08.03.21
Posted in Deception, Marketing, Microsoft, Vista 10 at 4:20 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
“Well the initial impression is how much it [Windows 7] looks like Vista. Which I think is…uh…the thing I’m not supposed to say.”
–Microsoft Jack (Schofield)
Summary: Microsoft is, as usual, aggressively manipulating/bribing the media (hyping up a shallow version inflation along with paid-for vapourware advertising) while strong-arming the market; there’s no other way they can compete anymore
THE spyware bundled in
‘Third parties’ down the bin
Multi-billion-dollar media spin
Booting nothing but Win*
Innovation curtailed
Because since Vista we’ve failed
Bribery money mailed
By Trump we got bailed
Share buybacks increased
For truth tellers Cease and Desist
By regulators only slapped on the wrist
So we can persist in being a beast █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
07.31.21
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, Marketing at 8:29 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Are a bunch of scientific-sounding codenames such as “Proton” enough to retain and moreover bring back users? History suggests “no”…
Summary: Way back, long before Mozilla and Firefox got hijacked by politics (turning Mozilla into a VPN reseller that lies about its stance on privacy), geeks were driving the company, not corporate lawyers and spying/marketing people
Permalink
Send this to a friend
07.27.21
Posted in Deception, Free/Libre Software, GNU/Linux, IBM, Kernel, Marketing, Microsoft at 1:33 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link | md5sum bba2c20a516b751008c9f77ef715f310
Summary: Racist IBM is once again using or misusing the “Linux” brand (through the Linux Foundation) to promote racist Watson (which is also proprietary software); the ‘Linux’ Foundation is now revisionism as a service (not just in service of its own mythology, e.g. the operating system starting in 1991 rather than 1983)
THE so-called Linux Foundation (or corporate ‘Linux’ Foundation or Zemlin PAC or whatnot) is trying to inspire confidence in monopolies, not in Linux. It’s a longstanding problem we’ve been writing about for years. We even said that Linus Torvalds should consider doing something to protect his trademark (also from his employer).
The video above concerns a new example, which for the time being is a press release [1, 2] about this IBM PR stunt, mentioned here recently before the “Linux” brand was borrowed to promote proprietary Watson and some code in proprietary GitHub.
“IBM wants to be viewed as a company that saves the world, in effect compensating for a very dark past (including racism against dark-skinned people).”We expect that PR mouthpieces of the proprietary software world, including Jim Zemlin (proprietary software user), will soon add their ‘voice’ to the press release with a bunch of mindless, shallow, obligatory (to the sponsor) puff pieces. IBM wants to be viewed as a company that saves the world, in effect compensating for a very dark past (including racism against dark-skinned people). █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
06.26.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Marketing, Microsoft, Windows at 6:08 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link
Summary: The media is helping Microsoft’s vapourware tactics; sadly, over the past few days we saw more than a dozen so-called ‘Linux’ bloggers and vloggers playing along, joining a wave of Googlebombing (interjecting the vapourware into news about Microsoft’s competitors)
JUST as expected a number of days ago, Microsoft bombards every site within its reach (and beyond) with Vista 11 vapourware and other nonsense. Even YouTube channels that typically cover GNU/Linux have fallen for it, not just blogs. It’s like they think a fictional release (that did not even happen yet) should be compared to existing products that are currently available, as we saw in past years. Microsoft always prefers to compare mere promises (or brochures) to actual competitors which have been technically ahead by several years (for a number of decades now).
“Microsoft always prefers to compare mere promises (or brochures) to actual competitors which have been technically ahead by several years (for a number of decades now).”The above video is an offbeat ramble about the sort of things that they may be trying to distract us (through the media) from. There are scandals and blunders going on (here’s a new one), so they try to get us to put blinders on and debate vapourware, not actual news. █
“The purpose of announcing early like this is to freeze the market at the OEM and ISV level. In this respect it is JUST like the original Windows announcement…
“One might worry that this will help Sun because we will just have vaporware, that people will stop buying 486 machines, that we will have endorsed RISC but not delivered… So, Scott, do you really think you can fight that avalanche?”
–Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft
“Stewart Alsop, industry gadfly, presented Gates with the “Golden Vaporware” award, saying, “The delay of Windows was all part of a secret plan to have Bill turn thirty before it shipped.”
–Barbarians Led by Bill Gates, a book composed
by the daughter of Microsoft’s PR mogul
Permalink
Send this to a friend
06.23.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing, Microsoft, OSDL at 2:43 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link
Summary: The gross misuse or misapplication of the brand "Linux" is being highlighted in this video about the latest examples. It has gone too far; whether Linus Torvalds wishes to rock the boat that’s the so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation is totally up to him, but it might help if people contact him directly, especially longtime users and proponents of GNU/Linux.
THE latest Daily Links contained a bunch of Linux Foundation fluff, adding to last night's openwashing garbage. The so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation is basically promoting Microsoft and listening devices, using the brand (or trademark) “Linux”. This is really bad. Under an hour ago (whilst uploading the video above) we also found “Linux Foundation Launches Open Voice Network to Set Voice Tech Standards” (openwashing of surveillance and Microsoft). This is what people see then they search for “Linux” news, along with this marketing spam in PRNewswire. That was a few hours ago. It seems clear that the brand “Linux” is being co-opted. The video above shows another new example of this (the Foundation trying to change its business model because of the pandemic), deals with this new pair of puff pieces (antithetical to “Linux” as per the thing many of us advocates promoted for decades), and urges people to contact Linus Torvalds at torvalds@linuxfoundation.org (it’s still a valid address) and bring such concerns to his attention. He still has the relevant trademarks and he can likely do something about it (if so he wishes). █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
06.22.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing, Microsoft at 3:57 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
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). █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
06.18.21
Posted in Deception, Europe, Marketing, Patents at 12:02 am by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Previously in the series:
- Virtual Injustice — Part 1: António’s Increasingly Wonky Legal Fudge Factory
- Virtual Injustice — Part 2: The ViCo Oral Proceedings of 28 May 2021
- Virtual Injustice — Part 3: All the President’s Men…
- Virtual Injustice — Part 4: Mihály Ficsor, the EPO’s Hungarian “Fixer”
- Virtual Injustice — Part 5: Benoît’s “Friends” in Budapest
- Virtual Injustice — Part 6: Best Buddies With António
- Virtual Injustice — Part 7: Musical Chairs and Revolving Doors
- Virtual Injustice — Part 8: A Well-Connected ‘IP’ Maximalist
- Virtual Injustice — Part 9: Heli, the EPO’s Nordic Ice-Queen
Coverage of the oral proceedings of 28 May in the ‘IP’ blogosphere has been predominantly vapid and superficial but there has been one interesting exception.
Summary: The media has come under attack by Benoît Battistelli; during the term of António Campinos most of the media critical of the EPO has mostly vanished already; so one needs to look carefully at comments and social control media
A number of reports on the oral proceedings of 28 May 2021 have appeared in the ‘IP’ blogosphere, for example:
• “BREAKING: Oral proceedings in G1/21 (ViCo) rescheduled due to procedural technicality” (Rose Hughes of IPKat);
• “Enlarged Board postpones oral proceedings on compulsory video hearings” (Amy Sandys of JUVE Patent);
• “EPO’s G1/21 videoconf hearing postponed” (Muireann Bolger of World IP Review);
• “G1/21: Videoconferencing at the EPO – short observations of today’s oral proceedings before the Enlarged Board of Appeal” (Eva Ehlich & Angela Zumstein of Maiwald IP);
• “G1/21 proceedings adjourned! What happened?” (Laura Fè of Murgitroyd Patent Attorneys).
The coverage so far has been predominantly vapid and superficial but one interesting exception is the following contribution from a former EPO Director, Daniel X. Thomas:
“G 1/21 – The RPEBA2015 – How to deal with the president’s comments and the amicus curiae”.
