Bonum Certa Men Certa

'Linux' Being Googlebombed by Microsoft as That Devalues the Brand Linux (Putting Off Users)

"Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!"

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]



Ubuntu Azure



Summary: When one pursues news updates about the GNU/Linux operating system (on the World Wide Web) one is increasingly likely to stumble upon promotional Microsoft articles that encourage use of proprietary spyware

THE brand "Linux" and the project Linux are both under attack from Microsoft. We've been explaining this for years. This attack is multi-faceted and it is partly facilitated by the Linux Foundation, which does not own the Linux Mark (trademark). It is diluting it; it habitually and casually 'borrows' it for openwashing PR purposes.



"It's not a new problem, but it's important to illuminate it every once in a while."Microsoft-controlled or Microsoft-friendly media (not the same thing, but overlaps exist) is trying to use the "Linux" brand to basically legitimise Microsoft's proprietary stuff that spies (i.e. spyware). It's not a new problem, but it's important to illuminate it every once in a while.

Allow us to explain using examples from yesterday alone. We're talking about one day. It happens every day, to some extent...

"Microsoft views .NET and Mono as means to attack Free software developers by essentially making them subservient to Microsoft, which ultimately pushes proprietary software."Yesterday started with Canonical acting as a Microsoft booster, a Clown Computing reseller of sorts, under the title "Azure pricing explained" (screenshot needed here, hence the image above; it's still at the top of their official blog at this moment).

Then, Red Hat was pushing Microsoft's proprietary IDE to developers (instead of proper Free software). Microsoft views .NET and Mono as means to attack Free software developers by essentially making them subservient to Microsoft, which ultimately pushes proprietary software. A day earlier Red Hat had promoted a similar agenda (.NET) and we're meant to think that therefore .NET is 'blessed' by a large "Linux" company.

If that wasn't bad enough, hours later a site called "It's FOSS" was shilling PROPRIETARY SPYWARE of Microsoft instead of FOSS ("Microsoft Teams Progressive Web App Experience is Here for Linux"), joined by various Microsoft propaganda sites, as we noted on Monday (we showed some examples in a video).

"The Linux brand is still valuable and still relatively powerful (many people know or think they know what "Linux" is; fewer understand "GNU")."The problem isn't limited to a few vendors or Web sites. It's not limited to Microsoft-centric sites*. Phoronix, for instance, was promoting .NET by means of a mention days after shilling some Microsoft distro that hardly anyone uses or even knows about. Some years ago I asked the founder of the site (Michael) what he had in mind when he covered Microsoft news (in a flattering way, too). He told me it's for entertainment. Like clickbait...

The Linux brand is still valuable and still relatively powerful (many people know or think they know what "Linux" is; fewer understand "GNU"). But don't assume it'll stay that way if the trends above persist. There's subjugation going on. _____ * When searching for "Linux" news yesterday I was instead greeted with quite a lot of Microsoft promotion. Liam Tung, who is a Microsoft mole in ZDNet, was googlebombing "Linux" to promote Microsoft's "Teams" and IDG continues to employ Microsoft's media mole Simon Bisson, so of course he too googlebombed "Linux". Those sites hire and pay salaries to these people despite it being ever so obvious they're not journalists but PR operatives trashing sites to shill Microsoft malware (for the handlers). In fact, Microsoft's "Advertising" partnership with those sites probably requires that they employ such people, whose output even misuses the "Linux" brand to promote a Linux-hostile agenda. Everybody knows that ZDNet is a Microsoft (et al) marketing site. The people who write there very well know and understand they're not employed by a news site and they have a clear view of who the real clients are. They're there to brainwash readers for the real clients.

Recent Techrights' Posts

BASIC Predates Microsoft by Over a Decade, Microsoft-Controlled Sites Like The Register MS Don't Want You to Know This
The state of the media is really bad when it relies a lot on oligarchs' money and is appointing editors who are working for oligarchs
Brian Kernighan, "Only Third to Dennis Richie and Ken Thompson" (UNIX), Agreed With Someone Who Said Rust Was Just Hype, Should Not Replace C
17 hours ago
Reminder: Microsoft's "Secure Boot" Certificate for "Linux" Will be Expired in One Week
Many PCs won't manage to 'rotate' to another certificate
 
