Bonum Certa Men Certa

University of Minnesota Has Destroyed Itself (or Its Reputation) by Trying to Destroy Linux and the Credibility of Linux

Video download link



Summary: The blunder that has become a cautionary tale serves to show that 1) Free software projects do catch bugs (there is some assessment of the impact of commits; multiple parties or companies can spot and report vandalism) and 2) there are severe consequences for vandals, even collective punishment in the case of the Linux Foundation (so much for "inclusiveness")

THE FUD campaign against Free software was supposed to badmouth the development process by taking on the Linux kernel, perhaps the best known project (or most publicised at least). Not many people have heard of the University of Minnesota before; it's not exactly known for anything in particular, especially in the area of Computer Science. You'd struggle to name any major accomplishment in computing originating from the University of Minnesota. We've captured every article we could lay our hands on, in almost chronological order (and it's still updating, there's ongoing progress and things unfold further).



"Let it become a cautionary tale."So now, a few weeks down the line, fame at last for the University of Minnesota! Fame or infamy? Probably the latter.

The University of Minnesota should have issued an apology, not the concern trolls who actively sabotaged the kernel and wasted a lot of time in the process. The University of Minnesota seems to be incapable of handling this situation. Anything it says at this stage only keeps it in the headlines for another day or even another week. Sooner or later its postgraduate programme will become synonymous with saboteurs, even if thinly disguised as "research" (as if it's a catch-all excuse, even when you interject defects into billions of computers, some of which responsible for critical services).

Liberate by TrumpThe video above discusses the chronology of things and the ramifications. The lessons to be learned from this blunder of the University of Minnesota is that a university needs ethics committees to assess the viability and impact of so-called 'research', especially when so-called researchers are de facto vandals.

What are people's thoughts on this? Well, so far we've seen not a single person defending what the University of Minnesota did. In fact, any publicity the students got (like people accessing their papers) -- assuming there's benefit to any sort of attention -- is massively outweight by the collective harm done to the reputation of the University of Minnesota. Let it become a cautionary tale. When the patches aren't just binaries but are visible in the form of code (visible to many parties) bugs become shallower. And moreover you see who's responsible for them.

It's just a bug! And bugs on the rise

Video errata: While checking the output (one take, no scripting) I noticed a glaring error; for some strange reason, maybe a Freudian slip, I said that the annual salary of Greg K-H is a hundred thousand dollars per year. I meant to say something completely different and it's important to correct this (even if the slip of the tongue was purely accidental). The IRS filing for 2018, back when he was relatively new in this employer, suggests almost $400,000 a year inclusive of everything (latest available filing says it has increased since):

Greg K-H's salary

Recent Techrights' Posts

Professor Eben Moglen on How Social Control Media Metabolises Humans and Constrains Freedom of Thought
Nothing of value would be lost if all these data-harvesting giants (profiling people) vanished overnight
Debian Left Twitter (MElon "X"), We Think the Free Software Foundation (FSF) Should Do the Same
What would the FSF really lose if it stopped posting there?
Tons of Anti-Linux 'Articles' Published by Bots (LLMs), Maybe Microsoft's
Upon closer inspection, all this FUD turned out to be LLM garbage
Ubuntu Desktop Director of Engineering Has Only One Blog Post. It Promotes Microsoft Windows.
Remember that even 15 years ago (more or less, maybe 16 years ago) Canonical appointed a a 'former' Microsoft manager (Spencer) to lead Ubuntu on the desktop
 
Gemini Links 07/02/2025: Mid-level Details and Simple Code
Links for the day
Links 07/02/2025: US 'Demolition Crew', e-ID Loopholes, and Sanctions
Links for the day
Social Control Media is Narcissism
Nowadays there's a lot more literature and even press coverage explaining the harms of Social Control Media
statCounter Sees GNU/Linux Share Doubling in China Over the Past Year
It'll be interesting to see what data in the coming months shows
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, February 06, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, February 06, 2025
Richard Stallman (RMS) Confirms Next Week's Talk in Europe
He gave at least 2 talks in Europe last month
Nationalism As A Service (NaaS) by Microsoft Azure, Gutting the US Government for Profit
Will Microsoft be receiving bailouts as a reward for all this?
Rumours of IBM Layoffs Apparently Confirmed Yesterday, IBM Canada Consulting Impacted (as Rumoured)
when IBM has layoffs we must also read it as Red Hat layoffs
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Voicemail Sucks and Night of Lights
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: YouTube Takedowns Out of Control, 'DOGE' Breaking Laws
Links for the day
IBM Red Hat on "era of cloud computing", pushing "hey hi" (AI) hype in Microsoft Azure
LLM slop might actually be more benign than Microsoft promotion
Corruption and Rule-Breaking Prevail at the European Patent Office (EPO), Europe's Second-Largest Institution
The law does not really exist at the EPO; it can be perceived as merely a "recommendation"
statCounter: More Countries Where Windows is Around 1% "Market Share" (People Have Moved to Android/Linux)
in some nations Windows is already 1% or less
404 Media Says "Workers at NASA Told to Drop Everything to Scrub Mentions of Indigenous People, Women from Its Websites" But There's Also Accessibility in the Firing Line
In the case of abandoning accessibility, everyone stands to be hurt and proprietary software can be brought in to replace standards
When BetaNews Writes Real Articles About "Linux" They Promote Windows
The Web is in a bad state. We need to at least try to correct this.
Gemini Links 06/02/2025: Cynicism and "Real Magic on the C64"
Links for the day
Links 06/02/2025: New Sanctions, Layoffs, and Executive Orders
Links for the day
Distros and Desktop Environments, Devices
GNU/Linux focused
New Rumours of IBM Layoffs in 2025, IBM Consulting Still Struggles, Based on Management
"Hey hi" (AI) has been a common excuse for business failure
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, February 05, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, February 05, 2025
Links 05/02/2025: Kessler Syndrome and News Online
Links for the day
statCounter: Monaco Now 7% GNU/Linux ("Proper")
GNU/Linux, not counting Chromebooks, is on the rise
Many Parts of Google Lose Money
It's quite apparent that many parts of Google - even some that rely on ad revenue or push ads - aren't profiting
European Internet Forum (EIF) is Dominated by American Corporations and Microsoft Lobbyists, Staff Take the Lead
Should the officials over here or the European Parliament pay attention to these people?
Links 05/02/2025: Connection without Connectivity and Unionised Grocery Workers
Links for the day
Just Because People on Top of the Microsoft Pyramid Made a Lot of Money Doesn't Mean Microsoft is Wealthy
The bigger they are the harder they fall
Gemini Links 05/02/2025: Learning, Madman Ruling a Mad Country, Back in Geminispace
Links for the day
statCounter Shows "WIntel" Chasing a Dying Market
Microsoft acts as if it's running out of money
Free Software Foundation, Inc. (FSF) Still Raising Money, Richard Stallman Contributes
total exceeding $430k
A Lot of Stuff About "Linux" in Google News is LLM Slop, Fake 'Articles'
It seems to be getting worse
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, February 04, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, February 04, 2025