Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Aggression and Deflection (Against Linux)

Video download link | md5sum e6992ceaa55d089f64f07013fd228f56 Microsoft Loves Linux FUD Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: Today we wish to take stock of a bunch of misleading, sensationalist coverage about "Linux"; as usual, Microsoft is connected to that, even more directly than one might expect...

THE TECHNICAL sabotage by Microsoft is easily demonstrable, e.g. in Mesa and in Linux (the "contributions" by Microsoft are to Microsoft, not to Linux, and they promote proprietary surveillanceware, not Software Freedom). In the video above I discuss NTFS in Linux (indirect link to bypass sites we boycott).



"Nothing Microsoft does benefits anyone else,"Ryan said moments ago in IRC, "except for a few odd cases that were usually less than 100 lines anyway. Which someone else probably would have done regardless at some point..."

"They try to minimize the usefulness of their "Linux" work to anyone else, because they don't want to make "Linux" work better except in shackles under their Azure crap."

More importantly, however, so far this week I've seen many Linux-hostile headlines, usually in Microsoft-friendly and/or Microsoft-connected sites which have historically been Linux-hostile.

Ignoring deliberate holes in Microsoft products, such sites would have you believe that Linux is the least secure thing on the entire planet!

As we put it in the latest batch of Daily Links, "while CISA admits Microsoft is full of holes that are actively exploited Microsoft and its faithful media operatives try to shift attention to "Linux" [as we demonstrated a few days ago, linking directly to CISA's site]..."

So what on Earth is going on here? "Microsoft concern-trolling Linux while putting NSA back doors in Windows," to quote our editorial comment? Speaking of actively exploited holes, two months after a patch had been made widely available we see this article. "This was patched a very long time ago," we noted this morning, and "meanwhile, there are dozen of zero-day flaws in Windows that are remotely exploitable, not local privilege escalation..."

So it seems like there might be distraction going on. And maybe there's more to it than meets the eye...

Not only is it very hard for a malicious, unknown actor to actually leverage such a bug; it's also hard to prove that Microsoft manipulates the media consciously in this case. We'd need to see leaked communications to actually prove such an assertion.

The net effect is the same and Microsoft staff now feeds the media with anti-Linux talking points. The stories are run by moles of the company, Microsoft-sympathetic 'gurus' who have moreover infiltrated the Linux Foundation (an organisation that nowadays ACTIVELY PARTICIPATES in such anti-Linux campaigns of semi-false talking points).

This keeps happening. We see it once in a few months, and this time it culminates in "old news" being rerun (about a bug properly patched more than 50 days ago [1, 2, 3, 4] and before it was even known to the general public).

The real problem, according to CISA, is Microsoft. But CISA's "blog" almost never mentions "Microsoft". It just maintains a catalogue many Microsoft flaws.

"If there is a problem affecting non-Microsoft systems," an associate told us today, "then that is unusual and therefore news. If there is a remote exploit in the wild being actively exploited against Microsoft systems, that is the normal situation and thus not news."

Towards the end of the video I show this new blog post from Debian's Russell Coker, noting that Microsoft gives the NSA et al direct access to PCs, so no "security" measures from Microsoft should be taken seriously, to quote the latest Daily Links.

To quote Ryan, who is a former Microsoft MVP: "Local Privilege Escalations are bugs, yes, but they are of low concern (and do get fixed). Anyone with direct physical access to a computer can elevate their privileges eventually. And on Windows there's a ton of them which sometimes even bypass the TPM and Bitlocker. There was one in the print spooler, for example, last summer. But it happens all the time on Windows and you don't even see it much in "the news". Any user on the machine could become SYSTEM and read your files, even if they were "protected". So that's Windows for you."

bnchs noted that "in GNU/Linux, you would have to boot to another OS to get root."

Quoting Ryan some more: "Becoming SYSTEM is an even bigger disaster than becoming ADMINISTRATOR, because in Windows, this means that you're...well, part of the system. You can even patch and hook into things that are "secured" and off limits to ADMINISTRATOR. Stuff that normally requires digital signing no longer requires digital signing. So at this point, rootkit? Sure. And all it takes is someone running as a Guest or as a user with no administrator hat to run a file that knows where the vulnerabilities are. Microsoft was in the news (their news) recently for raising the bug bounty. It's still less than Google's, and way less than what those things are worth to nation state attackers, terrorists, and ransomware outfits. By a factor of $10,000:$1 sometimes."

MinceR said it's "still wasted money from their perspective [as] that could be better spent on corruption, ads and lawyers..."

Ryan continued: "Even if you get $40,000 out of Microsoft's bug bounty system somehow, the ransomware gangs can just exploit it and make $20 million or more on one hit. So they'll pay better each time and it's simply up to the conscience of whoever found the problem in Windows as to what they want to do with it at that point. So the bug bounties are a ruse, a smoke screen, and the illusion of responsibility. In Linux, people find and fix bugs all the time. The code isn't hidden. That leads, usually, to inevitable discovery, and quick patching."