Gemini Links 05/09/2025: Logitech Lift and DIY Gemini Servers
Links for the day
Links 05/09/2025: Sainsbury's Caught Spying on In-Store Shoppers and Microsoft "OpenAI is Using Legal Threats to Harass its Critics"
Links for the day
Analogies for "Memory Safety" in Rust
Don't worry, it's Rust! It can do anything!
"Many of the Red Hat Employees Are Still Looking for Work"
Shame on IBM's CEO
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 04, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, September 04, 2025
Microsoft Started With Code Literally From The Trash, Nothing Has Improved Since
The reality is, there are systems and code that are reliable. But they're not Microsoft's.
Hypothesis That New McKinsey/Microsoft Executive Inside Red Hat Will Outsource Research and Development Operations to India (Like They Do in IBM)
IBM is floundering
Slopwatch: Scams, Fake Articles About "Linux", Plagiarism, and Worse
Perhaps some time soon the LLMs or the "Big LLMs" will run out of money (to borrow) and go offline, leaving those slopfarms in a tough place
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Means of Production and Rusting Out
Links for the day
Links 04/09/2025: Science, Hardware, and Eyes on China
Links for the day
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Digital Minimalism and Social Control Media
Links for the day
IBM's GNU/Linux Divestment, Based on Hard But Anecdotal Evidence (IBM Fails to Recognise How Much Money It Made and Can Still Make From "Linux")
Love us or hate us, a lot of what we've been saying about Red Hat under IBM turns out to be rather accurate
Links 04/09/2025: Massive Microsoft Staff Cuts (Barely Reported), "Strange Conspiracy Theory Is Reportedly Spreading Inside OpenAI"
Links for the day
Activists Can Win, But Keep an Eye on the Ball and on the Trophy
GitHub is dying, it was a loss-making trap, not free hosting
Gemini Links 04/09/2025: Katrina Remembered, Distracted Driving, and Virtual Economics
Links for the day
At This Point It's No Longer Matthew Garrett But People Who Fund Matthew Garrett (or Companies That Fund His SLAPPs Against My Wife and I)
The only thing worse than misogynists are misogynists who fail to respect other people's right to go on holiday
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 03, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 03, 2025
The UEFI 9/11 - Part VI - This Serious Harm Was Planned for Over a Decade, Not an Accident or Merely Some Misfortune
The term "Serious Harm" is legally meaningful here
GNOME Unfit for Diversity and Inclusion
GNOME's leadership is using "bad words"
Brodie Robertson Addressing the Recently-Discovered Comments
Most people probably knew nothing about this until he wrote a response
Red Hat QA Team "Had Shrunk by Half Over the Past Year." (After IBM Divestment)
If Red Hat's workforce is being moved to the East, then RHEL can become a national security problem
Slopwatch: "Open Source" and "Linux" News Faked, Made by Bots and Entered Into Google News
Spam combined with slop about "Linux" has entered Google News
Links 03/09/2025: Microsoft Causes Mass Layoffs Outside Microsoft Also, "Google Can Keep Paying for Firefox Search Deal"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 03/09/2025: calendar.txt, Alhena 5.3.1, and ROOPHLOCH
Links for the day
The Theory That the Man From McKinsey, Whom Red Hat Took From Microsoft a Month Ago as Executive, Wants 'Efficiency' (Lower Salaries)
So far... no "official" word
When Your Site's Articles Are Being 'Cheapened' by Slop as Feature Images
Dr. Farnell should become an advisor to The Register MS
Certificate Authority Let's Encrypt Drops to Only Half a Dozen Capsules and 0.2% of the Whole in Geminispace, Self-Signed is the Way to Go
It used to have hundreds, according to Lupa
Doing to Red Hat What They Already Did (and Still Do) to IBM
there seems to be a drive to hire cheaper staff, and it may be led by somebody Red Hat hired from Microsoft
Links 03/09/2025: Salesforce's Latest Mass Layoffs, 93% in Large Poll at The Register MS Say UK Government Should Dump Microsoft
Links for the day
Preparations for Our 19th Anniversary Have Already Begun
When we get back we'll probably sort out some balloons and venue for the next party
Pleased After 2 Years With team.blue
Moving from a Content Management System (CMS, dynamic) to a Static Site Generator (SSG) was a wise decision that made life so much easier
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) is Being Attacked by Organisations Jealous of Its Principled Stance and Longevity
Nobody is perfect, but imperfection does not instantaneously imply sinister intent
If You Reject the Google Verdict in the US, Then You Should Also Reject the "Modern" Web (Do Something About It)
Gemini Protocol is still open; it cannot be hijacked or subverted because it's frozen by design and by intention
Open Source Initiative IRS Filing: Almost All the Money is Corporate, Stefano Maffuli (Executive Director) Takes About a Quarter of That Money for Openwashing of "AI" Ponzi Scheme
OSI is currently little but a PR/marketing agency of Microsoft
Many People Are "Leaving" Red Hat, Even High-Level Managers
Something is definitely going on at Red Hat
Techrights Has Been Subjected to Calls of Violence (and Death Threats), It Never Condoned Violence
I have no sympathy for people who call violence "free speech" and then get in trouble
Condoning Violent Behaviour and "Free Speech"
perhaps Microsoft Lunduke lost touch with what constitutes violence
Takeaway From the Google Verdict: GAFAM Has Too Much Control (Even Over the US Government and Courts With Government Appointees)
Many people feel disappointed but hardly surprised by the verdict
The Free Software Foundation (FSF) Turns 40 in One Month
As noted a few days ago, several times in fact, many people now recognise the importance of the FSF's mission, even if most people don't know what the FSF is
Many Microsoft "Assets" Are Fabricated Baloney (to Game the Numbers)
At times it seems like what we deal with are many weak patents (on algorithms), valuations or speculations based on hype ("hey hi"), and stocks held by Microsoft and its own staff
"Voluntary" Layoffs at Microsoft (to Game the Numbers, Sugar-Coating a Crisis)
"Employees interested have until the end of October to volunteer."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 02, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 02, 2025