Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft's Media Attack on Free Software and GNU/Linux

Chess



Summary: Brainwash war is still being waged by Microsoft and its friends to convince people that Windows is universally dominant and that Microsoft is now part of the Free software world

ALONG with the measurable decline of Windows (GNU/Linux is rapidly gaining) comes the "Vista 10" publicity stunt -- an attempt to bury bad news. Microsoft tries to scare and distract the competition, bamboozling the whole world with what is essentially vapourware. It's just a PR campaign and Microsoft enlisted many boosters to play along. Microsoft even got them to deceive the public into thinking that Vista 10 is 'free', but as this new rebuttal puts it, "I had to laugh aloud at Microsoft’s announcement that Windows 10 would be offered as a free upgrade for users of both Windows 7 and Windows 8."



Vista 10 is not 'free' (we already explained why) and it is moreover proprietary. It seems as though even some FOSS bloggers (including FOSS Force above) fell for the lies. There are things even worse than these lies which were perpetrated by Microsoft and propagated by Microsoft-friendly media. Pogson's "Some Twits Just Are Too Funny To Ignore" and Lynch's "Windows 10 doesn’t matter to desktop Linux" are basically feeding the latest troll (with a history doing this type of flamebait against Free software). Elsewhere on the Web, Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols is playing Chamberlain by going along with the latest openwashing of Microsoft and Sam Dean doing some more Microsoft promotion (of proprietary software) in an Open Source news site.

Whatever is happening right now comes to show that Microsoft's propaganda is so far-reaching that even FOSS people are confused by it and they are eager to sometimes repeat the lies from Microsoft (nonsense like "Microsoft loves Linux"). If Microsoft is allowed to take over the media like this, then we are in serious trouble and Microsoft will be able to infiltrate the competition with Mono, OOXML, etc.

In recent years we have shown many examples where Microsoft and Gates essentially bribed many news sites in order to achieve mind control, revisionism, and demonisation of competing ideologies or companies. To give one new example of this disturbing trend, The Verge makes Bill Gates its editor next month (direct influence with no need to bribe them like the rest of the news outlets). This helps explain why site has become somewhat of a Microsoft mouthpiece.

If people do not stand up for what's true, the perceived truth will become a reality in the minds of the prey.

"Mind Control: To control mental output you have to control mental input. Take control of the channels by which developers receive information, then they can only think about the things you tell them. Thus, you control mindshare!"

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]



Recent Techrights' Posts

More Information on IBM Red Hat Layoffs in April 2026, Hundreds of Skilled GNU/Linux Engineers Laid Off (300+ Simultaneously)
How long can the corporate media ignore IBM layoffs for?
SLAPP Censorship - Part 41 Out of 200: More Misuse of UK-GDPR (for US Citizens), More Copy-Pasting for Garrett and Graveley, Alleging That Publishing Unflattering Information is a 'Privacy' Issue
No wonder his own colleagues thought poorly of him (the junior barrister)
Dr. Andy Farnell Blasts Misuse of the Term "AI" to Describe Plagiarism, Plunder, and Misinformation
Dr. Stallman wrote about it back in the early 1980s
A Sign of Progress?
We'll solve war hunger and colonise Mars soon, according to men who never graduated from College
The Slop Delusion: This Morning We Broke Story on Red Hat Layoffs in Two Posts, Google is Already Plagiarising Them With Slop and Getting the Basic Facts Wrong
Google does not have "AI"; it has slop, which means it scrapes other people's work, then imitates it poorly
April 15: Richard Stallman to Speak at the University of Texas in Austin, Texas
Next Wednesday in the afternoon Dr. Stallman will speak in a US college for the second time this year and for the second time in nearly 8 years
 
