Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation Has Formally Changed Its Mission! (Based on IRS Files)

Summary: Rather than stick to its mission, which defines the name of the institution, we've witnessed an expansion to promotion of Microsoft GitHub and non-technical things that have nothing to do with Linux (this enables grifting, openwashing etc.)

LATELY we have been digging into this informal copy of the Linux Foundation IRS files, which the IRS appears to be suppressing (we wrote about this many times before). Jim Zemlin signed the 2019 IRS form in 2020 (November 12th to be precise) and yet the IRS isn't releasing the PDF yet. What's going on? It has been nearly 2 years already. This is not normal!



"Is this a legitimate way to raise money?"Looking at this suppressed document, we find that in less than five years the 'Linux' Foundation almost doubled the number of board seats. This might sound OK until people realise those seats are for sale (the Foundation itself admits as such, as we showed earlier this year and in 2020). Imagine if SCOTUS added more Justices... only for corporations that pay to plant their "Justice" (or even up to two per corporation). Since then Microsoft has bought two seats, not just one. Is this a legitimate way to raise money?

"Between 2018 and 2019 the non-salaries expenses of the 'Linux' Foundation went up by a stunning 20%."As we noted the other day, there are Linux Foundation layoffs while operating costs go up considerably for no good reason. It's costly showoff and graft. 2-3 years ago the "Linux" Foundation had already stockpiled about $60,000,000 in the bank, just sitting there. Nevertheless they decided to effectively kill Linux.com by firing all the workers there. "Salaries, other compensation, employee benefits" in the Linux Foundation increase by about 10% per year. Imagine inflation going up at this pace every year. This isn't about Linux but about people who don't even use Linux helping themselves to the bank account, just like in the corrupt EPO. It's a familiar pattern; they just use the name/brand and the good (past) reputation, not to mention goodwill of communities (volunteers). They monetise their own harm.

Between 2018 and 2019 the non-salaries expenses of the 'Linux' Foundation went up by a stunning 20%. That's aside from sky-rocketing salaries the managers deposited in their bank accounts. Remember: they don't even use Linux.

Last but not least, they've changed the mission of the Foundation. Here's when and how:

2015



Linux Foundation's mission in 2015

2016



Linux Foundation's mission in 2016

2017



Linux Foundation's mission in 2017

2018



Linux Foundation's mission in 2018

2019



Linux Foundation's mission in 2019

Who knows what it says now. The IRS releases copies for nothing later than the 2008 forms!

Recent Techrights' Posts

The Old Days
In the early days of this site (2006) it was mostly just a couple of people, plus comments
Links 28/03/2026: Microsoft's LinkedIn a National Security Risk, Microsoft's Slop "Ambitions Face Investor Scrutiny Amid Soaring Costs"
Links for the day
 
Links 29/03/2026: Water Shortages and No Kings Rallies
Links for the day
Gemini Links 29/03/2026: Return to Gopherspace, "Zen of Marking Playing Cards"
Links for the day
The Real XBox is Dead, So Microsoft is Calling Everything "XBox" Now
It even wanted to run a campaign to convince everybody that XBox is not actually a console
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 28, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, March 28, 2026
Open Web Destroyed by Centibillionaires, Says Anil Dash of Blogging Fame
Blogging was going through its 'prime years' about 20 years ago
"Linux" Slop Going Away, Microsoft et al Pay 'Linux' Foundation to Promote Slop
It's a timely reminder that the Linux Foundation exists to promote whoever pays the Linux Foundation, even pedophiles and companies that attack the GPL
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: "Finding My Base Tone", "Astrobotany", and BugoutBack/OFFLFIRSOCH
Links for the day
Links 28/03/2026: More Worldwide Bans on Social Control Media (Harms to Adolescents), Protests in US Against Dictatorship
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 26 Out of 200: Asking for Documents and Information You Already Have, Even Letters and E-mails That You Yourself Sent!
barristers are expensive
Gemini Links 28/03/2026: Echo Delay and 0x0.st
Links for the day
Rumours of More IBM Mass Layoffs at Beginning of April
IBM is not doing well
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, March 27, 2026
IRC logs for Friday, March 27, 2026
"Headcount" as Distraction From Mass Layoffs and Salary Reductions
Things aren't looking well when one considers revenue is acquired, not earned
"Linux" Slop Turning Rarer, New York Times Nowadays Contaminated With LLM Slop
Another day has passed without much slop about "linux"
Links 27/03/2026: Studying Whale Births, Apple is Cancelling Products, Cambodia Arrests Journalists Over Photographs
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/03/2026: GTD, Gopher Catchup, Gemini Crawlers, and "Slop Everywhere"
Links for the day
Mozilla Was Ruined Like Sirius Open Source Was Ruined - From the Top Down
Mozilla will never return to its Free software roots
Nokia Could Never Recover From Microsoft
It's very important to remember what really happened
Why Techrights and Many Other Sites Stopped Doing April Fools’ Day Articles
Well before slop (made by LLMs) it was "bad optics" to have satire or humour in a site, irrespective of the day of the year
President Not-Cocaine Campinos Notified of Historic EPO Strikes (Thousands of Workers Not Coming Back to the Office)
Please do pay attention to how the media treats these strikes in Europe's second-largest institution
Slides From the Presentation Discussing EPO Strikes Until End of June or Until End of 2026 (Maybe Next Year Too)
More to come soon (later today)
IBM Cuts Are Everywhere (Global), the Aim is to Lower the Pay
Because the revenues keep falling (IBM buys other companies' revenues using borrowed money)
Perpetual Strikes to Begin at European Patent Office (EPO), Large Majority Votes for Strikes Any Day of the Week
Approved industrial actions [...] Notice how none of the media or even so-called 'IP' blogs write about it
Mozilla is Not a Privacy Company, Mozilla is Run by GAFAM Executives and Managers Who Came From American Surveillance Companies
Would you trust a VPN they claim to be "free"?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 25 Out of 200: That Time Matthew J. Garrett Got Temporarily Banned/Suspended From Twitter
That he gets banned from large social control media platform is hardly surprising given his combative communications
Ubuntu Started as Free With ShipIt, Now It Becomes Payware That Exploits Debian Volunteers (Slaves)
"Ubuntu" the distro now replaces the GNU components inherited from Debian with a bunch of Microsoft GitHub (proprietary) things that reject reciprocal licences
Last Night The Register MS Published a Fake Article. It Mentioned "AI" 27 Times.
Paid-for nonsense! [...] What's left of once-respectable news sites actively harms society
Links 27/03/2026: Google Executive (GAFAM, US, Surveillance) "Named the New BBC Head", Prominent Climate Scientist Resigns From NASA
Links for the day
Gemini Links 27/03/2026: "Being Busy" and "Posting Again"
Links for the day
GNOME Has No "Real" Executive Director, Only an IBM (Perma)'Interim' One With No Openings in Sight
GNOME is having financial problems
Microsoft Experiencing "Leadership Exodus"
Microsoft's current position is no better than Meta's (Facebook)
GNU/Linux Distros Should Reject "Age Verification" and Uphold Software Freedom for Users
It's not about protecting children
Slop Plunge
we can already "smell the blood" of the so-called 'AI industry'
IBM Media Puff Pieces While Layoffs Go On and On
Has the PR industry absorbed the press?
Media Says Microsoft Hiring Freezes, But There Are Already Microsoft Layoffs
They want the public to talk about Microsoft as if it's just not hiring when it is actually firing
Richard Stallman lynchings: Sruthi Chandran splitting Debian
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 26, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, March 26, 2026