Bonum Certa Men Certa

A Severe Linux Foundation Conflict of Interest (Microsoft Staff in Charge of Linux Foundation)

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Oct 23, 2024,
updated Oct 24, 2024

THINGS are not exactly improving. Linux affairs are just getting less transparent. 'Legwork' online becomes necessary. As an associate put it today, "evil does not go away, it just moves around. One has to know where it has moved to."

Latest from the Linux Foundation's site:

Stephen Walli

That's a new addition (recent months). Walli has been attacking the Free software community from the inside for at least two decades. He moves back and forth between Microsoft and organisations it tries to influence from within. We wrote about him for many years. Microsoft even buys him keynote slots at events; therein he does the attacks, too. It's a very toxic actor. Readers keep sending us information about the harms that he has done. Don't underestimate these tactics.

Yet worse: (different person)

Stormy Peters

Sarah Novotny left Microsoft 6 months ago and left the Linux Foundation (Board Of Directors) 18 months ago... after nearly 5 years there. In her role there she tried to outsource Linux to Microsoft! Last year Microsoft had 3 board seats - more than any other company! That's also impermissible, as per the Linux Foundation's rules (it is in the formal IRS filings), so for a bribe from Microsoft the Linux Foundation would even break its own rules... just for Microsoft.

Active (on Microsoft payroll) Microsoft staff is still in the leadership team of the Linux Foundation. One of them left that team and apparently left GitHub/Microsoft as well (it does not say when). From "At-Large Director" to MD at Redpoint...

As far as we can tell, the 'Linux' Foundation has - for the first time - hired someone black (it took nearly two decades). And yet they had the sheer audacity to troll others about "inclusion". The main thing 'Linux' Foundation is good at including is Microsoft. That's inclusion?

And speaking of inclusion, 6+ countries are banned (that's hundreds of millions of people banned from 'Linux' Foundation projects because of their nationality alone).

So you can call Linux "cancer" and still do anything you want inside the 'Linux' Foundation. Even break its rules with impunity.

Just make sure you don't hold a Russian passport (or birth certificate):

The two links above are new and circulating right now.

Contrary to how it's framed (above and elsewhere; put the politics aside), it's not the first time this is happening inside Linux. Microsoft even shut Linux developers out of their own Linux projects. Yes, Microsoft now has this kind of control over Linux. Are you Russian? Then we orphan your own project. Novotny wanted to outsource Linux (the kernel) to GitHub too. Novotny was the community leader for NGINX, which is both Russian and Microsoft. Strange world and how rules are applied (or not) in it. It's not even about politics, it's just all about corporate power and every oligarch's ambitions (no matter the oligarch's loyalties/allegiances).

Other Recent Techrights' Posts

Dictatorship Formalised: Python Software Foundation Violates Its Very Own Code Of Conduct (COC) or Code Of Censorship
Incoming Python Software Foundation Executive Director, Deb Nicholson, allegedly uses COCs to get ahead while violating COCs
 
Links 08/12/2024: Boeing Leaks and Bluesky’s Business Model Dilemma
Links for the day
Gemini Links 08/12/2024: UK Winds and Ultraviolet Grasslands (UVG)
Links for the day
Links 08/12/2024: Conflicts, Misinformation, and Gutting of the Media
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, December 07, 2024
IRC logs for Saturday, December 07, 2024
Czech Republic: GNU/Linux Jumps Above 4%
data from the Czech Republic for 2024
IBM Engagement Surveys "Are Usually Useful for the Executives So They Know Which Things to Ignore"
This impacts Red Hat as well
Did Microsoft 'Write' (by Chatbots) This 'Article' About WINE?
The Web is drowning in garbage
[Meme] 'Self-Checkout' (and Banking 'Apps'): Passing All Accountability to the Customers
Stealing
Gemini Links 07/12/2024: Leasehold and NNTP
Links for the day
Fun Statistics About Techrights (Almost a Quarter Million Files)
Here are some raw numbers
PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) as an Instrumental But Largely Hidden (From the Public) Extra Layer of IBM's Workforce Reductions
The morale at IBM is really bad
Microsoft Money: From Bribing Bloggers to SLAPPing Bloggers
Microsoft money, different strategy?
Belgium: Windows Falls to Quarter of the Market, Mobile Devices Outsell or Overtake Desktops/Laptops on the Web
Microsoft has no operating system for 'smartphones'
Links 07/12/2024: CALEA Back Doors Backfiring, Fentanylware's (TikTok) U.S. Ban a Step Closer
Links for the day
statCounter: GNU/Linux Rises Sharply to All-Time High in Republic of South Korea
Notice how sharp the rise is!
It's FOSS? No, It's SPAM.
Another sellout
Another Massive Blow to the Web
This is awful news and it neatly relates to topics that we covered this morning
All the Latest Five Blog Posts at OSI's Blog Are Written by a Microsoft Operative Salaried by Microsoft
"Open Source" no longer means anything
Legacy of a Dying World Wide Web
Many people truly believe they're "stars" in social control media
Google Does Not Have a Search Engine Anymore
Google wants to "retain" users for more "screen time" and influence over their minds; it does not save you time, it's manipulating you
[Meme] Automattic: Host With Automattic, We'll Handle Our Own Complexity for You
The RHEL modus operandi (more so with systemd)
Finding Peace With Less
There seems to be a growing consensus (speaking to other editors helps confirm this) that the Web is going in a very bad direction
Links 07/12/2024: DEI Chopped by University of Michigan, French and South Korean Governments in Turmoil
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, December 06, 2024
IRC logs for Friday, December 06, 2024
Links 06/12/2024: Meal Changes and Internet Nostalgia
Links for the day
Brittany Day (linuxsecurity.com) Reposing Linux Foundation/Microsoft FUD Using LLMs, Probably Controlled by Microsoft
Plagiarised FUD by LLMs
Three Months
Next week on Tuesday our sister site turns 20.5
Links 06/12/2024: Promotion of Fake and Illegal Patent 'Court' (UPC), South Korean Strikes, and More Bailouts at Taxpayers' Expense
Links for the day
Links 06/12/2024: Alarm Raised in EU Over Meddling and Destabilisation by TikTok, Strong Criticism of 'Open'AI
Links for the day
In France, Android Skyrockets to 52%, Windows Falls to 26%
even in rich countries across Europe Windows is rapidly losing "market share"
When News Sites Become Shopping Catalogues Disguised as 'Reviews' or 'Articles'
Sometimes Fagioli uses HEY HI (AI, LLMs actually) to make 'articles' about HEY HI
[Meme] Hit and Run with SLAPP
Microsoft staff versus Techrights
[Meme] When You Go Against Corporate Front Groups and Shills of Moneyed Interests (EDRi is Microsoft-Compromised Now)
The "golden rule" is, follow the gold
The Register Exposed Many IBM Scandals, Lawsuits, and Secret Layoffs. Now IBM Pays The Register.
Hush money?
IBM Told the Media the Secret Mass Layoffs Would Carry on Till End of November, But They Still Happen This Month
"My team of 9 people had 4 regulars and 5 contractors. All contractors gone."
All the Red Flags in New Linux Foundation Report
How telling...
Gemini Links 06/12/2024: Shrinkflation and Working at Google
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, December 05, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, December 05, 2024