Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Has Already Hurt LinuxTag by Paying It

"I’ve killed at least two Mac conferences. [...] by injecting Microsoft content into the conference, the conference got shut down. The guy who ran it said, why am I doing this?"

--Microsoft's chief evangelist



Summary: Microsoft is sponsoring LinuxTag in order to be end up "injecting Microsoft content into the conference" and putting people off

HERE WE go again. Linux Outlaws is a recommended GNU/Linux-centred show which we last mentioned two days ago. In its latest episode the duo states that Microsoft sponsors LinuxTag, not only attends it to deter and repel "Linux people". Microsoft even uses the word "infiltrate" to describe what it's doing there.



Now that we know it's a payment which bought Microsoft this 'ticket', the story becomes very familiar. It becomes a lot clearer that Microsoft actually paid with "sponsorship" to get that spot, i.e. it publicly speaks to the opposition's crowd because of money. Fab from Linux Outlaws won't go to LinuxTag this year, partly because of that action from Microsoft. He's probably not the only person who feels that way and he said that would rather have Novell attend. He says that "everything is better than Microsoft" and that he will be the first who shouts "no". Well, that's just what Microsoft intended by its own admission (see quote at the top).

For those who listen to the audiocast/oggcast from which the quotes are extracted, skip to around 1hr:10min when this discussion takes place. Dan plays the apologist's role (or devil's advocate) to add some balance, which is fair enough. Neither of them is excited to "go across Microsoft logos" and someone in their IRC channel writes: "what about if there are conditions attached to the sponsorship?"

Well, they have already injected a public talk. We saw this several times before. Microsoft is essentially buying itself a talk by offering sponsorship. It's as though there are strings attached. This is very deliberate.

Fab says: "I've been... even in the time I do this podcast I read about so much abuse... I don't like them as a company."

“Over my dead body, Ballmer.”
      --Fab from Linux Outlaws
He asks rhetorically: "Why do they do that?" Well, that's because they are Microsoft. They like to break things, even events of their competition [1, 2].

Dan says that it "looks good for them if we rant about them." Yes, that's just part of their plan. "Give them ammunition... [to say about GNU/Linux people that] they are crazy," Dan adds.

Fab angrily replies with: "Over my dead body, Ballmer."

Dan persists by presenting the other side: "I don't know whether this will change the event."

"It makes me sick" is the response.

It ought to be emphasised that this is not the first time they are involved. Fab speaks about a Microsoft guy at the Novell stand -- one who kept staring and made him uncomfortable in prior events that he attended. And again, this very much deliberate. Microsoft knows what it's doing and it uses friction to drive people against one another and come out looking like the professional "saint".

Dan says: "it's difficult... I didn't feel like having a Microsoft logo on my shirt."

Of course. Nobody likes that. It makes people angry and resentful towards the event, which is really being victimised, sometimes coerced. They do this also to Apple and they explain how to grease up the organisers, who later regret what they do.

Microsoft wins either way because if the organiser says "no", then Microsoft will publicly throw a fit and daemonise the organiser/event. The solution is to publicly agree that Microsoft is forbidden from accessing such events as a matter of cross-event/events-wide policy, for the simple reason that it admitted quite explicitly that it wants to sabotage such events. Novell would of course stand in the way of such policies.

As a side note, Dan has not been keeping up with Microsoft. He thinks their Xbox was successful even though it's an utter failure. To be unaware of the reality is fair enough if the big media/PR is all one has to rely on. Sometimes it's better to just concentrate on GNU/Linux, i.e. the positives.

Recent Techrights' Posts

What Matters More Than "Market Share"
The goal is freedom, not "market share"
Credit Suisse collapse obfuscated Parreaux, Thiébaud & Partners scandal
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
UK Media Under Threat: Cannot Report on Data Breach, Cannot Report on Microsoft Staff Strangling Women
The story of super injunction (in the British media this week, years late)
Under the Guise of "MIT Technology Review Insights" the Site MIT Technology Review Posts Corporate Spam as 'Articles'
Some of the articles aren't even articles but 'hit pieces' against Free software and some are paid advertisements
Brett Wilson LLP Has Track Record in Scam Coin Cases (e.g. Craig Wright and More), Now It Works for 'Crypto' Scam Purveyors
But wait, it gets worse
Will Brett Wilson LLP Handle Its Own Winding Up Petition or be Struck Off for Overt Abuse of Process?
Today we sue not only the first Microsofter
Ubuntu Becomes Microsoft GitHub, Based on Decision Made by British Army Officer
You're hopeless, Canonical
Sharing Code and Recipes
It helps explain the triviality of software freedom
 
