Bonum Certa Men Certa

Using Humour to Counter Deception and Googlebombing Campaigns



Linux at Google News



Summary: Microsoft's effort to dominate over GNU/Linux (or hijack its very alternative, its competition) hasn't gone unnoticed; sites like OMGUbuntu! and Phoronix seem not to understand just how much they help Microsoft by giving 'free press' to the utter failure that not many people even use; it's better to not mention that failing effort or mention it responsibly

THE tactics of Googlebombing aren't new; they predate Google too, of course... (but named differently; "Googlebombing" was coined over a decade ago)



There's no single aspect to Googlebombing; one can break it down or split it into several branches of techniques. The one Microsoft has used in recent years is similar to trademark hijacking -- apparently similar to what goes on at the EPO. People who search for information about one's archrival are instead directed to the very opposite. It's a form of entrapment (entrapping minds) and it games familiar words or phrases. Remember when "VistA" was a Free software system for veterans rather than an appalling version of Windows? There are dozens of examples like that, recently "MAUI".

"What companies state publicly is almost never the same as what is true."We've recently been discussing a number of topics that needed to be dealt with; one was Microsoft claiming to be sensible by renaming "master" in GitHub. Another is the WSL nonsense that has flooded news sites over the past 24 hours (and probably will later today as well). We don't want to link or send traffic to sites/articles that spread misinformation; we also wish not to amplify their misleading claims (mischaracterising the problem). So instead we use humour. Not many people know how Conservative or Republican Microsoft is; even Bill Gates has his affinity for these people. A lot of people who work for Microsoft lean to the right; it's hardly surprising that Microsoft works so hard to get Pentagon and ICE contracts. Those aren't accidents. Microsoft as a company believes in what it does. Regarding WSL, there's no goodwill there; it's an attack and if one researches the views of people who work on WSL, then one quickly discovers that they actually dislike GNU/Linux. They want to dominate (as in control/tame) it, not to support or help it. Misusing words like "love" is the perfect deception; look what they did ahead of the GitHub takeover.

What companies state publicly is almost never the same as what is true. Being distrusting, dismissive and sceptical of their marketing/PR people is a survival skills. Ask not what they want you to 'know' (think is the right term, it's perception management) but what they desperately try to hide, especially when they feel pain.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Nat Friedman Had Left Microsoft GitHub Exactly One Week Before Matthew Garrett Sent His First SLAPP (Which Was an Empty Threat, He Was Abusing the Legal System of Another Continent to Terrorise Critics Who Had Just Unearthed Major Microsoft Scandals)
And it was likely talked about by his lawyers around the exact same time Nat Friedman was packing up
 
Extortion is a Crime, Even If You're Based in Another Continent and Work for Microsoft
reported to British authorities
We're in 6/6 Now, Almost Halfway in 2025
2025 was probably the best year for us
South Americans Are Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
We're hardly even "Cherry-Picking" or conveniently singling out one South American nation
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part III: Data Protection Failures, Just Like at the European Patent Office (EPO)
Just less than a decade ago we showed that the EPO had illegally shared staff data with third parties
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, June 05, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, June 05, 2025
Pushing Microsoft's Proprietary Trash/Trap as "Open" and "Linux" (Windows is 'Linux' Now?)
Maybe it's time to just stop saying "FOSS". The people who use that term are promoting Microsoft.
Slopwatch: Comparing Linux to Vermin, Attacking BSD With LLM Slop, and Helping Microsoft Demonise Linux/OpenBSD/SSH Over Weak User Passwords
Microsoft must be laughing its arse off, seeing how a bunch of Serial Sloppers (no skills, no comprehension, no integrity, no creativity) and slopfarms use Microsoft LLM to flood the Web with anti-Linux FUD
Links 05/06/2025: US Poised for Another $2.4 Trillion to Debt, Cops Want GAFAM Kill Switches
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Links 05/06/2025: First US Spacewalk 60 Years Ago, GNU Octave 10.2.0 is Out
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Scandinavia Saying Goodbye to Microsoft
The Danes have had enough of Microsoft
GNU/Linux Measured at 6% in Bangladesh, According to statCounter
Windows isn't growing, it's going away
Gemini Links 05/06/2025: Loop Earplugs Review and ANS Forth
Links for the day
Armenian Adoption of GNU/Linux
Russian influence in Armenian must be worrying to Microsoft
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part II: Turning a Once-Respected Patent Office Into a Circus and Laughing Stock
It's not legal, but administrators who don't care about the law and don't fear the law would just go ahead and turn things to junk
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, June 04, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, June 04, 2025
Slopwatch: Mindless Slop Pieces, Fake Images and Text, Linux FUD on the Cheap
spewed out by Microsoft-controlled LLMs
Links 04/06/2025: Workers' Strikes, Sudan Exodus
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Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
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Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Future Leaders of the World and Platforming Jordan Peterson
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: WSL Backfiring on Microsoft and "Disney, Microsoft Announce Massive Layoffs"
Links for the day
Our Case is a Very Easy Win, the SLAPPs From Microsofters Were a Grave Error, and Censoring Information Won't Work (It'll Only Ever Backfire)
Censoring is what people do when they lose the argument
Say the Truth, the Rest Will Follow
There's no guarantee that writing the truth will result in an audience (or readership), but over time - in the long run - people generally gravitate towards what they know or feel to be crude truth, not just what's comforting (albeit false or self-deluding, usually groupthink dictated from above)
How to Expose High-Level Corruption Without Getting in (Too Much) Trouble
Democracy depends on free press and freedom of the press depends on being able to safely publish (and keep available) material that bad people don't want to be known to anybody
In-Depth EPO Coverage at Techrights Turns Eleven
11 years is a very long time
Windows Measured Below 10% in Afghanistan, GNU/Linux Gaining a Lot
about 80% are Android (Linux) users, compared to only about 10% for Windows
Poland's Political Predicament and Social Control Media
Democracy and fake "tech" don't mix well; the latter tends to interfere with the former and that's why we get more "Putins" out there
EPO: Taking Away From the Staff to Give More to the Rich
The Central Staff Committee (CSC) wrote to EPO staff earlier this week
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, June 03, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, June 03, 2025
Abuse Inside the Polish Patent Office (UPRP) - Part I: It's a Lot Like the EPO
we can commence a series soon
Gemini Links 04/06/2025: Inescapable Questions and Quitting All "Oligarch Tech"
Links for the day