That Mentions "AI" 16 Times (in "Security" Clothing, But Selling Back Doors), a Paid Placement in The Register MS
This will doom the reputation of the publication, The Register MS
At Least 23 Days of EPO Strikes
Why does the media not deem this newsworthy?
Links 13/04/2026: Impersonating ProPublica Reporter, More Attacks on the Press (Occupation With Little and No Compensation, Only High Risk)
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, April 12, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, April 12, 2026
Gemini Links 13/04/2026: Freiburg, GUIX, and Announcing Satellite Antenna (SA)
Links for the day