Wednesday, October 14th, 2026, 8:03 pm
When Bowties Became Symbols of Traitors and Microsoft Pushers (the Case of James Bottomley)
Filed under: When did something innocent turn from benign (e.g. Charlie Chaplin) to malicious or “warning sign”?
believe I purchased my first (maybe only) bowtie in 2001 (possibly 2000) at a shop called Manchester Wippell (of Manchester). Or maybe “J Wippell & Co. Manchester”; some people I know call them “Wippells” (with an S) . There’s a very long history to these folks. It moreover seems that they still exist and operate in the same address (9-21 Princess St, Greater, Manchester M2 4DN). They’ve survived a lot. The name and reputation matter. I also got a silk handkerchief there once.
I recently wrote about James Bottomley, the Microsofter who helps Microsoft inject back doors and kill switches into Linux.
Bottomley became “known” for wearing bowties; it’s like he attempted to make these garments of clothing/apparel his “signature”, I honestly don’t know why (the bizarre logic of it).
Like “normal” ties, they serve no practical function, they only ever get in the way (e.g. inside some food), but those are class or hierarchy symbols (worn at the expense of one’s comfort).
I dress casually every day. I don’t try to project “value” using cotton and leather.
Like many of his background, Bottomley seems pretentious and uncarting about Software Freedom, he’s just chasing money. Money, money, money.
Because of this man (Bottomley), I nowadays associate bowties (in the context of software) with bad people. I think I’ve now worn a bowtie for well over a decades.
Even when Bottomley was at IBM/Red Hat/Novell I already didn’t like and didn’t trust him. I had good reasons to feel that way.
