TechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix

Dr. Roy Schestowitz

2010-11-14 20:10:45 UTC
Modified: 2010-11-18 12:41:31 UTC

Direct download as Ogg (39:59, 15.3 MB) | Direct download as MP3 (18.3 MB)

Summary: A daily news roundup with special focus on an easy-to-debunk GNU/Linux 'article' from The Economist

THIS is the seventh episode, which Tim and Roy keep short to obey requests from regular listeners of the show. Our leading story today is a fun FUD piece from The Economist, which is talked about for the first 10 minutes or so. Tim's site, OpenBytes, will share some links about that.

Today we play no special song and instead revert back to our default one from Tom Smith. We hope you will join us for next week's shows, which will be more packed with stories.

As always, if you enjoy this show, please consider recommending it to others and consider subscribing to the show via the RSS feed. If you have an Identi.ca account, consider subscribing to TechBytes in order to keep up to date. ⬆

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Our past shows

Episode 1: Brandon from Fedora	TechBytes Episode 1: Apple, Microsoft, Bundling, and Fedora 14 (With Special Guest Brandon Lozza)	1/11/2010
Episode 2: No guests	TechBytes Episode 2: Ubuntu's One Way, Silverlight Goes Dark, and GNU Octave Discovered	7/11/2010
Episode 3: No guests	TechBytes Episode 3: Games, Wayland, Xfce, Restrictive Application Stores, and Office Suites	8/11/2010
Episode 4: No guests	TechBytes Episode 4: Fedora 14 Impressions, MPAA et al. Payday, and Emma Lee's Magic	9/11/2010
Episode 5: No guests	TechBytes Episode 5: Windows Loses to Linux in Phones, GNU/Linux Desktop Market Share Estimations, and Much More	12/11/2010
Episode 6: No guests	TechBytes Episode 6: KINect a Cheapo Gadget, Sharing Perceptually Criminalised, Fedora and Fusion 14 in Review	13/11/2010

