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The Wildest Linux Stories of 2023
(the stuff you only read about on The Lunduke Journal)
December 29, 2023
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2023 has been an absolutely insane year for Linux.  And The Lunduke Journal has been there to cover every crazy moment.

Below you'll find -- in no particular order -- some of the craziest news stories to hit the world of Linux this year (or any year for that matter). 

Note: Some of the stories linked to below contain political topics.  While Lunduke.Locals.com strives to stay non-political, these few items simply were too wild to not mention.  For those who would like to avoid reading the political stories I have placed a "[Warning: Political]" note next to those links.

Red Hat & IBM - One disaster after another

Red Hat was purchased by IBM back in 2019 -- and things have been getting progressively crazier and crazier since then.  This year really took it to the max.

In 2023, Red Hat kicked the year off with a significant round of layoffs (including project leadership for Fedora, their community distribution), then Red Hat stopped work on Libre Office... then Red Hat restricts access to the GPL'd source code of Red Hat Linux.

Not a good year for the Linux giant.  But those little mini-disasters were just a warm up for what came at the end of the year.

In December of 2023, a massive series of leaks (many of which were exclusive to The Lunduke Journal) [Warning: Political], revealed racist and discriminatory programs within both Red Hat and (parent company) IBM -- including racist hiring policies and racist training programs.

What will the resulting legal action and public backlash mean for Red Hat in 2024?  How will all of this impact Linux (considering Red Hat's massive support of Linux) going forward?  We shall soon find out...

The Implosion of SUSE & openSUSE

The longest-running Linux company in the world, SUSE, has had one heck of a hard year.  First, their CEO gets axed back in March (unexpectedly, with no replacement ready to take over) -- then we find out that the CEO had greenlit a number of "risky deals" for the company leading up to her termination.

Then, a few months later, the company announces their de-listing from the German Stock Exchange.

Bad business news, to be sure.  But it gets worse.  The community focused portion of SUSE -- the openSUSE project and Linux distribution -- made two of the strangest moves imaginable.

First, openSUSE went on the warpath against half of their users and contributors by declaring people with certain politics to be "Rotten Flesh" that needs to be "Cut out" [Warning: Political].

Then, openSUSE decided they wanted to ditch one of their best assets: their long-standing, beloved, and recognizable mascot.

It's difficult to imagine how a year could be much worse than 2023 was for SUSE & openSUSE.  We'll have to see what 2024 has in store.

Ubuntu to go 100% Snappy and Immutable in 2024

In 2023 we learned that the future of Ubuntu will be moving entirely to Snappy packaging... and to become an immutable Linux distribution.  A massive (and controversial) technical change.

Ubuntu (and parent company, Canonical) remain a major force within the Linux world.  So this shift is a noteworthy one.  What impact will this have on the Ubuntu userbase?  How will the rollout of this new "immutable Ubuntu" be received?  That all remains to be seen.

GNOME now run by a "Professional Shaman"

This story is, quite simply, too weird to be true.  And, yet, it is.

In October of 2023, the GNOME Foundation hired a new Executive Director -- a self-proclaimed "Professional Shaman" who performs, as her career, "group shamanic energy clearing", "shaman water", and sells a "How to become a professional shaman" course.

Even weirder?  Both GNOME and their new Director began actively censoring anyone who mentioned the word "Shaman" -- effectively "Shaman-shaming" their new "Shaman" Director.  Since then, the GNOME Foundation's new Executive Shaman has gone into publicity lock-down... with no available public appearances or prossence of any kind.

Just... wild.

GitHub to become... an A.I. platform?

An absolutely huge number of Linux-related projects utilize GitHub -- from applications to full distributions.  And, according to Microsoft (who owns GitHub), the plan is to turn the source control platform into an A.I. system.

Seriously.

While the overall impact, of this change, on the Linux and Open Source world may be small (as many projects may simply move to another source control platform)... it's still weird enough that it's worth mentioning.

The De-Linux-ing of The Linux Foundation

In the 2022 Linux Foundation Annual Report, we learned that the foundation behind Linux had reduced their spending on Linux to just 3.2%.  Then, at the end of 2023, we learned that spending on Linux had reduced even further... down to just 2% of their revenue.

