Bonum Certa Men Certa

Microsoft-connected Mesosphere Threatens to Eliminate Free Software in the Datacentre

Data Center Operating System (DCOS) is a proprietary trap

"I’d be glad to help tilt lotus into into the death spiral. I could do it Friday afternoon but not Saturday. I could do it pretty much any time the following week."

--Brad Silverberg, Microsoft



Summary: Hiding behind a misleading 'open' label while actually backed by Microsoft (and based on new rumours may join Microsoft), Mesosphere wishes to eradicate Free and back doors-free software in large datacentres hosting a lot of physical and virtual servers

WE have patiently been watching with great concern a company called Mesosphere. We have been watching it for quite some time, but have not yet properly covered it in Techrights (except incidentally). I personally complained about it many times in social media sites, not just because it's backed by Silverberg (some Microsoft-centric publications call him "Mr. Windows" these days) but because it's basically proprietary yet pretends to be 'open'. It's a big deception. Mesosphere is a parasite that has been often (and mostly) promoted by friends of Microsoft over the past year. Mesosphere is one of those companies that only people bribed by Microsoft (like Om Malik and his increasingly-defunct 'news' network) would actually openwash, excepting perhaps some gullible journalists who truly believe that there is genuine openness at Mesosphere or merely repeat what others are writing (the corrupting effect of manufactured hype).

Thankfully, Mesosphere is now showing its true colours, so we need not merely speculate or accuse Mesosphere with relatively weak evidence. Mesosphere has nothing to do with FOSS, except the fact that it wants to replace it with its own proprietary operating system. It can be viewed as a Microsoft Trojan horse with Microsoft veterans backing it -- the same sorts of people who would distribute "Microsoft loves Linux" buttons (spreading a Big Lie) to help themselves devour the GNU/Linux market.

"Avoid Mesosphere, Mesos, and the Data Center Operating System (DCOS). Treat them as a creation of Microsoft, emanated silently to entrap the competition."A Microsoft propaganda site (and by extension a network) recently showed Microsoft's anti-Linux plan of entryism [1, 2], trying to make GNU/Linux just subservient to Windows, essentially demoting it. Other Microsoft propaganda sites did the same thing at the same time. Then we saw rumours that Microsoft was essentially ‘buying’ its own moles, just as it had done with Xamarin (now bankrolled by Microsoft veterans). All one has to do now is watch headlines from the financial press, for instance:



There are many more like the above, but we omit them for the sake of brevity.

I personally feel somewhat vindicated, having repeatedly accused Mesosphere of serving Microsoft's agenda. I said the same about Mono about a decade ago, well before it officially became a sort of Microsoft adjunct in the form of Xamarin. These are more like moles. They serve as Microsoft's bridge into the heart of the competition.

Mesosphere ought to be treated as a Trojan horse or a proprietary software company with Microsoft roots (intending to replace GNU/Linux at datacentres). It shows true colours with articles such as "Why Microsoft Could Reportedly Want To Buy Cloud Startup Mesosphere Even At $1 Billion".

Watch what Microsoft boosters are writing right now [1, 2, 3]. Headlines such as "Windows Server Getting Open Source Mesos Container Technology for Scaled Operations" or "Mesosphere And Microsoft Bring Mesos To Windows Server" speak volumes.

Microsoft's many attacks on GNU/Linux and Free software can only be as effective as GNU/Linux users can be dumb, gullible, defeatist, or lenient. Scott M. Fulton III, a Microsoft expert, wrote the other day that:

Developers outside of Microsoft will be able to experiment for the first time with new classes of applications that run partly on Windows, partly on Linux.


As one response to this framed the key message: "It’s hard to imagine anyone actually wanting to build an application that is part-Linux, part-Windows. Or, to go one step further, to intentionally engineer a server-based program that straddles two very, very different flavors of operating system.

"Why on Earth would anyone build or use an application that needs two operating systems to function?"

Why would anyone need a platform from Mesosphere to manage GNU/Linux? It's not even Free software, so back doors are to be expected (voluntary or not), compromising the security of everything down the hierarchy/stack.

Avoid Mesosphere, Mesos, and the Data Center Operating System (DCOS). Treat them as a creation of Microsoft, emanated silently to entrap the competition. Time will tell what Mesosphere really is and where it's heading.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Speaking Truth to Power (More Effectively)
Behind every 'tech' giant there's some dark secret and they already seek to demonise/discredit critics/exposers
 
[Meme] EPO Suckers
The EPO's president refers to himself as "the f**king president" (maybe he knows why)
Central Staff Committee on EPO Bribing Its Critics, Using a "Sharp and Abrupt Reduction, Estimated at 80% to 90%, in the Number of Refusals and Summons for Oral Proceedings in Areas Related to Software Patents"
silence would be a form of enhanced complicity, in effect endorsing both bribes and violation of the EPC
Links 20/09/2024: Qualcomm Layoffs, Interest Rates Fall
Links for the day
Gemini Links 20/09/2024: 3K Run and Lagrange 1.18
Links for the day
Spam of the Day (Yes, Brittany Day Again)
They leverage LLMs for SEO purposes
Links 20/09/2024: Chinese Botnet Dismantled, More EU Shake-ups
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2024: European Commission on Microsoft Competition Abuses, More Revelations About Mass Layoffs at IBM and Microsoft
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, September 19, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, September 19, 2024
Links 19/09/2024: UPC Illegal 'Court' and Microsoft LinkedIn Called Out for Data Misuse
Links for the day
Gemini Links 19/09/2024: Invidious Problems and Install Times
Links for the day
Links 19/09/2024: Scam ‘Funeral Streaming’ and More Microsoft TCO Tales
Links for the day
In Sweden, GNU/Linux Almost 20% of the Laptop/Desktop Market, Firefox Falls to 2%
In the US, once a browser falls below 2%, many critical sites can legally ignore it (or its users' needs) altogether
When Microsoft Pays a Lot of Money to Reddit, 'Linux' Foundation, and Countless Other Entities
As does Google
A CoC Will Destroy Your Free Software Community and Help Imposers of CoC (Like Microsoft)
Abusers like to disguise censorship (of their abuse) as "manners" or good "conduct"
IBM Likely Breaking Several Laws With Latest 'Secret' Mass Layoffs
Never sign an NDA
Gemini Links 19/09/2024: Emacs Wiki and China, IRC Chatting
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, September 18, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, September 18, 2024
Links 18/09/2024: Web Server Survey Shows Microsoft Down Again, Omkhar Arasaratnam Leaves Microsoft-connected OpenSSF
Links for the day
Links 18/09/2024: Gaming Layoffs and New Openwashing by Linux Foundation
Links for the day
Gemini Links 18/09/2024: Home, Ashram, and Markdoc
Links for the day
Morale at Microsoft Sinking, More Layoffs Expected, Stock Buybacks Blasted
controversial because they should really be illegal
[Meme] Think. Positive. Saturate the Media.
IBM: Layoffs? What layoffs?
The Kubecost Acquisition Does Not Show IBM is Rich, It Shows It Wants to Distract From Mass Layoffs Happening This Week (Thousands Laid Off in the Dark)
So-called "news deserts" have become a national and international phenomenon (not local/regional)
IBM Has Been Lobbying for Software Patents, It's Not the Free Software Community's Ally
The ancient company has been lobbying for these patents for decades already
Over Half a Day Later the Media Still Doesn't Cover Thousands of Layoffs at IBM
Not even a single news site bothered to investigate and report this? Not even one?
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 17, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 17, 2024