SUEPO Central Made a Strike (or Striking) Success: Europe has more than enough qualified patent officials
IBM-Spawned Lexmark Sold, Then Came Mass Layoffs, Now the CEO Who Did This is Leaving: IBM is really not a magnet for talent at this point
Not April Fools But April First: Red Hat Staff Becoming "IBM": claims of mass layoffs set to kick off at IBM some time soon
Gemini Links 31/03/2026: Antenna Packed Up, AuraGem and AuraSearch Maintenance: Links for the day
Links 31/03/2026: More Social Control Media Bans, BBC Now Run by GAFAM (US) Executive: Links for the day
'Broligarchs' Don't Want Science, They Want Entertainers to Entertain Them (and Make Them Richer): Of course this will result in things getting worse in the sciences and everyone who relies on the sciences
When Republics Turn From Democratic Governments Into Imperialistic Dictatorships: What goes on in the US would require talking about politics
Companies That Have Nothing Except Buzzwords and Promises Will Perish: Dishonest media will perish along with the companies it is covering up for
The Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) to be Grilled in Two Weeks' Time by the British Government for "Recent Regulatory Failures": we escalated to our politicians
GNU/Linux Will Thrive as Long as It's Modular, Not Monolithic: To IBM, it's all about money. Nothing else matters.
EPO "Cocaine Communication Manager" - Part X - People Are Leaving: "I was happy to be at the EPO in the beginning, but since I realized it's all a big mafia"
IBM's 33 Years as a "Financial Engineering" (Accounting Tricks) Company: In relation to Red Hat, this "financial engineering" involves culling many workers and trying to replace them with slop
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, March 30, 2026: IRC logs for Monday, March 30, 2026
Links 31/03/2026: Rising Costs, Cyberattacks, Novo Patent Expiry: Links for the day
Gemini Links 31/03/2026: American Spring, Distributed Systems Simulator, and Calculus for Electronics: Links for the day
IBM Layoffs and Their Expected Scope in April 2026: Such layoffs impact not only IBM "proper"
SLAPP Censorship - Part 28 Out of 200: Facing Consequences for Impersonation and Worse: It's not "funny". It is moreover libellous.
Links 30/03/2026: South Korea Next to Curb Social Control Media Addiction and Manipulation, Notorious Patents in the US Challenged: Links for the day
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Going Back to Wrist Watches and Why LLMs in Programming Suck: Links for the day
Did IBM Pay thestreet.com for Puff Pieces? (Like It Did With Forbes): If so, there is no disclosure
Wikipedia - Funded by Slop-pushing Companies and 'Broligarchs' - Gave Benefit of the Doubt to Slop, Then Regretted It: Wikipedia sucks. Without slop it'll suck a little less.
Payoffs of Lifelong Commitments: "The Lifelong Activist"
Links 30/03/2026: "We Can’t Income-Tax Ultra-Elites"; "The Pirate Bay’s Oldest Torrent Turned 22": Links for the day
Today, Europe's Second-Largest Institution (EPO) Goes on Strike That Can Last Until 2027. Nobody in the Media Covers This!: "We stand with the protesters"
When the Cost (or Time) of Maintenance Exceeds the Value: In recent years it seems like more people learn to remove things from their lives, not add more things
Passage of Wealth Upwards, Blaming the Victims: Tim Sweeney's net worth is 5.1 billion USD according to Forbes
More Media Needs to Tell the Public Slop is a Giant Bubble, It Should Stop Taking "Sponsorship" Money to Inflate This Bubble: If enough of (what's left of) the media changes its tune and quits being a parrot of GAFAM, then we can debate slop like grown-ups
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, March 29, 2026: IRC logs for Sunday, March 29, 2026
Trying to Hide One's Abuses by Imposing Silence on Critics ("My Profile Was Private"): With enough daylight, sooner or later everyone knows you are a vampire
Fedora Badges System Shows the Demise of Fedora Under IBM: IBM isn't good at keeping what it buys
IBM is Sunsetting Red Hat, It Only Uses the Brand and the Shell: IBM buys or spins off companies as containers for "toxic assets" and debt
Cisco Systems is a Still Weak Spot With Bug Doors: nothing to offer except storytelling
EPO Strike Begins Today and It's the Longest One Yet (Can Last a Year): Where's the media?
Gemini Links 30/03/2026: Approaching April and Arvelie Calendar: Links for the day
No Daylight Saved: Is there still any practical reason for this ritual?
Microsoft Azure Does Not Have "Hiring Freezes", It Has Had Mass Layoffs Every Year Since 2020: Things are always a lot worse than Microsoft formally or publicly acknowledges
SLAPP Censorship - Part 27 Out of 200: Using the Tor Network to Hide From Consequences: Only 1-2 weeks after the countersuit the Canadian attempted to deplatform several Web sites
The Limits of Inclusion: Inclusion with caution isn't "opinionated"; it's a defence mechanism, sometimes a survival instinct
Almost 20 Years After Microsoft/Novell: The mission has not changed, but the priorities evolve all the time
People Discuss Rumours of Mass Layoffs at IBM Becoming Public in 1-2 Weeks: IBM is killing its brand or its "goodwill"
LLM Slop Kills Sites, as Sites That Adopt Slop Are Doomed: People won't subscribe to such sites and visit them if they recognise it's just slop
Links 29/03/2026: Indonesia Cracks Down on Social Control Media Addiction, China Becomes World’s Scientific Superpower: Links for the day
Fedora at the Mercy of Microsoft Because of Back-Doored Kick-Switch Boot: We'll soon revisit the defamation attacks on Torvalds
Links 29/03/2026: Water Shortages and No Kings Rallies: Links for the day
The Old Days: In the early days of this site (2006) it was mostly just a couple of people, plus comments
Gemini Links 29/03/2026: Return to Gopherspace, "Zen of Marking Playing Cards": Links for the day
The Real XBox is Dead, So Microsoft is Calling Everything "XBox" Now: It even wanted to run a campaign to convince everybody that XBox is not actually a console
Over at Tux Machines...: GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, March 28, 2026: IRC logs for Saturday, March 28, 2026

TechBytes Episode 7: FUD From The Economist, New Releases, and Linux Eureka Moment at Netflix

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