06.22.21
“Linux Foundation Partners With Microsoft” Again
Recent: Linux Foundation Has Killed the Linux Brand (in Pursuit of Short-Term Profits)
Photo credit: The Linux Foundation
Summary: Jim "Open Source Loves Microsoft" Zemlin shows (or rears) his face again, and as usual it’s just more promotion of marketing rubbish and openwashing of Microsoft (several new partnerships with Microsoft announced just hours ago)
THE Linux Foundation is going to find itself in the same situation Freenode is in. It’s alienating all the people who actually use GNU/Linux (not counting some large corporations, which don’t actually care about GNU/Linux but just use it somewhere in the background).
“Zemlin is just selling (or vendoring off) an illusion of trust (in NSA enablers) and killing off the Linux brand.”A few hours ago the so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation issued a bunch of press releases. The first we saw was an article from ZDNet, a media partner of Zemlin and his cohorts. It’s openwashing Microsoft, as usual, and it’s based on the press release [1, 2] albeit spun as shameless Microsoft promotion. emlin is just selling (or vendoring off) an illusion of trust (in NSA enablers) and killing off the Linux brand.
The headline was “Linux Foundation partners with Microsoft and Target to create standards for voice technology” about an hour ago. It later became “Linux Foundation creates standards for voice technology with major partners” and it still focuses on Microsoft (very superficial coverage with quotes thrown in like a marketing department): “The Linux Foundation is teaming up with companies like Target, Microsoft and Veritone to create the Open Voice Network, an initiative designed to “prioritize trust and standards” in voice-focused technology.
“Jon Stine, executive director of the Open Voice Network, told ZDNet that the rapid growth of both the availability and adoption of voice assistance worldwide — and the future potential of voice as an interface and data source in an artificial intelligence-driven world — makes it important for certain standards to be communally developed.”
And on it goes. Another new press release announced a belated replacement to the CMO, who had come from NSA circles and Edelman, then left within a few years. Those who know a thing or two about both will recognise the Microsoft connection. The new hire comes from a Microsoft partner, Sonatype. To quote: “Prior to Sonatype, Weeks held global marketing leadership positions for software portfolios in private and public companies, including: Global 360 (acquired by OpenText), Systar (acquired by Axway), Hyperformix (acquired by CA, Inc.), and Hewlett-Packard in the US and Germany.
“Weeks has received wide recognition for his achievements in the industry where he has been named to the DevOps 100 by TechBeacon, distinguished as the DevOps Evangelist of the Year by DevOps.com, and received the Industry Executive of the Year from Advanced Technology Academic Research Center (ATARC). Weeks, who spent his adolescent years growing up and working in Silicon Valley, holds a degree from San Jose State University in International Business.”
The so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation is little more than a marketing apparatus and we know whose. Moments ago it helped promote SPAMnil Bhartiya’s video (he typically cannot even reach 100 views) in Linux.com and it tried shoring up its training business with a paid-for press release.
Notice how this doesn’t do anything to actually help GNU/Linux. In fact, it’s not about “Linux” at all. Also a short while ago there was this press release about yet another new Microsoft partnership (second in a matter of hours). To quote: “We’re happy to announce that IBM and Microsoft are making data sets available today using CDLA-Permissive-2.0.”
IBM is in bed with Microsoft. Not exactly news. In their development blog they wrote:
As more organizations embrace artificial intelligence (AI) technologies and big data, there is a growing need to share and collaborate with data sets to analyze and use for AI training. But just as you should not release valuable software to the public without choosing an appropriate open source software license, you should not release data sets without a proper license written specifically for sharing data.
Today, the Linux Foundation AI announced the release of CDLA-Permissive-2.0 license agreement, developed to make it easier than ever for governments, academic institutions, businesses, and other organizations to share, access, and protect open source data sets.
Guess where this “hey hi” nonsense is hosted. You’ve guessed right! The so-called 'Linux' Foundation is an ally of monopolists, not communities, not Open Source, and definitely not Linux. It is just milking the brand for what’s left of it (the brand gained value because of the many volunteers who promoted it for decades). █
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