Bonum Certa Men Certa

SourceForge Learns Not from Windows' Failures and Even Hires from Microsoft



Summary: Microsoft's former employees, who encourage Free software developers to forget about GNU/Linux, become key staff in SourceForge/Geeknet

MICROSOFT hates paying tax (here is the latest from Reifman [1, 2], a former Microsoft employee who challenges the company to stop avoiding tax [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9]), but it sure wants others to pay tax not just to compensate for its evasion but also to help redeem from its very own negligence [1, 2, 3]. We are talking about the conceited suggestion made by Microsoft's Charney [1, 2, 3, 4, 5], who was hired from the government (US DOJ).



Free Software Magazine writes about a similar subject, not forgetting to mention a similar suggestion from Microsoft's Mundie last month.

Microsoft's Internet Driving Licence: stupid, unworkable and unenforceable



[...]

Mundie also compared computer users on the net to car drivers: “If you want to drive a car you have to have a licence to say that you are capable of driving a car, the car has to pass a test to say it is fit to drive and you have to have insurance”. Actually, he is right. Most of them are technically illiterate but if the only people who were allowed to drive were also qualified car mechanics then most drivers would be off the road. What next? Not allowed to switch on your TV without being a qualified electronics engineer? The point has been made before: if people were properly trained in the use of computers they wouldn’t knowingly touch the Microsoft OS with the proverbial disinfected barge pole. They’d be using GNU/Linux. Instead, at the same economic forum at Davos, Andre Kudelski of the Kudelski Group actually called for the creation of an new internet where everyone would be forced to own two computers: one for secure internet and one for freedom.


Glyn Moody writes about the subject too, but the main purpose of his post is to point out that Microsoft deliberately avoids the mentioning of GNU/Linux when talking about Free software.

"Last week I wrote about its amusing suggestion that we should all be taxed to clean up the mess its software has caused," Moody writes. "Now we have this witty post on Microsoft's Port 25 site, which involves writing about open source software applications and the platforms they run on without mentioning “Linux” once." He adds:

But it gets better. In the accompanying graph, which shows “Open Source Projects by Platform”, we are treated to a representation of how the open source world is becoming more “Windows compatible”. Of course, there's an inconvenient truth that needs to be negotiated here: the fact that the vast majority of free software runs on GNU/Linux. But fear not, those jolly jesters have come up with a way of representing this fact *without mentioning the “L”-word at all*. They accomplish this amazing feat by talking about – wait for it - “POSIX-compatible” software because, you know, that's just how *everyone* refers to GNU/Linux these days....


One of the comments (external) says: "I Don't know about "afraid", Microsoft doesn't want to post ads and mention Linux, but keep all eyes on what it is doing with so-called "opensource" ...funny stuff !. When the guy across the street is taking business from you, you don't show fear as a rule !, you place bigger ads about you, and never never mention about the guy across the street much-less place him in your ad !!!. This can be taken as fear, but I have to believe its business, business Microsoft must now fight to keep it's share of as Microsoft has never had to before !."

Steve UpdikeMoody links to this post from Microsoft/Geeknet (there is already an intersection between those two), which says: "As we get ready for the Open Source Business Conference in San Francisco later this month, Microsoft asked us to pull some statistics around how Windows plays in the broader Open Source ecosystem..." Regarding the Open Source Business Conference (OSBC), Matt Asay told me that Microsoft is OSBC's first sponsor ever and he even gave them a keynote talk two years ago. He let one of Microsoft's key racketeers, Brad Smith, open up the event and speak about software patents. Tactless or what? It was also quite bad last year. Cronyism at its best.



For those who watch this carefully, the latest post shows how Microsoft 'invaded' SourceForge. Some months ago we warned about the acquisition of Ohloh. Ohloh are former Microsoft employees and the author of the post above is Scott Collison, who says that he "joined Geeknet following its acquisition of Ohloh Corporation in June 2009. Scott is responsible for driving product and partnerships at Geeknet. As co-founder and CEO of Ohloh, Scott helped make the company into the market leading directory and data provider for open source projects and developers. As Senior Director of Platform Strategy at Microsoft, Scott was responsible for marketing Web services, shipping the market-leading Web Services Enhancements in the .NET Framework, and running the Web Services early adopter program."

Could it somehow explain why it became Geeknet rather than SourceForge (renaming/rebranding)? Well, it's probably unrelated. But this is not the first member of of staff that SourceForge is adding from Microsoft and we covered this problem before [1, 2, 3, 4]. They are not careful who they hire, so entryism is allowed.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
 
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025