Bonum Certa Men Certa

How the Gates Foundation Blocks GNU/Linux and Free Software in National Libraries, Then Inherits Education

Windows in 1984



Summary: This week's analysis of the Gates Foundation and in particular its contribution to education, which has strings attached

THIS post presents new evidence of an issue that we've covered here many times before. We wish to begin by stating that those who did not view previous evidence can do so by visiting the index on the subject.



Last month there was a huge media blitz following some libraries 'studies' which were funded by and published by the Gates Foundation. These studies were self serving and the Gates Foundation was quick to step in and capitalise on the hype it had created.

As we showed some weeks ago, there seems to be a Huffington Post-Bill Gates financial tie following some meetings [1, 2, 3]. The Huffington Post added a section on philanthropy and the funding source of this section seems to be chained to Gates (although we lack certainty about that). Anyway, last week we saw more blind praise in the Huffington Post (worshiping Gates) and the latest libraries 'study' from Gates is pushed by the Huffington Post in this new article.

Yet, according to a recent study, commissioned by the Information School at the University of Washington, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, a much larger number of people were likely using computers at their local library last Saturday morning.


As we showed before, it seems like praise of Gates is often funded by Gates (here is another new example from the Huffington Post). They seem to be promoting the whole "libraries" party line, wherein the principal idea is that more (Windows) computers are needed in libraries.

A recent survey funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Institute of Museum and Library Services reported that last year, nearly one-third of Americans age 14 or older (roughly 77 million people) used a public library computer or wireless network to access the internet.


As we showed one month ago, some libraries are moving to GNU/Linux, so Microsoft and Gates are pushing Windows into libraries under the "donation" disguise. Here is someone who complains about it:

Since the program was part of a project by the Gates Foundation, ostensibly with primary usage aimed at these libraries, it makes one wonder what the folks at Microsoft are thinking.

My first opinion, and one I believe I’ll stick with, is that there is absolutely no need to update to Windows 7, for as the saying goes “if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it”. Though the talking heads at Microsoft would have you believe that Windows 7 is worlds better than Windows XP, that is far from true. If there are any small differences in security, they can be fully mitigated with a simple change of browser, firewall, and antivirus/antimalware programs.

[...]

SteadyState is descended from the Public Access Computer security software developed in the early 2000s by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. It was part of the foundation’s ongoing drive to put computers into schools and libraries.

In 2005, Microsoft picked up the torch with the release of the Shared Computer Toolkit and then followed with SteadyState in 2007 for Windows XP.

Ironically, news of Microsoft’s decision not to support SteadyState in Windows 7 arrived in the same month as a Gates Foundation–funded, University of Washington study, which reported that some 77 million Americans used a library computer or Wi-Fi network to access the Internet last year.

[...]

Not only is the Gates Foundation supposed to be sensitive to this, Microsoft, working in its own best interest, should see the immediate need to do something, or else, some enterprising person will come along and show many libraries the benefits of a little jewel called Linux.

Let’s face it, for what people do on computers at the library, Linux, specifically Ubuntu or OpenSuSE would work very well, and be very easily administered by the right person. SO each library district may have to pay for that right person, in the long run it saves thousands, if not millions of dollars in bypassing the Microsoft trough, and forced cash removals every 3-4 years.


This new post is explicitly mentioning the blocking of GNU/Linux using those "donations". At the Gates Foundation, they only concentrate on Windows machines. To give some of the past week's examples:

1. Championing the local libraries

A nationwide study in 2007 showed that libraries are critical to a community's quality of life. Yes, they are places where you can borrow books and movies. But the Making Cities Stronger report, funded in part by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, showed that they impact early literacy, workforce readiness and the success of small businesses.


2. Cornelius library adds computers

The Cornelius Library continues to add new equipment. This month, library staff will unveil two new computers, which will bring the total number of machines to 10. The new units come courtesy a $2,600 grant from the Gates Foundation and another $2,600 from the Friends of Cornelius Library.


3. Library Introduces New Computers

The computers were purchased with money from two grants; one from the Bill and Melinda Gates fund, and another from the Knight Foundation.


4. Library receives grants for new computers

With a special ribbon cutting ceremony, the main branch of the library unveiled new computers and software they received through grants from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Knight Foundation.


