Bonum Certa Men Certa

Raspberry Pi Foundation at Risk of Being Easier to Control by Corporate Ownership (Microsoft Remains the Worst Enemy)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 01, 2024

Sony? Microsoft? What lies ahead? Windows pushers killed OLPC.

Equestrianism

LESS than a day ago in the sister site we published "Raspberry Pi [RPi] Betraying the Community With IPO?"

"The potential IPO of RPi Trading would give near total control to the board and the board is currently stocked with too many Microsofters," someone has told us. "An IPO would create a rift between the RPi Foundation and RPi Trading especially as the latter veers towards Microsoft control."

In 2021 we exposed a Microsoft-Raspberry Pi scandal, resulting in weeks of backlash. From what we could gather, ever since then the Foundation and the site were careful not to associate with Microsoft anymore.

Now there's this new blog post entitled "Raspberry Pi IPO: Selling out?" from one of the most familiar faces in the Raspberry Pi world, Jeff Geerling.

Quoting Geerling's latest:

Raspberry Pi is looking into an IPO (Initial Public Offering).

But wait, Raspberry Pi's a non-profit! They can't do that? And who would want stock in Raspberry Pi anyway? Their core market hates them—they abandoned hobbyists and makers years ago!

And there are like tons of clones and competitors, nobody even needs Raspberry Pi? Plus, aren't they crazy-expensive? It's like a hundred bucks now, and that's if you can even find one to buy!

Well, hold on a second... there are a lotta misconceptions out there. In this post, I'll walk through what's actually happening, and also through things I see online.

To be fair, Geerling adds some much-needed context. If an IPO does happen, and don't bet on it (Canonical has said for years it would do the same), we just hope that Geerling's predictions are fair and accurate. We also hope Microsoft would be singled out as a very dangerous entity. Look at all the layoffs it is causing right now in Activision (it's not even over yet; "1,900" just sounded better than "2,000" and/or more; if they said "1,999" layoffs, they would get mocked).

Microsoft does not create things; it mostly kills things and then spreads misinformation (including about the victims). Microsoft just relies on a market where no other choice remains/exists except Microsoft.

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