Bonum Certa Men Certa

Openwashing Report: Microsoft Controlling Linux Means That Open Source Wins, Apparently

"Open Source Wins," declares one headline when "Open source champion Microsoft" (another headline) imposes its specifications on Linux!

Weekly openwashing report



Summary: The Linux Foundation is out of control; it's revealing that it's little more than a propaganda operation of proprietary software giants (something it certainly wasn't at inception back in 2007) and the Foundation's links to media sites amplify this propaganda

TRUTH no longer matters. Apparently. There's "no money" in truth as opposed to distortion thereof.



We were sadly reminded of this a few days ago when we saw this lengthy new article entitled "History of Microsoft: Timeline and Facts" (wow! Facts! Sounds promising!).

Obviously, as one might expect, it's a bundle of Microsoft lies. This perhaps is the publisher's business model (revisionism as a service). You know you’re lied to when Microsoft, in 1994, is called “little company”. It wasn't an underdog back then and it isn't an underdog now. The Street is just doing a bunch of Microsoft revisionism, which we'd rather not quote without a detailed rebuttal (this can take a long time when the lies are long). We want to remind readers that Microsoft in 2019 still commits a lot of serious crimes. The company depends on that. Microsoft has, since its genesis, depended on breaking laws. If there's animosity, distrust and even hostility towards Microsoft, it's very much deserved; Microsoft earned that. Its very own actions are to blame.

We are saddened (but won't regret) to say that the Linux Foundation (LF) is now in the business of reputation laundering/whitewashing of businesses that break the law. It happens almost every day. We'll give an example that is only hours old.

"If there's animosity, distrust and even hostility towards Microsoft, it's very much deserved; Microsoft earned that.""How VMware is becoming a good open source citizen" is an actual headline published yesterday afternoon. It's VMware-sponsored crap, but this time it comes from an LF associate, Swapnil, who received LF money for this propaganda (for a serial GPL violator). We don't find this amusing. Something called LF (where the "L" stands for Linux) is the culprit, not some corruptible media like The Street. There's more of the same, just far too shallow...

What this whole thing boils down to is VMware PR. Hohndel again does revisionism for his employer, aided by (and sponsored by) the Linux Foundation... those associates help relay the Big Lie. The Linux Foundation is an unstoppable propaganda machine that defends GPL violators and attacks GPL enforcers. Why? Because it receives bribes from GPL violators. That's how corrupt that foundation is. A foundation of lies.

The headline of the next piece too is a lie: "VMware Didn’t Violate The GNU/GPL License" (yes, that's an actual headline, which is not even supported by the body).

The piece is about mere belief by a new hire of the company (about something that happened before the hiring). The Linux Foundation's team, or Team Zemlin or whatever, became so obsessed with money that it's willing to intentionally lie for large corporations. Club Linux Foundation is a propaganda operation; an "Infringers' Club" is what Bruce Perens called it.

"Club Linux Foundation is a propaganda operation; an "Infringers' Club" is what Bruce Perens called it."This isn't just about VMware. Swapnil has just eagerly pushed Microsoft proprietary software 'ads' into the site called LINUX.COM, which the LF lets him edit all on his own. This is the LF in 2019: SQL Server promotion.

If we said a decade ago that this would happen...? People would probably laugh at us. So the LF defends GPL violations, proprietary software etc. Not a word about software patents or anything like that...

Who (or what) is this Foundation useful to?

"So the LF defends GPL violations, proprietary software etc. Not a word about software patents or anything like that..."The Linux Foundation in 2019 is the "environmentalist" who tells greens that they're 'too harsh' on oil companies (while taking fossil fuel money) or the "atheist" who says to atheists that they're extremists and that agnostics aren't...

A former Microsoft employee, Jake Hamby, told me this about the Linux Foundation a few hours ago: "Yes, but who else is going to fund them? Of course they're propaganda for Microsoft and friends: those are the guys with the money who need their reputations laundered. Everyone else just uses GNU/Linux for free and doesn't pay anyone or think about it."

So the Linux Foundation is little but a service for "guys with the money who need their reputations laundered..."

Sounds about right. That's Hohndel's job at VMware.

And let's not go into the fact that Hohndel's previous employer had put NSA back doors in every chip and committed loads of crimes while he was openwashing them. The money ('business') is in lying, in whitewashing. Facts don't 'pay the bills'...