"People want to find bugs in Linux and report and fix hundreds of the same type, so they develop tools that can do things like that. Microsoft is annoyed that you reported one. Even over a decade ago before profiling tools were not as robust, not by a long shot, Coverity Scan admitted that "open source software, in general" was less than half as buggy as a comparable proprietary program. The proprietary software is sort of like the worst case situation for your security because they have little incentive to fix it unless there's already malware out there and they just can't hide the bugs any longer."

"It's like General Motors [GM] putting defective ignition switches in millions of cars for a decade after they knew they were shutting off the car unexpectedly and killing people in accidents. GM figured it'll cost $1 a car to fix this problem, then come all of the recalls, and we'll just grind them down with stall tactics and lawyers and stuff if they ever find out, and the settlement will still cost less. So that's what we do."

Update: Since we made the video above a bunch of other Microsoft boosters (with history) joined this FUD campaign. Of course they don't mention what happened to Windows this past week (CISA reports). Left out from the video (3 examples) are:



And about half a dozen more. Screenshot below:

Microsoft- anti-linux FUD

But yes, Microsoft loves Linux...

Microsoft loves Linux FUD.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Microsoft Windows "Market Share" Measured Around 2.7% in Iraq, Plunges to 6.5% in Saudi Arabia
Microsoft isn't on the agenda in Iraq
Video: The Rise of GNU/Linux and Free Software as Seen by RMS in 2004
DTP's founder argued that when Windows goes below 85% "market share", it'll lose its grip in the monopoly sense
When (Almost) One-Man Operations Are Disguised as Medium-Sized Companies
the CEO hides in the US (hiding from his ex-wives, 4 daughters from those wives, and Sirius staff that he defrauded)
Microsoft Actually in Trouble, Microsofters Unable to Obey Judges' Orders
For the second time in a week, Microsofters are unable to obey orders
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
 