And we began to see the results of that lack of Linux-focus with the dropping of Long Term Support Linux kernel versions.

Woof!  That's a pretty wild drop in spending for the core project that their entire foundation is named after.

2023 was a weird one!

Massive technical changes!  Corporate disasters!  Significant drops in Linux and open source investments!  Shamans!

I mean... shoot.  The chaos and disasters at the two biggest Linux companies -- Red Hat & SUSE -- were absolutely wild.

Holy smokes.  What a year!

I'd like to say that next year is going to be a whole lot more relaxed and sane.  But I've got a sneaking suspicion... that 2024 is going to crank the crazy up to 11.

Worth noting: The craziest Linux stories of 2023 were all broken by The Lunduke Journal.  Exclusive whistleblowers.  Deep research.  Topics that other Tech publications are afraid to even touch.  Stay tuned.  Because The Lunduke Journal is just getting warmed up.


Want more truly independent Tech Journalism?  Be sure to grab at least a free membership to Lunduke.Locals.com.

Want to support this important work (and get some exclusive books, videos, and other goodies in the process)?  Grab a paid subscription.

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Well, that settles that, then! Guess I won't be contributing to openSUSE! 🤣

Looking for the Podcast RSS feed or other links?
https://lunduke.locals.com/post/4619051/lunduke-journal-link-central-tm

Give the gift of The Lunduke Journal:
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September 13, 2023
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This episode is free for all to enjoy and share.

Be sure to subscribe here at Lunduke.Locals.com to get all shows & articles (including interviews with other amazing nerds).

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October 15, 2025
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The Unpublished Anti-Lunduke Hit-Piece
A Tech Journalist interviewed me for a hit-piece article. But the questions made them look bad, and they shelved the story. So I'm publishing their hit-piece for them.

Back in September, shortly after the assassination of Charlie Kirk, I was contacted by a Tech Journalist writing for FossForce.com (a smaller, Open Source focused publication) who was working on an article around Open Source, Antifa, and the Lunduke Journal’s coverage of those topics.

This particular outlet had, several months prior, run an “anti-Lunduke” hit piece without first reaching out for comment — which resulted in their most popular article (at least on social media) in quite some time.

With that in mind, it seemed reasonable that they’d want to repeat that success with another “anti-Lunduke” story.

This time they were doing the responsible thing. They reached out to the subject of the hit-piece article with questions. I like encouraging Tech Journalists when they do actual journalism, so I answered each and every query with easy-to-quote responses.

But, it would appear that the answers they received were not conducive to creating the hit-piece they were hoping for — my guess is they realized their questions made them look like the villain in the story. The villain they, clearly, hoped to portray me as.

They opted to not publish the piece.

So I’m publishing their hit-piece for them.

Below is every question — and every answer (with no edits) — which I was asked, on September 19th, by a Tech Journalist by the name of Christine Hall, writing for FossForce.

Fair warning: This is very, very politically charged.

Enjoy.


September 19th

Hall:

The last time I mentioned you in an article, you castigated me for not reaching out to you beforehand. Well, I’m reaching out now. We’ll see what comes of this.

You do recognize that the vast majority of organizations using the term antifa as a descriptor are not in the least bit terrorist and pose no threat to society -- and indeed, the only threats they might pose to fascist groups are not physical or life-harming?

Lunduke:

Hello Christine! Nice to hear from you!

Many, if not most, of those proclaiming support for Antifa (within Open Source) have also made statements encouraging or supporting violence and discrimination.

Regardless of that fact -- which I have documented extensively in Lunduke Journal coverage -- when violent acts are committed (such as murder, riots, and lynchings) in the name of “Antifa”, to turn around and immediately declare yourself to be “Antifa” is a clear declaration of support of that violence.

Hall:

And why did you feel it necessary to call out Danielle Foré’s [the founder of the elementary OS Linux Distribution] trans status in such an ugly manner?

Lunduke:

There is a noteworthy overlap between “Trans activism” and support for political violence -- including in the recent murder of Charlie Kirk (the murderer’s boyfriend was “Trans”).

