Bonum Certa Men Certa

Losing Sight of GNU? Then Linux Might Be Next...

The brave new world... They called it Linuxworld



Summary: Don't underestimate the attempts to make GNU unnamed and forgotten (many who are misled by the media nowadays call it "Linux"); the next wave of attacks will seek to rebrand "Linux" for monopolies ("clown computing", "systemd", "WSL" and so on)

A LOT of people argued that it was "no big deal" GNU was being called "Linux" and RMS being canceled, demonised, treated as some radical "has been"...



Remember when people spoke about "Free software" and "Open Source" was just some military/intelligence thing? Yes, military. Seems apt; Red Hat's top man claimed to have adopted that term 4 years before it was coined for software.

"Remember when people spoke about "Free software" and "Open Source" was just some military/intelligence thing?"But what many people realised in 2018 is that Linux Foundation types were also replacing Linux with Microsoft (or GitHub) and Linus with Microsoft employees. It's still happening; it's work in progress, so to speak...

We, however, haven't been ignoring it or downplaying it (let alone justifying these regressive changes). Maybe we just write about the "LINUX" aspect somewhat belatedly, seeing how rapidly the coup advanced over the past few months. It's alarmingly fast.

Linus and Richard (RMS) may not be realising just to what degree their problems are shared (as in sharing). There's clearly an attempt to create leadership vacuums, possibly to fill up those newly-created gaps with more Zemlins, replacing "LINUX" with "GAFAM" and telling us that "Open Source" is also an old thing and now we have "Clown Computing" (no source available, it's also permissively licensed, i.e. free labour for proprietary software and surveillance).

"Linus and Richard (RMS) may not be realising just to what degree their problems are shared (as in sharing)."We urge backers of Torvalds' pragmatism to understand (maybe not immediately, maybe overnight or over longer periods of time) that the patterns we see used -- strategically and media-wise -- repeat themselves in GNU and in Linux. They call our leaders "Rude" and "Sexist" and then, if they fail to 'domesticate' (i.e. silence) those leaders, they impose a replacement. One that suits them better...

They just need time and perseverance. Financially they're well equipped and they have the media in their back pockets.

My personal belief has long been that Zemlin was classic and somewhat of a "useful idiot"; knowing that he's barely qualified for the job (his accomplishments are few to none), he'd do anything to keep his position and it's also possible to exploit his technical ignorance to manipulate him. "Open Source loves Microsoft," he said (when people assessed the GitHub takeover). Years prior he compared Microsoft critics to people who kick puppies.

"Remember Yahoo, Nokia and Novell? Yes, Microsoft "loved" those too..."Zemlin isn't the problem (if he went away, another 'Zemlin' would replace him); the problem is his type and his role. He doesn't even use GNU/Linux, so obviously he'd see no problem outsourcing everything to a Microsoft monopoly (GitHub) and promoting Microsoft employees in the Board, the management team, even top kernel roles.

Those who think we're exaggerating... just wait and watch. "Microsoft loves Linux," they say...

Remember Yahoo, Nokia and Novell? Yes, Microsoft "loved" those too...

"We need to slaughter Novell before they get stronger….If you’re going to kill someone, there isn’t much reason to get all worked up about it and angry. You just pull the trigger. Any discussions beforehand are a waste of time. We need to smile at Novell while we pull the trigger."

--Jim Allchin, Microsoft's Platform Group Vice President

Recent Techrights' Posts

Michael “Monty” Widenius: It Started in 1983 With Richard Stallman (RMS)
The other co-founder of MySQL is a bit notorious for confronting RMS rather viciously
For the Second Time in a Few Weeks Microsoft Lunduke Makes False Accusations Against Senior Red Hat Staff to Incite a Despicable 'Troll Army'
Nothing that Microsoft Lunduke claims of says can be trusted
 
Links 03/10/2025: Lawyers Caught Using LLM Slop Explain Why They Did It, LibreSSL 4.1.1 and 4.0.1 Released
Links for the day
FSF Board Grew 50% Since Last Year, Has New President, Turns 40 in Two Days
It's a good move for the FSF and - by extension - for software freedom
Links 03/10/2025: Conflicts, Death of TypePad, and TikTok/CheeTok Gives a Boost to Far Right Groups in Europe
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, October 02, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, October 02, 2025
Slopwatch: Linux Journal, Google News, and LinuxSecurity
They carry on polluting the Web with fake articles
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: Kubernetes With FreeBSD and robots.txt
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: 'Open' 'AI' Resorting to Gimmicks and Fake Funding, Europe’s ‘Drone Wall’ Discussed
Links for the day
Links 02/10/2025: Brave Passes 100M Users Milestone, Kodak Selling Its Own Film Again
Links for the day
su lisa && rm -rf /home/ibm/power
Novell was ruined by another person from IBM, Ronald Hovsepian
A Record Demand at Microsoft: Demand to Cancel
What we're witnessing is a very ungraceful destruction of XBox
Microsoft is Losing Europe
Hence all the "support" and "discount" offers that are limited to Europe
The Free Software Foundation Starts Fund-raising for 40th Anniversary
New pop-up 2-3 days ahead of the 40th anniversary event
Systemd Breaks Networking in Debian and Microsoft Staff Rushes to Make Face-Saving Excuses in LWN
Microsoft's bluca is already there in the comments, his Microsoft money pays for LWN to let him leave comments early
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 01, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 01, 2025
What the End of XBox Will Look Like: a Fiery Crash
XBox is the next Skype. It won't last much longer. Expect many more layoffs.
Richard Stallman is Going to Finland to Give a Talk Next Thursday
A day later he speaks in Sweden
Gemini Links 02/10/2025: SMTP Pipelining and End of ROOPHLOCH 2025
Links for the day
Slopwatch: Plagiarism, Fake Articles, and FUD About Linux
not a day goes by without Google News feeding FUD from slopfarms
Gemini Links 01/10/2025: Chat Control and End of Life
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: Long Covid Risk Reiterated, "Bitcoin Queen" Caught
Links for the day
Links 01/10/2025: EA $55 Billion Deal is Debt and Slop "Raises Vishing Risks"
Links for the day
Bluewashing at Red Hat Means Redundancies
The man who sold Red Hat to IBM meanwhile became a Microsoft Mono booster
After Killing OpenSource.com, IBM ('Red Hat') and OSI Told Us OpenSource.net Would Replace It (But That Didn't Happen)
Now it's time to move on, perhaps tarnishing the "Open Source" label some more (for whatever sponsor wants this)
Linux is Not a Community Project, It's a Wall Street Product
The core goal should be freedom
Bad Actors Abusing the Free Software Community, Vandalising It Using Rogue Politics and Old Tactics
Oil giants have long attempted to do this; now, the digital equivalent of Big Oil does this in technology
Social Control Media Isn't the Future, The Federation or Fediverse Isn't Growing, People's Accounts Vanish for Good
users' accounts will get deleted, not just become inactive
IBM is Failing, This Helps Show Wall Street is Entirely Detached From Actual Commercial Performance
IBM is unable to grow, it's just constantly shrinking
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, September 30, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, September 30, 2025
Clerical Aspects of Publishing and Development
In Free software, the management aspects are considerably reduced
Slopwatch: Fake Articles and Google News Promoting "Linux" Spam or Bot-Generated Fear, Uncertainty, Doubt (FUD)
These slopfarms help misplace blame
Third Wave of Microsoft Layoffs in September, This Time Many in Liverpool Affected
Be ready for more waves of layoffs ahead of the so-called "results" in late October