Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Linux Foundation Has Become More About Microsoft Than About Linux

GitHub Foundation



Summary: The Linux Foundation (LF) still outsources everything to Microsoft; if it cannot see what's wrong with it, then it ought to at least drop "Linux" from its name because it's utterly misleading

THIS is getting almost depressing. Today's Linux, the kernel, has a steward that hardly has anything to do with Linux (except in name). Yesterday the publication of a press release (original) by the Linux Foundation reaffirmed our observations (from recent months).



The Foundation has paid to spread it widely (e.g. Yahoo Finance and PRNewswire) and it shows that this 'Linux' [sic] Foundation has just outsourced yet another thing to Microsoft. Today's 'Linux' [sic] Foundation is openwashing and outsourcing just about everything to Microsoft. Almost nobody talks about it!

GitHub, Linux Foundation, and Microsoft It's as gross as it sounds. The Foundation pockets Microsoft money for doing so. What on Earth is going on? Why the silence? The openwashing here is the term "Open Glossary" and here's the part about choice of host (Microsoft): "The Open Glossary 2.0 is available in a publicly-accessible GitHub repo, and the new versions will be included in the State of the Edge 2019 report, to be released later this fall."

A site close to the Foundation has just issued this article to say: "Open Glossary 2.0 is available in a publicly-accessible GitHub repo."

Great. So Microsoft controls yet another branch of the Foundation. It can censor projects, words, people, and groups (as it habitually does).

We've meanwhile noticed Swapnil, a close affiliate of the Foundation, with "(Kait Thornhill contributed to this story)," writing about the Open Mobility Foundation, which also outsourced its operations to Microsoft:

Reynolds and the LA DOT created the Mobility Data Specification (MDS) as a set of data specifications and data sharing requirements for dockless e-scooters and bicycles, which it shared on GitHub. Today, about 80 cities worldwide are using the MDS.


By giving it to Microsoft's GitHub they let this one company control something that should have been in the Commons. Is the Foundation really a collaboration platform or a Microsoft feeding frenzy (The above isn't LF but similar)? As we explained last week, it's more of the latter. Jim Turley's new article about it is a symptom of the problem because outsourcing to Microsoft and openwashing has been cast as "IBM Gives Away PowerPC; Goes Open Source" (this headline is wrong for several reasons, with at least two errors in it).

We've sadly come to the point where the Foundation is the "Ministry of Truth" of proprietary software cabals looking for open-themed marketing opportunities. The Linux Foundation (LF) should rename if it carries on along this trajectory. If the LF still outsources everything to Microsoft, what exactly is "Linux" about it? Just because it pays about 3 salaries to core kernel staff? It's about 1% of the Foundation's budget. A lot of the money goes into inappropriate spendings on media* and this includes PR services for Microsoft. _____ * DevClass, the Web (or "news") site would have us believe that the whole of "Open Source" now revolves around Microsoft with its proprietary software, GitHub, which facilitates censorship.

Recent Techrights' Posts

IBM: Less Than a Month's Severance for Each Decade of Service
Yes, decade!
The EPO, Europe's Largest Patent Office, Admits Outsourcing to Microsoft Slop
Their sole goal is to make more money
The Better the Understanding or the More Nations Understand the Threat Posed by Microsoft, the Faster It'll be Eradicated
We believe that the thing to advocate is self-hosting and Free software... A lack of simplicity or absence of alternatives is a form of vendor lock-in
 
