Misc

Randal Schwartz Jumps on the “Insult Steve Gibson” Bandwagon

35 Comments

You will be forgiven if you have never heard of FLOSS Weekly, a show that apparently runs early in the morning on TWiT and is all about dental health, we assume.

You know you want it.
You know you want it.

Nevertheless, the saying “One bad apple spoils the bunch” clearly holds true at TWiT. Leo Laporte’s poisonous work environment has yet again spawned clear hatred on the live stream. It is well documented that Leo has insulted Steve Gibson over and over and to such an extent that his distain for him sometimes bleeds over into other shows.

Why do they keep insulting me??
Why do they keep insulting me?

In the video above, Leo’s “good friend” Russell Schwartz piles on with the Steve-hate when Randal says that he, “Had no idea what Gibson was talking about, but I never do most of the time when I’m listening to him. Heh heh heh.”

Very funny, Rusty Schultz. Very funny. Now just go back to your show. Leo loooooooves Floss Weekly after all. But you better watch yourself, Randal. We hear that Lisa is not such a fan. “Off-site Producer” doesn’t really have the same ring as “Show Host” on your LinkedIn page, now does it?

35 thoughts on “Randal Schwartz Jumps on the “Insult Steve Gibson” Bandwagon”

  3. Use the Swartz is an idiot in the first place. He is just another “used to be” with a bumbling and fumbling hosting style. I bet if Perl was still a thing that people used, or if Perl was a thing that people ever actually used, he would still stutter like he’s been locked in a closet with no food and water for 15 years.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

  4. The difference between Steve and Randal is that employers hire Randal because he is a well known and respected programmer. Nobody hires Steve.

    Steve is a self-promoter who boasts about writing all his code in assembly(the sure sign of a fraud/blowhard and/or a dumbass unless you are a clueless member of the public) and sells “the world’s best hard drive utility” that none of the rest of the tech industry, including massive hard drive manufacturers, are interested in.

    Steve is just a figment of his own imagination and self hype, Schwartz is actually a real, employable, programmer.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

    1. I’m not disagreeing with you (I have no dog in this fight. I don’t watch SN, FLOSS, or anything on TWiT other than WW) but if this is true, how does Steve make a living?

      I have Googled him and he seems to have a bit of a negative reputation. If no one is using Spin Right, how does he afford food and shelter? Does he have other gigs? Surely he can’t be living off of his SN pittance…

        » Quote comment

      Reply

      1. He’s said on air that he wouldn’t do Security Now without SpinRite promotoins – so I guess he must rely on income from that to some degree. I’ve no real idea where his total income comes from nowadays.

        Here is a SpinRite comment from back in 2000 –
        https://groups.google.com/forum/?hl=en#!original/comp.dcom.xdsl/Vm2xVSu6prk/jpfCIyPj7poJ

        If SpinRite was the real deal Gibson would have licensed his patents or sold SpinRite to drive manufacturers and be doing Security Now from a beach in the Bahamas.

          » Quote comment

        Reply

    4. “Steve is a self-promoter who boasts”

      This has had me wondering about Steve many a time. He talks and talks and stutters about all his accomplishments yet, his talk doesn’t seem to add up to what he says he’s worth or at least what he might be known for in the community.

      Ive noticed this about many people who flew through Twit also.

      Anyways, need to get back to taking over the world so, peace out!

        » Quote comment

      Reply

  5. I give Schwartz high marks – he was a fat alcoholic and heading toward the grave a couple years ago – somehow he’s got control of himself, is sober and lost piles of weight.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

    2. Yeah. When Gibson started going on about low carb diets both Laporte and Schwartz followed the advice – with Schwartz succeeding (despite a lot of adversity). He’s a good guy that’s screwed up a fair few times and an outsider to the network… a remnant from the days when there wasn’t a focus on money.

        » Quote comment

      Reply

      1. I’m sure Gibbon is about as unqualified to dispense nutritional advice as he is security advice. Of course you don’t need to be a Nutritionist to tell Leo, “hey porker, put the fork / spoon down and stop stuffing so much food down your gullet, esp. when you’re on camera.”