In his commentary, Thomas points out that it was the representative of the appellant who had to draw the attention of the Enlarged Board to Article 9 of its own rules of procedure.
“According to Thomas, it was “really flabbergasting” that the Enlarged Board sent the President’s comments to the parties just two days (!) before the oral proceedings.”This provides that – in addition to the right of the President to comment in writing or orally on questions of general interest – “the parties shall be entitled to submit their observations on the President’s comments”.
According to Thomas, it was “really flabbergasting” that the Enlarged Board sent the President’s comments to the parties just two days (!) before the oral proceedings.
He found it “even more flabbergasting” that the representative of the President [Mihály Ficsor] “was arguing and bickering” that because the President’s comments were published on the Internet, the appellant “had plenty of time to consult them and there was no need for postponement”.
The following comments from Thomas sum up the feelings of many observers:
One can wonder why in view of the clear legal situation it took the EBA so long to deliberate on the matter.
At this level of amateurism or precipitation one can wonder what can still happen.
He also refers to the numerous amicus curiae briefs and notes that the Enlarged Board’s rules of procedure have been drafted so as to permit it to ignore these submissions if it “thinks fit” to do so.
“But even if the ‘IP’ blogosphere has for the most part failed to get to grips with the serious issues at stake in the present case, this hasn’t stopped some juicy material from appearing in the comments posted underneath the articles themselves.”The commentary published by Thomas is probably the most perceptive and critical report on which has appeared to date. As such, it makes a refreshing contrast to the otherwise vacuous coverage of the hearing of 28 May.
But even if the ‘IP’ blogosphere has for the most part failed to get to grips with the serious issues at stake in the present case, this hasn’t stopped some juicy material from appearing in the comments posted underneath the articles themselves.
In the next part we will take a closer look at some of these comments. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
06.14.21
Posted in Deception, GNU/Linux, Kernel, Marketing at 4:14 pm by Dr. Roy Schestowitz
Video download link
Summary: The so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation or the “Corporate Linux Foundation” is alienating many of the original users of GNU/Linux and it still insults their intelligence; it’s rewriting history, it still distorts the objectives, and before we know Linux will perish and lose momentum because all the excitement associated with the brand will fizzle away
THE Linux Foundation is not run by geeks. It’s not run for geeks, either. It’s just an openwashing apparatus of large corporations, many of which aren’t even into Linux.
“Look who and where they hire from. Microsoft connected ‘analysts’…”As noted in this video, today’s so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation isn’t even promoting Linux. Along with its operatives, as recently as hours ago, it promoted a competitor of Linux. Earlier today Kristin O’Connell published this piece wherein the Linux Foundation’s site says “celebrating 30 years of Open Source”, which is rather funny because Open Source isn't even 23 years old. The mascot is also not the same as the kernel itself; it’s younger. Revisionist history? That’s the foundation of the marketing spiel; at the very core (or kernel) it is a lie.
At around the same time Jason Perlow from Microsoft (nowadays some sort of spokesperson for the ‘Linux’ Foundation) was doing puff pieces for this joke called “Linux Foundation Research”. It’s hardly research. It started as a mere questionnaire about branding and marketing. They redefine SPAM as “Research”.
In this latest puff pieces it says: “So you are joining the Linux Foundation at a time when we have just gotten our research division off the ground. What are the kind of methodologies and practices that you would like to take from your years at firms like IDC and EMA and see applied to our new LF Research?”
Look who and where they hire from. Microsoft connected ‘analysts’…
This kind of thing is dragging down the “Linux” brand. Quite a few people I speak to (and have known for years) stick to UNIX/GNU but are looking to abandon Linux as the kernel in their main systems (both servers and desktops). The so-called ‘Linux’ Foundation is one contributing factor because it stands against many of the basic things we value, including privacy, as we noted this morning. █
Permalink
Send this to a friend
« Previous entries Next Page » Next Page »
Content is available under CC-BY-SA