July 2 2025 Would Not be First Big Wave of Microsoft Layoffs Before Major National Holiday
July 2 or 3 mark the start of a very long weekend in the US
IDG's NetworkWorld Seems to Have Just Become LLM Slop
If IDG (now controlled by China) does that in at least one site, why not the rest? Only a matter of time?
Gemini Links 16/06/2025: Free Lunches and Bookmarklet for Mastodon
Links for the day
Gemini Protocol Turns 6 on Friday
Active (online) Gemini capsules are estimated by Lupa at over 3,000
Taking a Lesson From Denmark and Greenland? Iceland Shows New Lows for Windows, All-Time Highs for GNU/Linux
If Microsoft sabotages systems of judges at the Hague (in order to appease the insane man who wanted to invade Greenland), why won't its neighbour Iceland take note?
BetaNews Has Just Deleted Its Latest 'Article' or Got Cracked Again and Restored From Outdated Backup Again
BetaNews seems to be in some serious trouble right now
Microsoft's "FUD-as-a-Service" (Against Linux) Not Functioning Well
This is the kind of contribution companies like Microsoft and Google have to offer to society
Software Freedom is "Activism" Because the Corporate Agenda Revolves Around Bribery, Deceit, and Betrayal
At the end Software Freedom will win because it's on the same side as truth and lawfulness
Links 16/06/2025: EchoLeak and NASA Teaming up With India
Links for the day
A Week of Sunlight
They say transparency is like sunlight to a vampire
"Linux" Sites That Went Astray
there are even worse things than shutdowns
Links 16/06/2025: Climate, Wildfires, Breaches, and Monopolies
Links for the day
Links 16/06/2025: Summer in Finland and Misunderstandings
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, June 15, 2025
IRC logs for Sunday, June 15, 2025
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: Rainy Season and OpenDocument Format (ODF)
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Military Games, Parade, and Actions
Links for the day
Links 15/06/2025: Windows TCO, Openwashing, and Wars
Links for the day
Gemini Links 15/06/2025: "AI Fatigue and Crappiness"
Links for the day
When Abusive Law Firms (Working for Microsofters Against Us) Assert That Someone Writing in Social Media About Himself is Confidential Information
There was no reason to throw "GDPR" into 2 SLAPPs; they know it, but the goal was to increase the cost of a Defence and lessen the incentive to challenge the SLAPPs
Microsoft Attack Dogs Against Watchdogs and Guard Dogs in Software
Last year Microsofters hired attack dogs or "guns for hire"
Slop Cannot Replace Domain Expertise
All this "AI" hype (it's not even intelligence, it's all a misnomer, as many of us have insisted all along) will fizzle and be written off as a failed experiment
IBM's Fresh 'PIPs' (Action Before Layoffs)
At times like these, even once-reputable employers resort to PIPs and other procedures/tricks for denial of workers' rights
Microsoft is a Problem Not Just for Denmark
Every country should consider what Denmark is doing, why Denmark is doing it, and then do the same
The Slopfarms' Self Detonation
If more sites like BetaNews go under, then maybe we can still salvage some of the Web
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, June 14, 2025
IRC logs for Saturday, June 14, 2025
Links 14/06/2025: FDA Changes Priorities, Cassette Data Storage From The 1970s
Links for the day
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Steam Next Fest and Thoughts on Gemini
Links for the day
Site/Datacentre Maintenance Next Week
speed things up
Bulgaria: GNU/Linux Near 10%
The Bulgarian market seems to be changing
I Never Spoke to BetaNews. But BetaNews Wants to Ensure I Never Will, Either.
Sometimes just the reluctance to talk about it can say a great deal
Throwing Money at Lawyers Can't Stop Us (It Never Did)
Even just trying to censor things can result in the opposite of the desired outcome
Online Search or Large Search Engines Aren't Working Anymore
business models that directly compete with interests of Web users
Holidays and Breaks
I've hardly taken any long breaks since I got married
Danish OpenDocument Freedom
"year of Linux"
Links 14/06/2025: Wars and L.A. Distortion Effect
Links for the day
BetaNews Has More or Less Died After Experiments With LLM Slop, Is Linuxsecurity Next?
It doesn't seem like BetaNews knows what it's doing, let alone what it talks about
Gemini Links 14/06/2025: Historic Ada Design and GeminiSpace.Club to Expire
Links for the day
Links 14/06/2025: India Plane Crash and Middle-Eastern War
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, June 13, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, June 13, 2025