Bonum Certa Men Certa

Decades-Long Microsofter (Darryl K. Taft) and TIOBE Conflate Microsoft GitHub (Proprietary) With FOSS in Microsoft-Sponsored 'News' Site

posted by Roy Schestowitz on Feb 13, 2026,
updated Feb 13, 2026

Reminders about The New Stack: "Microsoft is a Sponsor of The New Stack." | Microsoft-sponsored "The New Stack" Publishing Microsoft Windows Articles in "Linux" Clothing | Joab Jackson and "The New Stack" Publishing Microsoft Spam (E.E.E. Against Linux) for a Payment From Microsoft | The New Stack, Sponsored by Microsoft: Pay Us Money to Read Promotion of Slop Composed by Microsofters to Sell Their Proprietary Slopware

Published yesterday:

Statistical language R is making a comeback against Python

We do not intend to do a lengthy debunking because we covered this subject several times in the past and the main thing to note in this case is the Microsoft connection.

In a nutshell, the TIOBE methodology is very flawed for the same reasons we explained before (Redmonk - a mouthpiece of Microsoft - does the same thing).

The issue "is explained in the article," in fact, as "it depends on Microsoft gimmicks" (which are proprietary), "so Perl's resurgence remain(ed|s) hidden until [someone] jumped into Microsoft GitHub with both feet."

So said an associate. "TIOBE conflates Microsoft GitHub with OSS."

GitHub’s State of the Octoverse, which reflects what’s in GitHub repositories, lists TypeScript at the top, followed by Python, JavaScript, and Java, Cornwall notes.

What they actually measure is, how many projects choose proprietary tools controlled by Microsoft, right? So yes, many who willingly chose Microsoft TypeScript also chose Microsoft GitHub (proprietary). The people who demanded the removal of Richard Stallman in 2021 choose both TypeScript and GitHub (i.e. only Microsoft).

Many of those surveys are "whitecoat" marketing; so they are unscientific by design.

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