Google Throwing Out the Search Engine With the Bathwater is a Complete and Utter 'Shi---ow' as the Company Drowns in Debt, Layoffs, and Worse
The mainstream media almost never mentions GAFAM debt
Next Month 'New Techrights' Turns Two
Next month, on the fourth week, it'll be 2 years since the migration
Operating Systems' Statistics in New Zealand: GNU/Linux Up, Windows Down to All-Time Lows
Remember all this when the media says that Microsoft became like 10 times more valuable in those 15 years (from 400 billion to 4,000 billion in alleged "worth")
GNU/Linux Share in Sweden Has Doubled Since PewDiePie, A Swede, Recommended It
months ago he moved to GNU/Linux, then told others to consider doing the same
GNU/Linux Hits Record High in Portugal
GNU/Linux picking up in Portugal
Gemini Protocol is Not Dying, It's Growing
When people say things like "Gemini Protocol is dying" the data does not support them
GNU/Linux is Thriving This Summer
It is meanwhile acknowledged, even by Microsoft pushers, that many GNU/Linux PCs will get sabotaged next month
The End of Microsoft's Reign in Spain: Windows Falls to All-Time Lows in Spanish Web Traffic
Windows sank to new lows in Spain
The Bots Never Sleep: In The Weekends, Slopfarms Dominate Google News, Majority of Entries in Google Are Fake Articles About 'Linux'
Google is fast becoming an ocean of plagiarism; the same goes for Google News, which was supposed to have extra quality control
Russia's Yandex Has Caught Up With Bing in Terms of "Market Share"
Microsoft has been firing loads of Bing workers for over 2 years already
Canada: GNU/Linux Up to Records Highs, Windows Down to Record Lows
Microsoft already announcing some plans to shut down Vista 11
Gemini Links 02/08/2025: Transducers in Typed Racket and American ISPs
Links for the day
Links 02/08/2025: Microsoft Already Kills Vista 11 SE, Smartphone Sales Down, Truth Gets "You're Fired!" in the US
Links for the day
Russia: GNU/Linux Rises to Highest Adoption Level Since Invasion of Ukraine
Moving up in the north
Microsoft's Latest Financial Report: We "Gained" 300 Million Dollars in "Goodwill" and Liabilities Grew by 32 Billion Dollars
Microsoft's debt has reached an all-time high
The Register US = The Register MS
Formerly The Register UK
Weeks After Microsoft Shut Down Its Operations in Pakistan Windows Falls to All-Time Lows
Only less than a month ago it was quietly revealed, based on laid-off staff, that Microsoft shut down in Pakistan
Criminal Behaviour is the Standard Operating Procedure at Microsoft
In the future I'll be able to tell how, when dealing with SLAPPs from Microsofters, their Microsoft services failed me and sometimes even blocked my contacts
GNU/Linux Rises to All-Time Highs in Europe
many people will get fired for buying Microsoft
All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux on the Client Desktop/Laptop, Based on Steam Survey
GNU/Linux rose to 2.89% in Steam
Links 02/08/2025: Blaugust 2025 and "Russia Declares Navalny Memoir ‘Extremist’"
Links for the day
Free Software is Not a Business Model
Go ahead, ask your friend, "how do you plan to monetise your children?"
LLM Slop Harms Real Literature, Real Web Sites, Real Journalism
LLM slop is a parasite and it'll run out of legitimate outputs
Upcoming OSI Scandal Series
The OSI is a rogue actor because it serves Microsoft in exchange for money
Slopwatch: The Issue Persists, But the Consensus in the Media Changes as Google Enrages It With LLM Plagiarism
We've meanwhile assessed the latest output from Linuxiac
IRC Proceedings: Friday, August 01, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, August 01, 2025
Links 02/08/2025: İstanbul Retail Inflation Reaches 42.48%, US FBI Opens Office in New Zealand
Links for the day
Gemini Links 02/08/2025: ZFS, LLM Hype, and Fake Modules
Links for the day
Links 01/08/2025: Health, Conflict, and Attacks on Freedom of the Press
Links for the day
Microsoft's Debt Exploded by 15.4 Billion Dollars in the Past 9 Months Alone (Despite All the Layoffs)
As of minutes ago, at 6PM on a Friday, the numbers are made public
Meeting (Webchat) With Maria Arranz Gomez, Florian Grundies, Jürgen Janda and Konstantinos Kortsaris Confronts EPO Management About Breaking Promises and Crushing Workers
The lack of consistent messages suggests plans other than what's advertised and the lack of consultation (secrecy) likewise
Links 01/08/2025: "The Great British Firewall" and U.S. Army Sponsors Palantir
Links for the day
For Second Day in a Row, Top Story in The Register MS is "Microsoft Says"
The editor in chief exercises control over everybody else
LLMs as Attack Method Against Free Software and Programming
DDoS in "hey hi" (slop) clothing
Stability and Reliability, Backward Compatibility
I don't fancy relying on social control media as "sources"
What "the News" Looks Like in 2025
The "says" (or "sez") phenomenon
History Will Be Distorted, Sometimes Intentionally, Under the Guise of Intelligence (Manipulated/Curated Slop)
Militarised misinformation or military-grade chaff is a national security threat, even domestically
Financial Engineering Companies: A Company Worth 4 Trillion Dollars Would Not Borrow 100+ Billion Dollars at Interest Rates Like Today's
Many headlines perpetuate the lie Microsoft had just 2 waves of layoffs
Microsoft is Googlebombing "Linux" While Paying Former News Sites to Publish SPAM
How much lower will IDG sink?
Google as a 'Bullshit Generator' Disguised as Intelligence
It'll probably cause Google to get sued a lot, both by individuals and companies
As Expected, Google in the UK Now Experiments With Slop Instead of Web Search
At this point more people ought to stop and think: Does Google's search engine deserve trust?
The Data You Don't Give Away is Your Advantage
stop sharing data that does not need to be shared
Being Obedient or Doing the Right Thing
The world always changes for the better because of people who think "Outside the Box", not the cogs
Gemini Links 01/08/2025: Happy Hacking Keyboards and New Gemini Arrivals
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 31, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 31, 2025
Sabotaging Linux on Behalf of Microsoft With UEFI 'Secure' Boot (De Facto Remote 'Kill Switch'), Then Defaming, Stalking and Harassing Critics of 'Secure' Boot for 12 Years, Then SLAPPing Their Spouses and Them
The sorts of stubborn lunatics we've been dealing with
Moving on in Techrights, Geeks Gonna Geek
In the coming weeks we plan to focus (as we explained last week) on patents, GNU/Linux issues, and the occasional philosophical essays
Slopwatch: Google News Has Lost the Plot
Almost the majority of articles returned for "Linux" are fakes
Links 31/07/2025: Australia Restricts YouTube Access, Personal Privacy at Risk
Links for the day
Links 31/07/2025: Spotify Collapses and Spotify Now Forcing Some Users to Undergo Face-Scanning
Links for the day
A Lot of Supposedly "Successful" Businesses Are Just Debt-Racking Vessels Without Any Prospects of Financial Sustainability
The probability of bankruptcy of any business is more than 0%
theregister.com: The Voice of Microsoft US?
It basically sold out
Yes, You Can Love and Adore Things Whilst Also Criticising Them
Is society being divided and groomed/primed to be resistant to constructive criticism?
Links 31/07/2025: War in Ukraine, Security News, and Cyberattacks Against Journalists on the Rise
Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/07/2025: Fake Money and Gemini Diaries
Links for the day
An Illusion and Cult Worship of Magnitude (Ubiquity as "Victory")
GNU has been around for over 40 years and it'll likely continue to exist for another 40 (in some form)
Google: From Pointing to Relevant Sites to Pointing to Social Control Media to Actually Parroting Social Control Media as "Facts"
Google has become a misinformation company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 30, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 30, 2025