IBM 'Value' Fell 20%, The Executives Took Bonuses and Bonus Hikes
IBM is paying more and more money to the executives
SLAPP Censorship - Part 42 Out of 200: Getting the Very Basic Technical Concepts Very Wrong, or Where Miscomprehension Begets "Plausible Deniability"
It's difficult to argue with people over things that they do not even understand
This Coming Weekend and Next Week We'll Cover EPO Scandals a Lot, There Are Still Perpetual Strikes That the Media Intentionally Avoids Covering
Expect our focus on EPO corruption to grow again
Raw: Extensive Evidence of Red Hat's Mass Layoffs in China (IBM Meets Geopolitics)
This has nothing to do with workers' performance
We'll Never Ever Do Social Control Media, Nate Silver's Article Helps Explain Why
If you want to research and publish, stay away from it
Links 10/04/2026: Pseudoscience and "Amazon Pulls Support for Perfectly Fine Older Kindles" and More Attacks on American Journalism
Links for the day
"IBM is Constantly Laying Off People" (Not Just in Red Hat)
IBM as a company is collapsing
Many Layoffs at IBM Red Hat, as the Rumours Said
Red Hat mass layoffs [...] "this was a difficult decision to make."
Microsoft, Drowning in Net Debt, Will Make Many More Cuts
The company is a net negative to society
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 09, 2026
IRC logs for Thursday, April 09, 2026
Gemini Links 10/04/2026: Cycling, Slop, and Software to Keep Photos Organised
Links for the day
Henry Abbott (TrueHoop) Says Microsoft Taken Public by Alvin Bernard "Buzzy" Krongard (in New Interview About Jeffrey Epstein)
He has claimed that the man who took Microsoft public was a banker and also connected to the CIA (former Executive Director)
Quick Roundup of "Linux" Slop
Today we saw a slopfarm again in Google News
Links 09/04/2026: Microsoft Attacking VeraCrypt and "Canada’s New Surveillance Law"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/04/2026: Shopping, LLMs That Ruin the Net, and Moving to GNU/Linux
Links for the day
Links 09/04/2026: TikTok Sets Up Another Outpost in Finland (EU), "Trump Attacks On Public Media Blocked by Judge"
Links for the day
Microsoft's DevDiv Executive Has Quit (Is GitHub on the Chopping Block?)
CodePlex all over again?
Chatbots (or LLMs) Are Killing Us, and We Ought to Talk About It
We need to talk (to each other, not to bots)
Microsoft Also Fires Senior Executives
Microsoft is a very feeble company pretending to be a giant
Microsoft Windows in Ireland: From 90% to Just 16%
When it comes to Ireland's Web usage, not much of it is from Windows anymore
SLAPP Censorship - Part 40 Out of 200: Putting Forth Frivolous Claim Only a Few Days Before Running Out of Time (12 Months)
my response to a frivolous claim from Graveley
IBM Layoffs by Performance Improvement Plan (PIP) and More Evidence of Layoffs at HashiCorp After IBM Took Over
Notice how the media does not cover IBM layoffs
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 08, 2026
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 08, 2026
Gemini Links 09/04/2026: On the Radio, Boogie Notes, Slop in Search Engines and USENET
Links for the day
Countries Where Windows is Measured Below 1%
Windows' monoculture is going away
SLAPP Censorship - Part 39 Out of 200: Recycled Text for Garrett and Graveley (Buy One, Get One Free?)
perhaps thousands of pounds per hour
Microsoft Azure is Now “Perpetually on Life Support”, Even Microsoft Sites Express Concerns
Less than a decade ago Microsoft-connected sites kept saying that AWS was doomed and Microsoft would replace AWS with Azure
IBM's Fedora Project Sees Sharp Increase (Over 25%) in Code of Conduct Complaints, i.e. Censorship Demands
Remember that IBM lawyered up against its own community in an effort to shut down a site critical of it
Malicious Bots
Tackling corruption in the world is never easy
Slopfarms Marginalised, Some Suspend Operations
some people who become lazy and prompt LLMs are just signalling that they throw in the towel
Gemini Links 08/04/2026: "Managing Dotfiles with GNU Stow" and "Observations on Blocking Various Webbots"
Links for the day
Links 08/04/2026: GAFAM "Abandons Multi-Billion Dollar Data Centres in US as Investors Demand Energy, Water Usage"; Artemis II Astronauts Updates
Links for the day
Links 08/04/2026: Dems Call for 25th Amendment Remedy, Bill Epsteingate Summoned in Jeffrey Epstein Investigation
Links for the day
A Lot of Law Firms Are Collapsing
There has been a lot of discussion about this lately
IBM Red Hat Profited From 5+ Weeks of War in Iran
remember that IBM's current CEO comes from a military family (on both sides)
Associated Press Failed Financially, Now It's Offloading What's Left to Slop (How Sites Die 'Cheaply')
LLMs are not intelligent or any form of intelligence, they are just falsely marketed as such
Microsoft Shares Down 35% in 5 Months, Executives Leave Microsoft
Many people leave (or flee) Microsoft because, seeing what goes on insider, they know what's coming
Are Some Obscure or Chinese Operating Systems (Like Huawei's) Taking Over in "Unknown" Clothing?
statCounter still cannot detect many operating systems
SLAPP Censorship - Part 38 Out of 200: Advertisement or £10,000+ Classified Ad in the Form of Court Filing in Another Continent
Graveley fancies himself some world-renown something
Software Freedom is Closely Connected to Privacy
privacy can be a matter of life and death
What Communities Mean and Look Like (If They're Effective and Focused)
Last week we wrote about this in the context of distros and alleged "inclusion"
April 2026 FSF LibreLocal Concludes in Atlanta
Happy Hacking
Gemini Links 08/04/2026: GPG Symmetric Encryption and Slop in USENET
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, April 07, 2026
IRC logs for Tuesday, April 07, 2026