Re: TIL: “Open Source Rug Pull”

On Sun, 3 Nov 2024, John McCue wrote:

Lawrence D'Oliveiro <ldo@nz.invalid> wrote:

From <https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/2024/09/13/open-source-foundations-considered-helpful/>:

<snip>

A.k.a. “bait and switch”.

>
Quote from the article.

But on balance yes – Open source foundations considered helpful.

>
and I will finish it:
 "... to the companies who own the foundation."
>
The Linux Foundation is owned by large corporations, which
is listed at the end of the article.
>
The LF now exists to only help Large Companies, its purpose
is to provide free labor to those companies.
>
For an example, look at OpenSSH, every company uses it, yet
IBM for one does not donate to it.  Instead, IBM happily
bundles OpenSSH with AIX and RHEL.  There are plenty of
examples of projects were the authors are struggling to
meet their expenses.  The LF is no where in sight for them,
instead most of their donations go to admin type people
and now to some AI spin-off.  Hardly any goes into Linux.
>
If the LF cared for the users of Linux, they would force
Companies like Nvidia to open-up their firmware, preventing
Linux from using Nvidia GPUs like they do with ZFS.
>
Instead, Nvidia being a nice big contributor, can do what
they want.  Thus preventing its full use on many system
that contain their GPU.

This mirrors my experience of how it was to try to work with the LF. Horrible organization filled at the top with middle-managers who only want to stuff their CV:s.