The word spreads

HE news about GNU/Linux generally gets better over time. If one looks deep enough, there’s already more of it than before. More and more people use the platform, and some bloggers adapt and react accordingly.

Heck, many bloggers are themselves moving to GNU/Linux.

I reckon that by next year GNU/Linux will be seen as a non-niche.

They’ll never admit the end goal

t seems abundantly clear that Microsoft is doing a ‘clearance’. Many remaining workers are removed, some pushed out to make it seem voluntary, and in some cases as many of 50% of staff (in a team) get culled [1-3].

This is Microsoft’s era ending.

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1. Age of Empires Dev Has Half of Studio Slashed, Project Cancelled Amid Xbox Layoffs

   The future of Age of Empires dev World’s Edge appears to be hanging in the balance.

   The studio – which has released Age of Empires 2: Definitive Edition, Age of Empires 4: Anniversary Edition, and Age of Mythology: Retold all on the PS5 – was part of the latest round of Xbox redundancies, which saw the company cut another 268 jobs. (In addition to the 1,600 earlier in the year.)

2. Microsoft’s Latest Round Of Layoffs May Have Killed A Brand New Age Of Empires Game

   Piecing together comments from victims of Microsoft’s latest round of layoffs, it seems that we may have been due to see a new Age of Empires game. Not anymore, however, given the gutting of internal studio World’s Edge, the team that had overseen the production of the recent remasterings of Age of Empires and Age of Mythology titles. With the studio losing at least half its staff, seemingly including key figures like Adam Isgreen, and being moved into Activision’s domain, it appears that a new entry in the beloved RTS series might have been lost, too.

3. Age of Empires studio’s next game canceled as part of Xbox layoffs

   Xbox’s ongoing layoffs are so sweeping that we’re still piecing together the full picture. In early July, the company announced it would immediately cut 1,600 employees, with more layoffs in the next fiscal year. It also divested from several of its most acclaimed studios, including Double Fine and Ninja Theory. Many of the studios that survived faced significant cuts, with Doom developer id Software losing around half its employees.

Journalism in Techrights

think today should be rather productive, as I woke up at 2AM and I plan to stay home, for a change.

At the moment I am focused on 7 series in Techrights and my activism for GNU/Linux is mostly reduced to curation in another site.

I think this is a good balance. It also helps me focus on original reporting.

Have fun

quite liked this new take on why to “Make More Websites” – it is sometimes obvious and something along the lines of “do what you like…” (it’s not about money). To quote someone who in turn quotes John Gruber:

I was listening to the episode “Make Your Own Thing” from the Off Protocol podcast where Jim Ray interviews John Gruber.

They cover a variety of topics, including Gruber’s thoughts on the dilution of personal brand by publishing through “chain” platforms like Substack (I quite enjoyed the metaphor of a personal website where you publish your stuff to that of a chef/restaurant, but that’s a separate post).

Around ~1:13:00, Gruber quotes Walt Disney who said, “We don’t make movies to make money, we make money to make more movies.” And he goes on to argue that when you’re forced to choose one of these priorities over the other — because you will undoubtedly face decisions where the two sets of values come into direct opposition — the company that prioritizes making movies over making money is fundamentally a different company than the one that chooses making money over making movies.

If you ultimately prioritize making money, then what’s going to be ultimately great about your company is you make a lot of money (for shareholders, for owners, for yourself, for whomever).

I never did any site to make money. It’s never about money. Money is made to be disposed of. It’s to be used for something one believes in, not to hoard.

Another day in Mayfield

t was sunny again today. Quite warm, too. We went to Mayfield Depot/Park and Rianne said it was “not bad”; the lawns there are very nice, sort of like a PL football pitch (almost). They’ve clearly spent a lot of money on that. We didn’t buy anything as we had brought our own drinks from home.

The week is nearly over and we plan to go out again this afternoon (feeding the birds a third time for today) because we assume it might be the last warm-ish week. It’s officially autumn now and the trees are all still green. Soon they will be naked.

This year we appreciate the simplest things – even more then prior decades – and next year we believe we’ll find exposure/access to media, as our case is being escalated up the political chain.

The real “Linux”

t’s only 4 days away from the GNU anniversary. I am still trying to think of a good way to mark that day/event.

Just remembering that it happened 43 years ago is important. The media rewrites history.

GNU is still alive and well. Because it is so widely used it has also come under hybrid attacks.

The timewasting carries on

don’t suppose the hired guns will leave us alone when their clients run out of money. They might leave us alone when lenders no longer let them borrow money, at which stage they just weep and realise that lawfare is expensive and inappropriate.

Despite their apparent stalling attempts, we shall carry on pursuing an appeal to the Court of Appeal as soon as feasible.