Speaking of bills, the latest twist in the Foundation's nonsense? Accusing me of being paid to attack them. Evidence? Nothing. Because it's false. OK, so defaming their critics is the last resort.

"And let's not go into the fact that Hohndel's previous employer had put NSA back doors in every chip and committed loads of crimes while he was openwashing them."Now they try to insinuate -- falsely and without evidence -- that I'm paid to criticise them.

Amazing!

But wait, it gets worse!

A certain ill-minded Foundation staffer/associate has compared me about 6 times to Donald Trump (whom I object to) with no factual basis. Why? Because he has no argument with which to justify their Microsoft lies...

I don't even respond to him, but he seems to be bombarding me with tweets (maybe 8 in a row now; I don't even reply).

The Code of Conduct (CoC) at the Linux Foundation is worthless. Their staff is calling me "fucking idiot" (3 times this week) and I didn't curse or anything remotely like that. Six times or so I've been compared to Trump. Six times. That's how many times these people ('Linux' Foundation) compared me to Donald Trump.

I can take an insult or two (or three, like "fucking idiot", thrice), but comparing me to Trump is basically comparing me to a criminal.

See the logic?

"A certain ill-minded Foundation staffer/associate has compared me about 6 times to Donald Trump (whom I object to) with no factual basis."People who expose the LF's bad behaviour are now the "liars" and the "criminals"; welcome to the LF Logic. Is there a group called "LF Logic" (yet)?

This very much echoes the rhetoric of Microsoft as a company. It pretends to stand for "ethics" while it does illegal things (like unlawfully banning and imprisoning people).

As for VMware?

If VMware still chooses to weakly deny GPL violations, then it's choosing to bribe people to spread lies instead of apologising and seeking to correct what was done. That would only make VMware more of a villain and stain anyone who spreads the lies. Swapnil is just angry because he agrees to spread lies and he doesn't like the consequences of these lies. So now he's flinging insults at me all day long.

As an aside, I guess that to LF folks anyone whom they don't agree with is "Trump" (even Trump opposers).

I also got called "fucking idiot" thrice. CoC anyone? Turns out the Linux Foundation is nowhere as polite as it claims it wants others (e.g. actual Linux developers) to be. Try to concentrate on promoting Linux, dear Linux Foundation, instead of insulting actual Linux advocates, OK? You spend too much energy promoting Microsoft, GitHub etc.

"I also got called "fucking idiot" thrice. CoC anyone? Turns out the Linux Foundation is nowhere as polite as it claims it wants others (e.g. actual Linux developers) to be."It's time to rename perhaps. It's time to recognise that the LF isn't at all dedicated to Linux (its staff certainly isn't!).

"Dear Linux Foundation," I sarcastically wrote yesterday. "Let me tell you about this thing called "WINDOWS"

"Did you hear about it?

"WIN-DOWS.

"It's an operating system

"Microsoft makes it

"Microsoft bribes people to use it

"It competes against Linux."

Linux Foundation staff uses Windows. These people tell us that we're "winning" because Microsoft gave us some patented code, such as exFAT. Fossbytes, in last week's article, went even further. It thinks Microsoft imposing a trap on Linux is "Open Source Wins" (that's right there in their headline).

"Microsoft which has recently become a big Linux fanboy," says Fossbytes in the opening part of the article. Maybe the next sentence will say Trump loves black people because he 'hollers' at Kanye West.

What on Earth? Who writes such nonsense?

"As an aside, I guess that to LF folks anyone whom they don't agree with is "Trump" (even Trump opposers)."Here's another new example: "Microsoft is bringing its exFAT patents to Linux and open source"

Words like "bringing its exFAT patents to Linux" show that TechRadar's authors understand neither patent law nor Linux. The headline alone makes no sense at all. What lunacy. What nonsense.

Here's what happens when your sole "Source" for an article about Linux is... Microsoft, which considers Linux to be something to wage "Jihad" against (Bill Gates' word). They ended up adding the cocky "Microsoft loves Linux" image to the article!

Thom Holwerda (OS News) said: "Microsoft ♥ Linux – we say that a lot, and we mean it!"

He repeats a lie and means it. Great. Reminds me why I boycotted all his articles and blocked them at mail client (Thunderbird) level 10+ years ago.

