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Want a public MP3 RSS Feed and "Linux Sucks" free for all? Here's how we do it.
September 06, 2023
  • Want “Linux Suck” to be free for the world?

  • Want a public MP3 RSS feed of every Lunduke Journal podcast episode?

Yeah, you do. Heck, I do too.

And we can make both happen… if we hit the following goals over the next few weeks.

  • 100 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • Linux Sucks 2023 will be released free for the entire public on September 30th. This includes both the live streamed and recorded version.

  • 200 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • Every past Linux Sucks video (including “macOS Sucks” and “Windows is Awesome”) will also be released free for the entire public.

    • Plus, DRM-Free, MP4 downloads will be made available for subscribers (so you can back them up and watch them however you like).

  • 300 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • The regular audio podcast (new episodes multiple times per week) will get an official RSS Feed with MP3 downloads. Free for the public.

This is a very achievable goal, with a very awesome outcome. For everyone.

Read on for all the details. And, if you haven’t already, subscribe at Lunduke.Locals.com if you want to help make this happen.


The goal

I want “Linux Sucks 2023” and all of The Lunduke Journal podcasts to be free for the entire world to enjoy — subscribers and non-subscribers alike. That’s the dream.

At the same time, I also want to keep all of The Lunduke Journal content 100% free from Big Tech and advertising. To accomplish that, in place of sponsors and ads, The Lunduke Journal is funded by subscriptions from all of you.

And what are the single biggest events that prompt new subscriptions to The Lunduke Journal?

You guessed it: “Linux Sucks” videos and podcast episodes.

How do we pull this off?

So, the question is: How can The Lunduke Journal make those podcasts and “Linux Sucks” videos free for non-subscribers to enjoy… while still staying in business (and, thus, able to continue making more of that content)?

I believe I’ve got an answer. A simple one.

We need to hit our Lunduke Journal subscriber goals… ahead of time.

Obvious, right?

The existing goal for the rest of 2023 is to sign up 300 new subscribers to The Lunduke Journal. If we can pull that off before the Linux Sucks 2023 event happens on September 30th… we can make these things free for all.

300 subscribers over the next 3 months — with the help of exclusive podcasts and events — is absolutely doable and reasonable. But 300 subscribers over the next… 3 weeks?! Is that even possible?

You know what? I think it is. It’s only a small fraction of The Lunduke Journal audience. And I think a lot of you want these things just as much as I do.

Let’s break this down into three goals. As we hit each goal, we unlock a new level of awesomeness.

  • 100 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • Linux Sucks 2023 will be released free for the entire public. This includes both the live streamed and recorded version.

  • 200 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • Every past Linux Sucks video (including “macOS Sucks” and “Windows is Awesome”) will also be released free for the entire public.

    • Plus… DRM-Free, MP4 downloads will be made available for subscribers (so you can back them up and watch them however you like).

  • 300 new subscribers by Sept 30th:

    • The regular audio podcast (multiple times per week) will get an official RSS Feed with MP3 downloads. Free for the public. I know a lot of you want this.

How awesome would that be? Pretty freakin’ awesome.

Any type of paid subscription will count towards the goal. Standard monthly ($5) or yearly ($45 - 3 free months) counts.

Lots and lots of reasons to subscribe

There are so many reasons to subscribe to The Lunduke Journal at Lunduke.Locals.com — the reasons above are enough… but there’s so much more.

A few other fun perks for subscribers at Lunduke.Locals.com:

  • Massive back-catalogue of articles, videos, podcasts, & PDF eBooks.

  • Can enjoy Lunduke’s regular, super witty posts.

  • Can make your own posts that are far more witty than Lunduke’s… thus making Lunduke feel deep shame (you can’t put a price on that).

  • A community of nerds who all agree that your posts are more witty than that Lunduke guy.

  • Name in the credits of Linux Sucks 2023 (optional).

  • Occasional live chats with Lunduke.

  • And, of course, immediate access to new podcasts, articles, and videos the moment they are published.

  • We even have a private, invite-only Discord server.

There’s more. That’s just off the top of my head. It’s a lot.

Q & A

Q: I’ve already subscribed. How can I help?

A: First off… You rule. You are helping make everything possible! Second… Spread the word! Let people know what we’re trying to do. That is the single best way anyone can help!

Q: Lunduke! Help! I can’t find the subscription page!

A: If you don’t have an account yet, go straight to Lunduke.Locals.com and sign up there. If you already have a Lunduke.Locals.com account, log in and go here. Easy peasy.

Q: What happens if we don’t hit the goals?

A: Simple. All of the “Linux Sucks” videos stay exclusive. As do the podcast episodes. The Lunduke Journal will continue producing amazing content just like always and subscribers will continue to be able to enjoy it all! But I think we can hit the goals. ;)

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The Age of Non-Woke Open Source is Beginning

Non-Woke "Political Protest Forks" like XLibre & Redot are thriving. Non-DEl Linux Distributions like Open Mandriva are as well. But Woke projects? Not doing so well.

