Bonum Certa Men Certa

Planet Python is Being Overrun by Microsoft, Just Like PyCon and Python in General

"Every line of code that is written to our standards is a small victory; every line of code that is written to any other standard, is a small defeat."

--James Plamondon, Microsoft Technical Evangelist. From Exhibit 3096; Comes v. Microsoft litigation [PDF]



Summary: Microsoft is perturbing the Free/Open Source software (FOSS) world from the inside, promoting Microsoft's most malicious proprietary software from within that world while taking positions of power in powerful FOSS projects

Over the past six months or so I've read Planet Python every day. I had already complained about Microsoft buying all the key people and I have, for well over a decade, covered related aspects. Earlier today Planet Python even started pushing Microsoft's proprietary software (MSVS) by linking directly to their blog. It's like Microsoft is officially part of Python. There's also loads of GitHub stuff in there, but one could argue that this predates the takeover.



"Of course Azure is proprietary software with surveillance, just like MSVS and GitHub. They also kick out developers and projects they dislike, so it is a censorship mechanism and this doesn't seem to bother the Linux Foundation."The way things are going isn't encouraging; months ago we wrote about how ASF, run by a Microsoft employee, gave Microsoft all Apache projects (now hosted in GitHub). They're apparently fine with that. Microsoft apologists dominate the ASF, some of whom even salaried by Microsoft. Earlier today Phoronix published "Apache Software Foundation's Code-Base Valued At $20 Billion USD". That's several times more than what Microsoft paid for GitHub.

Denial of such a problem (or that it's a problem) is itself the problem. Too many people are asleep at the wheel while Microsoft is, piecewise, taking control of the competition to Microsoft. But don't worry, dear regulators and antitrust officials; Linux 'chief' says "Open Source loves Microsoft" (Microsoft executives even capture it on video and upload it to the Internet). His wife worked for a Gold Microsoft Partner as a high-level manager (2016-2017) while he accepted lots of money from Microsoft. Greedy people are destroying us, just like the people who 'sold' PyCon to Microsoft and repeatedly promoted Azure in exchange for that money. Of course Azure is proprietary software with surveillance, just like MSVS and GitHub. They also kick out developers and projects they dislike, so it is a censorship mechanism and this doesn't seem to bother the Linux Foundation.

https://twitter.com/stautistic/status/1161514164445204486

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