Why I Believe Brett Wilson LLP and Its Microsoft Clients Are All Toast
So far our legal strategy has worked perfectly
EPO Jobs Are Very Toxic and Bad for One's Health
Health first, not monopolies
Response to Ryo Suwito Regarding the Four Freedoms
the point of life isn't to make more money
Microsoft's Morale Circling Down the Drain
Or gutter, toilet etc.
Tech Used to be Fun. To Many of Us It's Still Fun.
You can just watch it from afar and make fun of it all
Links 17/07/2025: "Blog Identity Crisis" and Openwashing by Nvidia
Links for the day
Greffiers and the US Attorney of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
The lawsuit can help expose extensive corruption in the American court system as well
The People Who Promoted systemd in Debian Also Promote Wayland
This is not politics
Victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, Wanted to Sue Him But Lacked the Funds (He Attacked Their Finances)
Having spoken to victims of the Serial Strangler From Microsoft
Links 17/07/2025: Science, Hardware, and Censorship
Links for the day
Gemini Links 17/07/2025: Staying in the "Small Web" and Back on ICQ
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 16, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Exclusive: corruption in Tribunals, Greffiers, from protection rackets to cat whisperers
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 16/07/2025: Chip Bans and Microsoft’s “Digital Escort” Program
Links for the day
Revolving Doors: One Day You're a Judge, the Next Day You're an Attorney Paying Public Officials and Working for Violent and Dangerous Microsoft Employees
how the US justice system works
Slopwatch: Noise, Plagiarism and Even Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt/Fear-mongering/Dramatisation
What are we meant to do to prevent a false association or misleading connotations? Game the LLMs? No. Boycott slopfarms.
How Many Women Has Microsoft's Alex Balabhadra Graveley Already Strangled and Where Does That End?
If you too are a victim of this man and wish to share information, contact us
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: BaseLibre Numerical System and Simple Web Browsing with TLS
Links for the day
Links 16/07/2025: Fascist Slop Takes "Intelligence" Clothing, New Criminal Case Against MElon
Links for the day
"We Might Save Somebody's Life"
I follow the example of my father
Why I am Suing the Serial Strangler From Microsoft, Alex Balabhadra Graveley, in the UK High Court This Week
Out of respect to the process and to the Court, I shall not share any pertinent details about the case
Links 16/07/2025: China’s Economy Grows Steadily, France Takes Action Regarding Harm to Children by GAFAM and Fentanylware (TikTok)
Links for the day
It is Not About Politics
Beware the people who try to make this about politics
Good Journalism Saves Lives
a shocking number of women die or get seriously hurt every day due to violence from a partner
Recognition of Women's Contributions to Free Software
Being passive is not an option when bad things are happening
Slopfarms Are Going to Perish Because Public Opinion is Changing
Many slopfarms will simply go offline
19 Years of Standing Up for Justice, Equality, and Truth
This week we shall take it up a notch
Gemini Links 16/07/2025: Tmux and OCC25 Working TLS
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, July 15, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Links 15/07/2025: LLM Pollution and Pushback in Ukraine
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: xkcd, New Cert, and Alhena Gemlog
Links for the day
Links 15/07/2025: Press Freedom at Risk and New Facebook Blunders
Links for the day
Reboots Should Never be Necessary
"BUT WHAT ABOUT SECURITY!!"
There's Still Hope for the World Wide Web
Let's hope that the trajectory of the Web won't be leading us to over-reliance on Google, nor will it reward worthless slopfarms
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Smolweb and Alhena 5.1.7
Links for the day
The Danes Want GNU/Linux
David Heinemeier Hansson recently moved to GNU/Linux
Cory Doctorow Explains Why Software Freedom Matters, Whereas "Open Source" Misses the Point and Helps Monopolies
It's a very long article
BillPR (EpsteinGate-Bribed NPR) is Turning Into a Partial Slopfarm that Promotes Slop
"I went on a date with a chatbot!"
Two Weeks Passed Since Latest Large Wave of Microsoft Layoffs, More Expected Next Month
Blaming the debt on "AI" is just self-serving storytelling
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 14, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, July 14, 2025
Gemini Links 15/07/2025: Gemini "Style Sheets" and Switching From Microsoft GitHub to Codeberg
Links for the day