This is PR at work. A lot of these people know they're lying, but they do so anyway. It's like reverse writ of libel (saying something positive which they know to be untrue).

"This is PR at work. A lot of these people know they're lying, but they do so anyway. It's like reverse writ of libel (saying something positive which they know to be untrue).""Open source champion Microsoft," says the headline of Brian Fagioli (who calls GNU/Linux users, collectively, "cheapskates").

The company that attacks Open Source the mostatent aspec is "Open source champion"... right? Like Ken Livingstone calling Hitler "Zionist" (a real scandal at the time).

Other tabloids did more of the same after the exFAT news, which we covered in [1, 2]. Patent aspects were mentioned as far back as July.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Using SLAPPs to Cover Up Sexual Abuse and Strangulation
The exact same legal team of the Serial Strangler from Microsoft and Garrett already has a history fighting against "metoo"
Adding the Voice of Writers to UK SLAPP Reform
The journey to repair antiquated (monarchy era) laws will likely be long
Slopwatch: A Cause for Hope, the Hype is Dying
For about a month we showed that becoming a slopfarm - for several weeks - resulted in utter failure and ruin for BetaNews
 
Links 12/07/2025: Birdwatching and Fake/Misleading Wall Street 'Valuation' Figures
Links for the day
Gemini Links 12/07/2025: How to Avoid Writing, Apps for Android
Links for the day
EPO Staff Committee on Harassment in the Workplace
slides
EPO Takes More Money From Staff for Speculation (Pensions), Actuarial Study Explains the Impact
"The key change in this year’s Actuarial Study, due to cascading the new “risk appetite” from the financial study, is a significant increase of the total pension contribution rate of 5.7 percentage points, up to a total of 37.8%. This is driven by an unprecedented decrease in the discount rate of 105 bps down to 2.2%."
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, July 11, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, July 11, 2025
Microsoft - Like IBM - Does the "Relocation" Tricks (Start Over Elsewhere, Then Get Sacked by Microsoft)
It is a "low blow" or a "dick move"
After the Free Software Foundation's Campaign to Raise Money Let's See Campaigns to Finish Off Microsoft (Vista 11, GitHub etc.)
Microsoft is in effect collapsing
Your Publications Have No Major Impact Unless or Until You "Get Some Heat"
we're on the right track
Links 11/07/2025: Censorship Worsening, 3D Printing Success Stories, UK and France Unite Around Nukes
Links for the day
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Zorin OS and Scriptonite Updates
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Hardware, Russia, and China
Links for the day
Links 11/07/2025: Intel Collapsing and Microsoft Resorts to Bribery to Push Slop Via Obligatory Education
Links for the day
The EFF Sided With the Team That Strangles Women and Tells Women to Kill Themselves
They say that apathy and inaction are a form of a "stance"
"Nat [Friedman] and [the Serial Strangler From Microsoft] Were Always Exceptionally Close," Says Former Housemate and Colleague
Now Alex (hiding behind another name when that suits him) not only attacks women but also people who merely report what he did to women
Exemplary List of Things That Are Not Artificial Intelligence or Even Intelligence
The "age of AI" or "era of AI" or "AI revolution" mostly boils down to rebranding, just like "the cloud"
New Letter From the European Patent Office Explains How the Office Plots to Grant Many Illegal Patents, a Self-Fulfilling Prophecy of 'Growth'
Open letter to Mr Rowan (VP1) and Mr Aledo Lopez (COO)
Abuse of Process
5RB is employing people who help violent men
What Microsoft's Nat Friedman and Microsoft Lunduke Have in Common
"Get in da car; No time to explain, loser"
Microsoft and IBM Don't Have Much of a Future (They Mostly Pretend at This Point)
IBM and Microsoft are in some ways alike but in many ways different
It's Not Just Twitter (or X.com) That's Dying, Microsoft's Equivalent is Dying Also
Unable to find a business model
GitHub Copilot Can Cause the Bankruptcy of GitHub to Come Sooner and GitHub to be Shut Down Just Like Skype
Some publicly available information suggests that even for each paid subscriber for plagiarism (LLM 'coding') GitHub Copilot still loses more money than it makes
