Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft Inside -- Part I: Don't Get Close to Microsoft, It's Not a Love Story

As Sir Humphrey Appleby famously said in Yes Minister: "It is necessary to get behind someone in order to stab them in the back."

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Summary: Today we start a mini series about how Microsoft plans to 'deal' with GNU/Linux (of course while pretending to "love" it; that's just a very old modus operandi of Microsoft)

THERE is a tendency to wrongly assume that Microsoft is not trying to kill GNU/Linux (probably because it cannot anymore; it's almost too late). Nothing would please Microsoft more than killing GNU/Linux and pushing Windows to fill the newly-created gap; the whole "Microsoft loves Linux" thing is "sour grapes" in reverse; they lost the battle (in most areas or form factors), so they pretend to be happy about it regardless (and want to steal a share of the pie, e.g. with Azure). As we keep reminding people, Windows is fast becoming minority market share in more segments of the market, with desktops/laptops being a last-remaining stronghold (that monopoly too is waning as Windows rapidly drops in share). They don't like to admit this, so they rely on biased and ridiculously selective measures (to make the shareholders think they maintain about 90% of "the market"). The takeover of GitHub wasn't just expensive; it's an ongoing money burner with no signs of turnaround (GitHub is "successful" in the same sense Uber is). They bought it in an attempt to occupy the competition (spying, imposing disproportionate censorship, undermining one way or another). If they don't pull it off, it'll be another write-off like Nokia. More losses. Remember that last year Microsoft shed off a lot of staff, including in supposedly "successful" divisions like Azure. There were layoffs and Microsoft is exceptionally paranoid about its clients and shareholders finding out.



"In this series we will share some stories we've heard throughout the month. Microsoft has some rather malicious plans and by explaining those plans we hope to 'inoculate' the community, developing a sort of "herd immunity" (to the tactics or the generic strategy)."Earlier today I caught up with video coverage about what Microsoft had done to the Raspberry Pi. Having already seen plenty of articles about it (almost 50 articles, not even counting forum threads, social control media, comments and so on), I belatedly turned to video coverage. It takes a lot more time to digest video as it cannot be 'scanned' like text. I'm pleased that we at Techrights were the ones to break the story -- a fact publicly recognised even at the front page of Raspbian. Following that revelation of ours a lot of the media brought highlights and spotlights to the backlash, putting intense pressure on Raspberry Pi (Foundation), which instead of making things better only made things worse, at least in the short term, probably due to secret contractual obligations. Half a decade ago we did the same to Lenovo, which resorted to censorship of customers (because Lenovo didn't want to change its misguided policy, at least not immediately). Based on what happened with Lenovo (in years that followed it gradually warmed up to GNU/Linux, even if just to avoid the hate) our prediction is that if Raspberry Pi has some potential for expanding a Microsoft partnership, it would give that a pass. They hopefully learned their lesson/s; Microsoft tried something similar several years ago (putting Windows on Pi devices). That's just how corporations work (even if they call themselves "foundation" instead of "limited") and engaging with them on a financial level and PR level is the only way to accomplish something. I know this having spent like half a decade of my life (at expense to myself and my health) opposing Novell. It worked. It really worked. A decade or so later Novell's last CEO still feels hurt by the whole thing.

In this series we will share some stories we've heard throughout the month. Microsoft has some rather malicious plans and by explaining those plans we hope to 'inoculate' the community, developing a sort of "herd immunity" (to the tactics or the generic strategy). The patterns are mostly familiar, we've covered some of these before (e.g. EDGI), but they merit emphasis in light of new examples, not a supposedly 'old Microsoft' but this year's Microsoft.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Brett Wilson LLP Sent Over 5 Kilograms (or Over 12 Pounds) of Legal Papers! Because Writing About Microsoft Abuses is 'Illegal'.
How do you guys sleep at night? On a big pile of Microsoft money?
Extremism as a Weapon Against GNU/Linux (Microsoft Lunduke)
He ought to know the Halloween Documents. Wasn't he a Microsoft employee when these came out?
 
Microsoft-Sponsored Propaganda Site Has Removed False 'Hit Piece' About Dr. Stallman (With Fake and Misrepresented Imagery) But Only After 4 Years
So they only removed that page some time around 2025, i.e. about 4 years after it had been published
Always Check Your Inputs
Garbage in, garbage out. Or wrong assumptions, wrong corollary.
Dan Neidle Said That Tax Evasion Facilitator Mr Zahawi (Working to Silence Bloggers Through Brett Wilson LLP) Targeted Not Only Him (But The Others Kept Quiet)
"Mr Neidle said after repelling Mr Zahawi he was contacted by bloggers and tweeters who had received similar threats. They deleted their work “and in most cases never commented publicly on anything again”."
SLAPP Funding Transparency Urgently Needed in the UK and Elsewhere (in Practice, Not Just in Theory)
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Over at Tux Machines...
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they just make judges and regulators even more suspicious of the eagerness to resort to 'paper DDoS'
Lunduke Isn't Even Hiding His Anti-Linux Agenda (From "Linux Sucks" to "Linux is Pedophiles")
just trying to make a lot of trouble
Some People Use Computers to Get Actual Work Done
Tolerance and inclusion must extend to acceptance that some people don't agree with you, might never agree with you, and imposing what allegedly works for you on them is unreasonable
Example of "Old" Things That Still Work
The notion that something being "old" implies it must be discarded is typically advanced by those looking to sell more of something
Some Scheduled Maintenance Later Today
Typically the most vulnerable service during short interruptions is IRC
Computers Are Just a Tool
People don't get married because they love weddings, folks don't join the army because they love war, and most drivers don't drive to work because they love cars
Apple Way Past Its Prime
Apple deserves a decline
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About half a day ago I noticed that all/most GNU/FSF sites were not reachable and thus reached out to a contact for any details
Over at Tux Machines...
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PCLinuxOS Recovering From Fire
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FSF40 T-shirt message
by Alex Oliva
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Links 08/07/2025: Sabotage of Networking Infrastructure, Microsoft XBox Game Pass Deemed “Unsustainable”
Links for the day
Dalai Lama Succession as Evidence That Determined, Motivated People Can Reach Their Nineties
And we need to quit talking about their death all the time
Many Lawyers (for Microsoft) and 1,316 Pages to Pick on a Litigant in Person Who Exposed Serious Microsoft Abuses
Answers must be given
Gemini Links 08/07/2025: Ancillary Justice and Small Web July
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, July 07, 2025
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