‘Linux’ Foundation increases number of Microsoft employees in the board of directors to THREE, the only geek in the board has left (or got removed)

historic EEE tactics re-emerging

Those tactics never disappeared, they just hide it better nowadays.

Right, this source is just weird. The story is 100% real, and honestly probably a problem to the extent that Microsoft and the Linux Foundation are even relevant anymore, but everything in this is told in this hyperbolic style that makes it hard to even make sense of.

just like the Open Source Initiative, where most of the money comes from Microsoft

Is this true? This doesn't sound true.

and the official blog promotes Microsoft, its proprietary software, and Microsoft’s side

https://blog.opensource.org/

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/blog

What is this even talking about? Where does whichever of these blogs this is talking about promote Microsoft's proprietary software?

in a class action lawsuit over GPL violations (with 9 billion dollars in damages at stake).

I was really curious because I hadn't heard of this. It turns out it's the Github Copilot lawsuit. I could be wrong, but I've looked and I couldn't find this $9 billion number anywhere else; it sounds like it's arrived at by simply assuming that 1% of code that Copilot produces is infringing, and computing DMCA damages based on that 1%. It's not really clear to me whether that argument was just an illustrative example of the scope of the problem, or whether they're actually asking for $9 billion, but I tend to assume the former. In other venues when the litigants have been asked what remedy they want, they've said things like, "We’d like to see them train their AI in a manner which respects the licenses and provides attribution," as opposed to "we want $9 billion."

Etc etc. I picked out a little excerpt, but the whole article is written like this which makes me look at it sideways.

Exactly. At this point I think it's practically impossible to change the license

They have a revenue of 139 million in 2021, so they have some relevance, but yeah i would try not to put too much trust in them, and try to put in funding to the linux ecosystem that is "cleaner".

It's not like the foundation has any technical say in the kernel.

Nobody has the fortitude to turn down a check with big numbers on it. So, no.

Be irrelevant or embraced. That are the options.

GNU's Hurd was supposed to be this iirc. That clearly hasn't gotten far and hasn't been progressing quickly.