Wayland is Bad for the Planet
If you use Wayland, it'll take you longer to accomplish tasks and you will consume more energy (or battery life)
Legitimising Those Who Sabotage You
Microsoft is a very malicious company
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, July 10, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, July 10, 2025
On Microsoft Layoffs
we might be looking at about 60,000 Microsoft layoffs since 2023
EPO Management Already Breaks Its Own Promise (Lie) on "Bringing Teams Together"
This gut-punching move happened just 2 days ago
Gemini Links 11/07/2025: Occupation of 2025 and "Old Man Yells At Soundcloud"
Links for the day
Our Lawsuits Against the 'Cancel Mob' (Ringleaders) Helped Reduce Anti-Free Software Online Abuse
That's not to say that lawsuits are the best way to handle terrible people. But that can help.
Tomorrow is the Last Day of the Fund-Raising Campaign of the Free Software Foundation (FSF)
They will probably extend the date, as usual
Fixing Patents in Europe, Little by Little (by Transparency and Reporting of Suppressed Facts)
Tomorrow and throughout the weekend we shall focus some more on the EPO
The Two Lies Microsoft is Telling in "the News" This Week (to Distract From Layoffs and Decreased Interest in Slop/Chaff)
Microsoft is run by liars and frauds who SLAPP critics
Tux Machines Already Destroyed SLAPPs
Attacks on the mere publication of GNU/Linux news won't be tolerated
PCLinuxOS is Available for Download Again
PCLinuxOS is important to us also because its founder, back then the partner of Susan, helped create Tux Machines more than 21 years ago
Links 10/07/2025: Microsoft E-mail 'Services' Collapse Again, "Yet Another Strava Privacy Leak"
Links for the day
Gemini Links 10/07/2025: Automating Git Repo Updates and Small Web 'Zine'
Links for the day
GNU/Linux Leftovers
mostly Linux stuff
Audiocasts/Shows: Going Linux, FLOSS Weekly, and RHEL Clones
3 new picks
We Are Already Fighting - With Considerable Success - SLAPPs in the UK
we intend to tell the full story
Bullies With Pens and Papers (or Apple Macs With Templates)
Not all barristers are evil, but there are perhaps "rotten apples"
Slopwatch: webpronews.com, linuxsecurity.com, linuxjournal.com
a pile of trash disguised as 'articles'
Links 10/07/2025: Linda Yaccarino Divorces MElonazi Site, Wildfires Hit Syria
Links for the day
The History and the Policy of the EPO's Stance on Breastfeeding (Corporate Monopolies Versus Babies' Health)
"The Case for Introducing a Breastfeeding Policy at the EPO"
Gemini Links 10/07/2025: Inventing Chords and "Nightmare Boss"
Links for the day
Igor Ljubuncic Once Again Shows That for Technical Reasons Wayland Still Sucks, Performs Considerably Worse Than What Existed for Decades
That is aside from compatibility factors and other crucial factors
Links 10/07/2025: "Apple Vs The Law" and Twitter Became Full Nazi Bar
Links for the day
Unable to Find Anyone to Work as Their Media Lawyer, Brett Wilson LLP Will Continue Losing Female Staff
What sort of sick person would wish to join Brett Wilson LLP to carry this baton?
Microsoft-Sponsored Propaganda Site Has Removed False 'Hit Piece' About Dr. Stallman (With Fake and Misrepresented Imagery) But Only After 4 Years
So they only removed that page some time around 2025, i.e. about 4 years after it had been published
Always Check Your Inputs
Garbage in, garbage out. Or wrong assumptions, wrong corollary.
Dan Neidle Said That Tax Evasion Facilitator Mr Zahawi (Working to Silence Bloggers Through Brett Wilson LLP) Targeted Not Only Him (But The Others Kept Quiet)
"Mr Neidle said after repelling Mr Zahawi he was contacted by bloggers and tweeters who had received similar threats. They deleted their work “and in most cases never commented publicly on anything again”."
SLAPP Funding Transparency Urgently Needed in the UK and Elsewhere (in Practice, Not Just in Theory)
Writing about crime - including Microsoft crime - is not a crime
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, July 09, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, July 09, 2025
Elodie Bergot Still Doing Illegal Things at the EPO, Based on the Local Staff Committee Munich
They keep taking away from the staff while compelling the staff to do illegal things