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The futility of Ad-Blockers
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openSUSE says "No Lunduke allowed!"

Those in power with openSUSE make it clear they will not allow me anywhere near anything related to the openSUSE project. Ever. For any reason.

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
"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

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).

"Andreas Kling creator of Serenity OS & Ladybird Web Browser" - Lunduke’s Big Tech Show - September 13th, 2023 - Ep 044

There's a new conference in town. And it seems it's already sold out!
#VibeCoding

For all you Commodore fans…

If you've done 6 impossible things this week, why not round it off with a trip onboard "thE grAvY trAIn" TONIGHT at 21:00 BST! (1pm PST/4pm EST)

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IBM Taking DEI “Under the Radar”
Whistleblowers provide details on how IBM & Red Hat are simply renaming “Diversity” programs, as the company continues discriminatory hiring practices.

Back in April, The Lunduke Journal broke the story of IBM “ditching DEI policies” company wide — including at their subsidiary, Red Hat. This change was announced in the wake of multiple lawsuits against IBM (for their DEI policies) and executive orders against DEI from President Trump.

At the time, activist employees at Red Hat / IBM were not happy (to say the least). Encouraging and planning protests, “raising hell”, and even “killing fascists”.

But, now that a little time has passed, let’s take a look inside at IBM and see how their “ditching DEI” change is actually going.

DEI Staying “Under the Radar”

Thanks to whistleblowers within IBM, we know that employee groups focused on DEI still, in fact, exist. They are simply changing names in order to “stay under the radar” and avoid having “a target on their back”.

 

The “diversity-inclusion” corporate Slack channel, for example, is now named “inclusion-at-ibm”. They simply dropped the word “diversity”.

The DEI Department is Still There

Employees are using that IBM DEI Slack channel to clarify corporate changes to DEI policy. Which, again, thanks to whistleblowers… we have screenshots of.

A few key items:

  • The “DEI Department” has been renamed to “Inclusion” — and now reports to Kitty Chaney Reed (the Chief Leadership, Culture and Inclusion Officer).

  • IBM is no longer part of the Human Rights Campaign — “the HRC no longer align with IBM priorities”.

  • “People can still identify their preferred pronouns in all of IBM systems.”

  • The game-ified “Allyship Badge” system has been removed.

 

As we can see, some DEI policies and programs are gone, while others remain. And IBM is making a point of renaming their DEI Department within HR.

We gain these insights thanks to Ruth Davis — an IBM Executive and who currently identifies as a “DEI Advocate”.

 

These clarifications were published by a current member of the IBM HR team… who was originally hired as a “Diversity and Inclusion Intern”.

 

In short: DEI advocates continue to control IBM HR, and DEI departments continue to exist.

IBM / Red Hat Discriminatory Quotas

Up until recently, both IBM & Red Hat had discriminatory hiring policies — including sex and skin color quotas and even rewards for executives for hiring fewer white men.

We learned, as part of the original leaks supplied to The Lunduke Journal back in April, that “diversity goals are no longer part of the executive incentive program”.

 

Which begs the question, now that a few months have passed, is IBM still discriminating against White Men?

Getting hard numbers on the demographics of new IBM / Red Hat employees is not likely to happen for quite some time — if ever. But here is a picture, posted yesterday, of new Red Hat interns.

That might give us some indication of where things are heading.

 

Well. Huh.

Finding the “White Guys” in this photo of Red Hat interns isn’t quite as challenging as a round of “Where’s Waldo?”… but it’s close.

Now for me, personally, I truly don’t care what the demographic ratios are of employees & interns within a company. Hire the best people for the job, regardless of their sex or ethnicity. Meritocracy is a good thing.

That said, considering the multiple pending lawsuits against IBM and Red Hat — specifically regarding their discriminatory policies towards White Men (and their previously stated goals of hiring less of them) — it is more than a little interesting that their latest crop of Red Hat interns is almost entirely… people who are not White Men.

Results Are Mixed

There are a few good signs in here of IBM dropping DEI related policies — including no longer being involved in the Human Right Campaign and the removal of the (rather repulsive, anti-White) “Allyship Badges”.

Unfortunately, most of the rest of what we’re seeing is less encouraging.

  • “DEI” groups simply being renamed to “Inclusion” in order to stay on the right side of the law.

  • What appears to be continued discriminatory hiring at Red Hat (despite lawsuits and stated policy changes).

  • Executives and HR still heavily controlled by “DEI Advocates”.

  • Corporate systems still using “preferred pronouns”.

While making significant changes to corporate policies can take time — especially across large organizations like IBM — some of these internal reports indicate an unwillingness to drop DEI policies on the part of key IBM leadership.

