Bonum Certa Men Certa

Misattributing or Misplacing the Blame and Cause GNU/Linux Isn't More Widely Adopted by Desktop and Laptop Users

Video download link | md5sum 4acde7aa8d1e6582a533b3a678a539c3 Blaming the Victims Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0



Summary: A Microsoft-friendly revisionist history says that GNU/Linux isn't more widely adopted simply because people aren't used to it; while it's true that people typically resist change, this guy completely fails to mention Microsoft's past and ongoing crimes (as recent as this summer), so I respond to the first half of his latest video

THE above is a rebuttal or commentary regarding "year of the Linux desktop" videos; this new one (hours-old) misses a lot of important points and apparently some other people with a YouTube channel do the same thing. They serve to trivialise Microsoft crimes. They're not Microsoft apologists, but they unintentionally help Microsoft.



"They serve to trivialise Microsoft crimes. They're not Microsoft apologists, but they unintentionally help Microsoft."An associate asked me: "Did he acknowledge the OEM monopoly that Microsoft abuses?"

There are so many examples of that, including sub-notebooks and OLPC. Developing countries didn't reject GNU/Linux and that had nothing to do with old habits; it was sabotage by Microsoft. It keeps happening and nobody from Microsoft gets punished for the crimes. They also did this 16 years ago in Walmart.

Apparently many people in YouTube fail to talk about this 'difficult' subject. We have extensive material, even leaked documents, that clearly show what Microsoft does behind the scenes ('secure' boot requirements, massive bribes, OEM lockouts that restrict distribution of other operating systems and so on). Microsoft corruption, such as bribery and other crimes, isn't the subject of mere speculation. Microsoft whistleblowers speak about those things.

"It keeps happening and nobody from Microsoft gets punished for the crimes."As our associate explained, "without acknowledgment of the anti-competitive abuses, specifically stuff like restricted boot and the OEM monopoly, there is really no point and in some ways is kind of blaming the victim:

"if only vendors saw the market potential ..."

"if only distros were easier to use ..."

"if only there were fewer distros ..."

... and so on with the FUD they are reinforcing. Remember that Microsoft successfully fought against and got laws blocking whitebox systems."

"DT [Derek Taylor/DistroTube] often makes the same mistakes. Though I can't guess the reason for DT's mistakes, it can't be naivety because he has been around the block enough times to know how Microsoft operates. If he is trying to project his own values onto the crowd or mob known as Microsoft, then that is a major error in judgement. Without having seen Jay's video(s), I may be off, but say again that projecting ones own values is a common error. There may be other reason for missing or pretending not to see the ongoing anti-competitive behaviors."

My own thoughts are in the video above.

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
 
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
Links for the day
Links 04/06/2025: Linux Foundation PR Spam and Lee Jae-myung Wins Election
Links for the day
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
Slopwatch: Linux FUD From Slopfarms, Blaming Linux for Microsoft Issues; Even WebProNews Has Become a Slopfarm (Googlebombing "Linux" With Slop Images and Fake/Plagiarised Text)
The Web is really getting bad; it's also overwhelmed by fake material or plagiarised material, wherein the plagiarism gets disguised/hidden by LLM sausage factories
Links 03/06/2025: Tiananmen Square Massacre Censorship and Growing Military Activities Around Taiwan
Links for the day
Linux is Already Dominant (Android), Let's Make GNU/Linux Dominant in Desktops/Laptops as Well
"Dr. Stallman recently warned everybody about Microsoft."
The Loyalty to Microsoft and the Salaries From Microsoft (Funding SLAPPs Against Techrights and Tux Machines)
Garrett always knows better. He knows everything best.
Windows Falls in Italy as GNU/Linux Jumps to 5%
Italy knows a thing or two about digital autonomy
Nigeria is All Android and Google
Windows down to almost nothing in Africa's largest population
Mass Layoffs at Microsoft (Second Wave) Not Limited to Redmond
"More layoffs at Microsoft as axe falls in Washington and California"
Gemini Links 03/06/2025: Forth System and "Common Lisp is a Dumpster"
Links for the day
The Leaks Were Right: Mass Layoffs at Microsoft in May, Then Another Wave in June
Just as we've been saying for over a month
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, June 02, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, June 02, 2025