These computers come with Windows. How about buying those libraries some chairs, shelves, and books?

From Libraries to Schools



Gates' people are commissioning their own 'studies' about teachers and taking a leading role with Nintendo games and other such material.

Gates wishes to serve as a de facto minister of education [1, 2, 3, 4] and here he is meeting the president of El Paso Community College.

El Paso Community College president Richard Rhodes recently met with Microsoft chairman Bill Gates at the headquarters of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in Seattle.

Rhodes said the success of programs here in El Paso designed to help more students test into college is what peaked Gates’ interest. The programs are supported by grants from the foundation.


As we've shown before and we'll show again in a moment, there are usually strings attached.

Gates is also making visits to other colleges this month, including MIT [1, 2] (home of GNU and the FSF, which Microsoft somehow managed to move to Exchange not so long ago, as it is not based on merit because there is none), UC Berkeley [1, 2], Stanford, and Harvard.

That Microsoft gazillionaire Bill Gates is coming to Harvard later this month as part of his three-day tour of universities across the nation designed to inspire students to get involved. Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, will speak at Sanders Theatre at 3 p.m. on April 21.


It's like Gates' latest lobbying tour. There is also private intervention in Florida schools [1, 2, 3, 4] (explained in greater depth in previous weeks), which requires careful attention to finer details, such as:

Ms. Clements, who is president of the Hillsborough teachers' union, fully supports those reforms. So does the union. Palm Beach County's union supported similar reforms when the district applied for a Gates grant that it did not receive. The key to teacher acceptance? Districts must be sure that evaluations are valid before putting them into general use. Such union support is possible statewide if legislators drop their arrogance and work with teachers.

Standards good enough for the Gates Foundation ought to be good enough for the Legislature. In fact, a truly "bold" Legislature would provide the money for Palm Beach County to carry out Gates-style reforms in parallel with Hillsborough.


They need to "carry out Gates-style reforms", i.e. change their agenda hoping for a grant. Others may try to imitate them. So again, strings are being attached, as usual. We previously gave more compelling examples of this. Also see:

1. Tenure tempest

2. SB6 would require school districts to cover cost

If Senate Bill 6 becomes law, the Hillsborough school district would be exempt. Hillsborough is developing a similar program to improve teacher quality under a 7 year long, $100 million grant from the Gates Foundation.


3. PHOTOS: Florida House moves on education reform; locals debate ‘What makes a good teacher?’

The purpose of the survey was to keep teachers’ voices in the debate over education reform, said Vicki L. Phillips, director of the Gates Foundation’s K-12 education program.


Public schools are being privatised and their curriculum changed. The previous post may serve as a lesson here.

It is also worth paying attention to what Gates' people are doing in Memphis and in Denver. They are intervening in the states' school systems and they are commissioning their own 'studies' to influence the country's direction (buying political influence).

It happens outside the US too, at least sometimes.

The scholarship programme, set up in 2000 and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, enables postgraduates with a strong interest in social leadership and responsibility to study at the University of Cambridge.


The strings commonly attached to these postgraduate paths is that they cover issue affecting the Gates Foundation and promote its interests. It's similar to the funding of academics by many companies such as pharmaceutical giants, which eventually receive some results that they can use.

Another example of Gates' role in education:

Among the donors were the Gates Foundation, $250,000; the Bush Foundation, $50,000; and the Minneapolis Foundation, $100,000. The company also received taxpayer money. The state Department of Education chipped in $100,000 of federal stimulus funds.

A call to McKinsey's Minneapolis office was forwarded to the company's public relations office in New York. A spokesperson there referred MPR News to the Gates Foundation.


Should they not speak to the Department of Education? Since when is the Gates Foundation the new patron of US education? More 'studies' on education are coming:

The Gates Foundation also is giving DPS $10 million to develop a teacher evaluation system that will use data from the effectiveness study.


As we have shown in previous posts, these studies are flawed. They are usually set up in a way that ensures their outcome aligns with Gates' preconditions/interests.

Finally, watch this:

I participated in a conference call with Melinda Gates of the Gates Foundation and Melanne Verveer - the first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues.