In the case of Daniel Fore, he, a leader of an Open Source project, regularly calls for discrimination (and violence) against people he disagrees with -- often in conjunction with his self-declaration as “Trans”.

Thus, his declaration of being “Trans” becomes a part of the overall story.

It is worth noting here that The Lunduke Journal has never -- and would never -- call for discrimination or violence against someone because of how they identify or who they may (or may not) vote for.

This is in stark contrast those, such as Mr. Fore, who consider themselves “Trans” or “Antifa” -- who actively advocate for both discrimination and violence.

Hall:

Mentioning a person’s trans status in ways that are pertinent to your argument necessates rudeness such as calling her a “dude who likes to wear dresses”?

Lunduke:

Dan Fore is, in fact, a dude who likes to wear dresses.

The only reason to view that as a negative is if you view dudes wearing dresses as a negative.

Hall:

I’ll quote you on that, which I’m pretty sure won’t bother you in the least.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Quote anything I say here. In fact, I suggest quoting absolutely everything I’ve written to you here, today.

Hall:

You also understand, don’t you, that voicing disagreement with an assessment made by POTUS is not only legal but a healthy part of the national dialog.

Lunduke:

Absolutely! Did I say somewhere that it was illegal to disagree with a politician? It seems unlikely that I have ever said that.

Hall:

Also, how would you reply to this:

There have been very few murders linked to individuals associated with Antifa, some incidents of rioting attributed to Antifa supporters, and no credible evidence of lynchings conducted in the name of Antifa. Compared to far-right groups, violence attributed to Antifa is much less frequent and lethal, with only one suspected kill—Aaron Danielson in Portland, by an anti-fascist activist—officially confirmed in recent U.S. history.

Lunduke:

Murder is bad. I am opposed to all murder.

In the context of these discussions, bearing in mind the Kirk murder is important (as many statements were made in response to it). The murderer of Kirk appears to have been pro-Trans and pro-Antifa (based on all available information).

Hall:

Is there any evidence that the suspect was part of an antifa group? I haven’t seen any.

Lunduke:

I have seen some reporting to this effect (including statements from family and messages he wrote).

But, far more important to this story, is the response to the murder among Antifa supporters (including those within Open Source). A large portion of Antifa supporters have celebrated the murder as justified because it killed someone they considered to be a “fascist”.

Hall:

Also, no group should be held responsible for what some deranged person who identifies with the group has done.

Lunduke:

I agree that a broader group should not be held responsible for the actions of a small number of individuals.

However, and this is critically important, it is entirely appropriate to hold people responsible for their own statements and actions.

With that in mind: The overall messaging of Antifa (and Antifa supporters) tends heavily towards violence. Punching, killing, molotov cocktails, etc. are all common messaging used by Antifa (including by those I quote within the Open Source world -- many of whom have advocated violence against myself).

Advocating for violence, then celebrating when violence is committed, are not good things.

Yet we see a great deal of that among Open Source supporters of Antifa.

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October 13, 2025
Sale ends in a few hours, Lifetime Subs set up.

Holy moly, you guys are amazing.

A few days ago I published a “50% off” sale for Lunduke Journal subscriptions… and all of you showed up. In a big way.

To everyone who grabbed a Lifetime Subscription over the last few days: All of you are set to full Lifetime access. You should have a confirmation email in your inbox. If not, email me and I’ll make sure you’re setup properly.

That “50% off” sale ends tonight at midnight. So you have a few hours to snag a discounted subscription, if you haven’t already.

A huge thank you to everyone who supports this work. Couldn’t do it without you.

-Lunduke

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October 12, 2025
50% Off Lunduke Journal Extended Through Monday (Oct 13th)

Just a quick heads up:

The “50% off every kind of Subscription to The Lunduke Journal” sale has been extended through Monday (October 13th).

So. You know. Grab one at 50% off between now and end of the day on Monday.

To all of you amazing nerds who have picked up a Lifetime Subscription already this weekend: You are awesome. You’ll be receiving a confirmation email, with all of the Lifetime Subscription details, by tomorrow (if you haven’t already).

Oh, and remember how we hit 11 Million views last month? Yeah. We’re well on our way to blowing past those numbers in October.

Wild.

See you all on Monday!

-Lunduke

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