The Lunduke Journal will continue keeping tabs on both IBM and Red Hat.

Any employees looking to become whistleblowers can find whistleblower resources at Lunduke.com.

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LibreOffice Developer’s Hotmail Account Locked After LibreOffice Criticizes Microsoft
“Wow that looks bad,” says Microsoft employee.

Mike Kaginski, a LibreOffice developer (who works for Collabora), has had his Microsoft-hosted email account, which he uses for open source development, locked for “activity that violates our Microsoft Services Agreement”.

 

Kaginski discovered this when attempting to send an email to the LibreOffice development mailing list (hosted by FreeDesktop). It remains unclear if that specific email (which he sent via another address and was rather bland and technical) was the reason for the ban… or if attempting to send the email was simply the first time the ban was noticed by him.

This happened just days after LibreOffice officially accused Microsoft of engaging in a “Lock-in” strategy by creating “artificially complex”, XML-based office documents.

Are the two events related? Hard to say with any certainty.

To make matters worse, Kaginski has had no success in getting Microsoft to lift his locked email account — with the company making him jump through numerous, impossible hoops (such as requiring him to sign in to submit an appeal for his account being locked… but not allowing him to sign in… because his account is locked).

You got that? Sign in to fix the account you can’t sign in with.

Gotta love a good Catch-22.

Good job, Microsoft.

The Lunduke Journal reached out to a contact, within Microsoft, who made it clear that their group was not aware of the LibreOffice Developer’s locked account, but they were aware of the LibreOffice complaint article regarding “artificially complex” XML lock-in. Adding, “wow that looks bad”.

The Lunduke Journal’s Analysis

The odds of locking a LibreOffice developer’s email account being an official Microsoft corporate decision seems highly unlikely.

Microsoft, as a company, makes a lot of bad decisions — but this would just be too stupid for words. A massive PR blunder.

But could a single employee, feeling grumpy, have done it on an impulse? As some sort of revenge for LibreOffice’s “harsh” words about Microsoft? Sure. That seems entirely plausible?

Though, it’s also entirely plausible that some poorly designed AI-driven “naughty activity” detection bot flagged his account. Or, perhaps, the developer was reported by some random Open Source hooligan who likes to cause chaos (there’s a lot of those).

Either way, the fact that Microsoft requires people to log in — on accounts which cannot log in — in order to file an “appeal” is incredibly amusing. And is very, very typical Microsoft.

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Open Source “Political Protest Forks” Thriving
Many called XLibre & Redot nothing more than “political protests” that would quickly die and be forgotten. Boy were those naysayers wrong.

Over the last year, we’ve seen a couple of high profile forks, of large Open Source projects, which were inspired — in part — by a desire to move away from the political discrimination and Leftist Extremism within the original projects.

At the time, when each of these forked projects were started, many predicted that they would go nowhere. That they were nothing more than “political protest forks” — and they would die out quickly.

Let’s check in on both of those project to see if that has happened.

XLibre - The Xorg Fork

Since officially launching, at the end of June (last month), the XLibre project has published a handful of official releases (now up to version 25.0.0.5)… with a significant number of changes and fixes.

 

In fact, considering the significant new features (such as XNamespace Extensions), the first release of XLibre is larger (in every way I can think to measure) than any Xorg release in the last decade. With the number of contributors growing.

How about Operating System support? Many predicted that XLibre would be ignored by every Linux distribution on the planet. That it would go nowhere and nobody would use it.

According to the “Are we XLibre yet?” wiki, a number of systems have already (officially) adopted XLibre. Including: Devuan, Artix, GhostBSD, and (my personal favorite) OpenMandriva.

 

This is important to note: All of that support has occurred even though XLibre has only existed for one month. Several systems already officially supporting it is nothing short of “crazy impressive”. Borderline unprecedented.

In addition, a number of systems have 3rd party repositories which allow users to install and use XLibre. Including: Arch, FreeBSD, Gentoo, NixOS, Slackware, and (seriously) macOS.

 

In short: Growing group of developers. Rapidly growing platform support. New releases which put the original project (Xorg) to shame.

Redot - The Godot Game Engine Fork

The Redot project — which forked off of Godot back in October of 2024 — had a stable release (4.3.1) back in June, and just had a new test release (4.4 Alpha 2). Both with both new features and fixes.

 

In fact, Redot has had 13 releases since the project started late last year.

With an absolutely massive number of commits since then.

 

In short: Steady, new releases. New features and bug fixes. Both stable and testing releases.

These Projects are Thriving

It’s hard to look at either of these projects and come to any conclusion other than they are absolutely thriving.

At this point, it’s looking like those who predicted rapid failure for these “Political Forks” were not only wrong… but wildly, obscenely wrong.

There’s a lesson in there.

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