She is being called the "first U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues". How come? In the next post we will show how the Gates family increases its wealth and power while portraying itself as a giver. To be fair, other dynasties that accumulated power through criminal activities (which are long forgotten) adhere to the same principles of philanthro-capitalism.

"Gates' gimmick of becoming a philantropist repeats the Rockefeller scam almost one to one a century later."

--Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation



Recent Techrights' Posts

Apple is the Company of Dictators and Worse
Apple is just another greedy corporation in search of sweatshops and even pedophiles (especially the high-profile ones)
Counting Unhatched Eggs Is Not Counting Chickens
Everything here will persist as normal
The "Infinite Bread"
The biblical story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 has software parallels
In Many Cases and in Many Different Ways, Technology Became Less Durable and Less Reliable Over Time
The "modern" things are more complex. And complexity is a foe or reliability and repair-ability.
Microsoft's LinkedIn is Losing Money, Traffic, and Hope; Now It Wants to Sell Its Users' Lifeblood (and Data)
Let this be a reminder of what social control media really is about
Microsoft Lunduke: Freedom of Speech Means Spreading What I Have to Say and Banning People I Disagree With
4Chan is one he aims for and he is siccing 4Chan trolls at people he doesn't like
Richard Stallman Back at the "Rudolf-Diesel" Hörsal "MW 2001" in About 40 Hours
He spoke there before; there's a very high seating capacity there
 
