Bonum Certa Men Certa

ZDNet Has Failed

Video download link | md5sum 14f143a95d57025c304dd3023a95cf32



Summary: ZDNet is on the decline and its demise appears to have greatly accelerated in recent months; we take a quick look at this month's coverage and explain the conflict of interest (it's PR, not news, and it's far too shallow/blatant to simply overlook)

FOR those who are not familiar -- or barely familiar -- with the antics of ZDNet, see our wiki on this subject. It won't take long to understand, even based on the headings alone. The good news is, the site is perishing and little of what's left of it spilled over to a sister site called TechRepublic, a mixture of Microsoft operatives and paid-for puff pieces.



"The network behind ZDNet perished 2-3 years ago."As it turns out, lying to people may be a profitable business model, but only in the short term. Sooner or later people walk away (earlier today we mentioned conflict of interest in Bill Gates coverage).

ZDNet screenshotA few days ago, by mere serendipity (and by accident rather) I clicked on a ZDNet link because it had Torvalds/Linux in the headline. See on the right what I was presented with. Does that make any sense to anyone? The connection between those two things is at best imaginary, fictional. But when Microsoft operatives run the 'news' site they tend to view everything from a Microsoft lens. As I noted in the video above, Microsoft is the very first category to be listed in the site's menu and it's almost the only brand name in that menu. Earlier this week they published not one but two puff pieces about the latest 'research' stunt from the Linux Foundation. Why? Follow the money...

The network behind ZDNet perished 2-3 years ago. Defunct as of December 4th, 2019 (21 months ago) although CBS Corporation was already facing issues prior to that. But now ZDNet itself is dying. Just 7-8 stories in the "Linux" section (mostly sponsored junk) were posted in the first 24 days of September. It used to be about 2 stories per day and most of those were anti-Linux or an attack on facts, even malicious slander. When ZDNet collapses completely we won't miss it. We'll just sigh in relief and say, "good riddance..."

Princess Bride: What better than Microsoft propaganda? Microsoft propaganda masked in 'Linux' clothing

Recent Techrights' Posts

SLAPP Censorship - Part 192 Out of 200: The Hired Guns of Garrett and Graveley Sent Us USB Sticks (One to Me, One to My Wife) Showing Lozza Talking to Garrett About Censoring/Deplatforming Techrights the Same Time Graveley Was Copy-Pasting Garrett's Lawsuit
Next year we plan to bring this matter to the Court of Appeal
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 6 - Seeing Who Contaminates Linux With Slop (And Also Admits It)
Today we begin looking at some culprits
2026: The Year Galleries Realised the Need to Flag or Cull Slop Images
Society needs to shun slopfarms, people who use LLM slop (for anything at all), companies that use bots (which they dub "agents"), and so-called 'coders' who volley garbage into project and software hubs
Software Freedom Day Celebrated in 5 or 6 Continent
Software Freedom Day (SFD) 2026 was big this year
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, September 21, 2026
IRC logs for Monday, September 21, 2026
Links 21/09/2026: "Lies of the Hey Hi (AI) Industry" and Solar Power Is Getting Cheap
Links for the day
Gemini Links 21/09/2026: Equinox and Beginner's Guide to Gemini
Links for the day
Links 21/09/2026: "Back On My Bicycle" and American Regime's War on Media Escalates Further
Links for the day
SLAPP Censorship - Part 191 Out of 200: Garrett, Graveley and Lozza
They talk to and coordinate with one another
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Sunday, September 20, 2026
IRC logs for Sunday, September 20, 2026
Gemini Links 21/09/2026: Digital Hoarder, GTD, Minimalism vs Digital Minimalism, Rejection of LLMs
Links for the day
Links 20/09/2026: "Google Now Asking For Users’ Video Selfies" and Energy Prices Set to Rise
Links for the day
Enjoy the Giving/Sharing, Not Taking
We've long supported what we believed in, even with the little money we had
Links 20/09/2026: Amazon Layoffs, Flock 'Buyouts' (Silent Layoffs)
Links for the day
USCIS and Microsoft Rumours: Curbs on Lowering Salaries by Importing Cheaper Replacements?
It seems like Microsoft's mass layoffs and efforts to cheapen the workforce face obstacles
Gemini Links 20/09/2026: "Music While Working" and Radio Silence
Links for the day
Clownflare Data From Canada
We've like to think many people are attempting to install GNU/Linux over the weekend
SLAPP Censorship - Part 190 Out of 200: Plagiarism, Back Doors, and Sabotage of Linux
This can go on for a decade or longer
Linux Kernel Becoming a Slopfest - Part 5 - Kernel Dependency on Plagiarism Giant Microsoft is a Death Blow to Any Kernel
Microsoft is bringing copyright-infringing slop into Linux
GNU/Linux Has Grown a Lot Lately
Based on Clownflare
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Saturday, September 19, 2026
IRC logs for Saturday, September 19, 2026