Richard Stallman to Give Another Talk Today in Bavaria (Bavarian Academy of Science)
Tomorrow at 6 PM he speaks in Munich
Barry Kauler Explains That Puppy Linux and EasyOS Exclude Systemd to Keep Things Simple
Barry Kauler's Puppy Linux is in the community's hands. He now focuses on EasyOS and more.
Half a Year After Brian Fagioli Got Kicked Out of BetaNews for Slop He's Still Doing LLM Slop and Slop Images Targeting 'Linux' (Plagiarising Original Works)
If the Web gets polluted or flooded by slopfarms such as these, and Slashdot then sends traffic so these slopfarms (Slashdot probably doesn't do this intentionally), then real writers with real knowledge of GNU/Linux will lose the spark for publishing
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, October 19, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, October 19, 2025
Campaign of FUD Against Framework Laptops and GNU/Linux (Using Microsoft's Attack on Linux, 'Secure Boot')
Ritual Defamation Cult has turned its attention over to Framework
Liberation From 'The Feed'
They rank things based on the editor's choice/ideology (he or she knows the sponsors, hence the masters)
Microsoft's Killing of Vista 10 Seems to Have Resulted in More Articles About GNU/Linux (But Also FUD)
We not only saw a rise in traffic, we also saw a remarkable rise in the number of articles
Today (a Day Before Richard Stallman Talk at TUM) There's a Patent Propaganda Event at TUM
Perhaps an opportunity for Dr. Stallman to rebut this "invention to patent" nonsense/fantasy (conflating monopolies with innovation)
OpenSource or "Open Source" as a Brand is Dying, Let's Get Back to Talking About Software Freedom
Those of us who actually want to reform the industry and put users in control of their systems/devices will recognise that "Open Source" was selling a lie or got-co-opted by liars
19 Years in Numbers: Techrights' Anniversary Countdown and Retrospective
In 2019 we began improving our workflows and, accordingly/predictably, we became a lot more productive
Slop Turns People Off (LLMs Lack Intelligence, They're Just Plagiarism Powerhouses That Fail to Deliver Any Real, Measurable Value)
"More" (or "MOAR") isn't always better
IBM Red Hat Has Re-calibrated or Adjusted to Bubble Economics, False Promises, and Slop/Plagiarism
This won't end well
Fake Numbers, Fake Claims, Fake Economy, and Media Grifters That Prop Up Fraud
Grifters like The Register MS won't be looked upon kindly after the bubble implodes
For Some, the GNU Web Site is Not Accessible This Week
They seem to have gone into some kind of lock-down mode
Symptoms of Upcoming Microsoft Layoffs in XBox
A crashing franchise
Psychiatrist confession: Germanwings crash & Debian toxic culture recognized before suicides
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: Scentjacking 101, Slop Hype Boosters, and Steam Next Fest
Links for the day
Slopwatch: The Serial Slopper, LinuxSecurity, and Google News
Let's hope slopfarms die as soon as possible
Links 19/10/2025: Cambodia Scam Centres, Slop Hurting Wikipedia Traffic
Links for the day
As Economies Crumble Free as in Beer Will Matter, Not Just Free as in Freedom/Libre (Libertad)
French regions choosing to embrace Software Freedom
25 Years Ago, an Explanation of How Reducing Free Software to 'Apps' Would Interfere With Freedom Goals
there's nothing unreasonable about it
A List of 63 Known Gemini Clients (Software to Browse Geminispace Content With Gemini Protocol)
Not counting browser plugins for Web browsers
Gemini Links 19/10/2025: "Firma Odin Is Transforming" and Bot Attacks While "AFK"
Links for the day
US Government: 6.1% of Site Visitors Use GNU/Linux
GNU/Linux has a considerable share and it is growing
LLM Slop Could Not Rise to Prominence Without Media Complicity and Artificial Hype
Inane garbage disguised as "journalism"
Why the FSF No Longer Recommends Debian, as Explained by Richard Stallman This Month
some weeks ago
All the Latest Half Dozen Articles by Mehedi Hasan (UbuntuPIT) Only Admit at the End That He's Using LLM Slop
Disclosure is OK, but the practice of using slop is not
The 'Modern' Web of Fake Security and Easy Censorship of Whole Domains
Each year it gets worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, October 18, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, October 18, 2025
The Term "AI" is Not New and What Today's Media Calls "AI" Isn't Even AI
Only the hype was new... and totally artificial
Gemini Links 18/10/2025: "Planetary Rings", Steam, and PSU Replacement
Links for the day
Defeating LLM Abuse (State-of-the-Art Plagiarism) in the Area of Linux and GNU, Free Software, BSD, Security and So On
The aim is to get them to stop using LLMs to rip off other people's work
Links 18/10/2025: Russell Vought in Charge, US Government Leans to Russia Again
Links for the day
Credit Where It's Due: LinuxConfig.org Quit Doing LLM Slop, Back to Original and Real Articles
We waited for a while to say this, now it seems conclusive
Of Note: UbuntuPIT Aware of Critics of Slop, Adds Disclosure of Use of LLMs
We appreciate the honesty
Links 18/10/2025: Madagascar's President Flees and ICE Arrests Protest Comedian Robby Roadsteamer
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Near the European Patent Office (EPO) in 3 Days From Now
It'll be a good opportunity for patent examiners to listen, ask questions, and maybe greet him in person
From Scholar to Booster of Slop (and Even Slop in His Own Blog)
We're going to keep an eye on future posts of his
End of Vista 10 Also Good News for the BSDs
There are many news sites that recommend trying GNU/Linux this month
What's Wrong With Liking Parrots or Birds as Pets?
They'd demonise people for speaking about freedom, no matter what they say or do
Digital Sanitation Good Practices
leave behind Microsoftism
10 Days Ago Richard Stallman Gave a Long Interview in French (linuxfr.org)
English translation
Science, Not Fast Food/Junk Food
The commercial exploitation of users won't stop until users exercise full control over their software or - more broadly - their computing (including data)
The Free Software Foundation, Which Has Appointed a 43-Year-Old President, is Looking to Add Another Board Member (or Treasurer)
expect the FSF to add more people
Richard Stallman Confirms Next Week's Talk at Technical University of Munich, We Urge EPO Staff to Attend
That's probably late enough for EPO staff to attend after work
Gemini Links 18/10/2025: Notifications and Geminaut
Links for the day
Many Red Hat People Are Leaving, But It'll Be Framed Publicly as Leaving IBM
Similarly, IBM layoffs (or "RAs" as they're called) include Red Hat layoffs
Expect More Waves of Microsoft Layoffs This Month (at Least Two Rounds Confirmed Already)
From what we can gather, assuming the recent rumours about XBox are true, there will be at least 3 waves of Microsoft layoffs this month alone
Security Issues in Cisco and Jenkins Passed Off as "Linux" Problems
Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD) tactics
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, October 17, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, October 17, 2025