          » Quote comment

        Reply

  9. I’ve watched a few Floss weekly shows and yeah, Randall is a bit of a doofus but I think he means well. If you frame his comment another way it could just mean he doesn’t quite understand everything Steve is talking about ( who does?) It wouldn’t be the first time either. He’s got a hard on for open source projects even if they’re crap and even if he doesn’t have a clue about them. On more than one occasion I’ve seen Schwartz’ guests have to give him the playskool version of what their project is all about because he didnt’ have a clue and kept asking questions that were totally unrelated. That and I’ve also seen him literally beg for work or money on his show on numerous occasions while in the same breath talking about a month long cruise he was going on.

    So basically I don’t think Randal or Steve are bad guys just a bit hung up on their own geek ego. They’re just too socially awkward to be bitter.

    Leo, on the other hand, now that’s an evil deviant hiding (hardly) in sheeps clothing if I ever saw one.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

    1. This sums up my thinking as well. What I still find so hard to believe is how a bunch of socially awkward autistic borderline sociopathic doofuses led by an evil deviant psychopath can actually have enough of an audience to support them. Amazing.

        » Quote comment

      Reply

  10. I’ve only used SpinRite once, but it brought a Windows 7 install back to life when nothing else did.

    Now, I predominantly use Macs, so perhaps there would have been a better approach, but SpinRite did work.

    Just sayin’.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

    1. Steve is keen on audits for security, until I see a couple of audits of “SpinRite” clearing up exactly what it is supposed to do that is so special I’ll keep suggesting Steve is selling snakeoil

        » Quote comment

      Reply

    1. As hard as it is to believe than anyone would actually sleep with either of these troglodytes, anything is possible.

      Maybe the sex swing mitigates the pain from the genital sores. //doesn’t know anything about herpes.

        » Quote comment

      Reply

    1. All depends on the story. Not everything gets 300 comments but frankly TWIT is becoming less and less interesting as a target since the great “Host Cleanse” ended. So in a way you’re kind of right. If there’s nothing there then there’s nothing to write about and we see what happens when people just kind of make stuff up.

      It’s why I’ve suggested to the editors that it may be time to expand their horizons. Plenty of narcissistic a-holes out there to sling arrows at on the web. Until TWIT finally dies or Leo gets picked up for pedophilia or public indecency there’s probably not a lot of red meat left.

        » Quote comment

      Reply

  14. The quality of some articles is questionable. Entire articles with the posts are being taken down. There are some very good articles with some great commentary. Those have merit.

    I only wish I was a better writer just because there is so much real content out there. Put away the hate it adds nothing.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

      1. Writing isn’t about diagramming sentences and impeccable grammar. That’s what editors are for. It’s about getting the point across to a wide audience. In any case, considering they still teach journalism majors to write to a 6th grade reading level don’t expect Hemingway any time soon.

          » Quote comment

        Reply

  15. I stopped listening to the show ages ago. Even after everyone discovered what a harssing, doxing, hatemongering, sexist, vile troll @freebsdgirl aka Randi Harper is (not to mention her explicit support of a pedophile known as @srhbutts aka Sarah Nyberg), they still had her on as a fucking guest for an entire episode of FLOSS. Those who wrote in prior to the show to question the wisdom of giving such a creep that kind of a platform were THEMSELVES called “hatemongers” who “attacked” the show, when he referenced criticism from viewers on the show to her.

    So fuck him and fuck the show.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

  16. I was reading about Gibson following the ‘fraud’ link above, and one thing struck me.

    Look at the guy’s resume. Every time anyone mentions it, they say how impressive it is.

    But just look at it. What do you see? A man who only ever holds jobs for a year, or sometimes less than that, but who claims an extraordinarily wide range of projects, skills and accomplishments.

    For example, he was “Director of Engineering, Hovik Corporation”… for 10 months, during which he claims to have developed some seriously impressive medical kit. But immediately before then, he was a game developer. And right before then, he ran a marketing agency. His whole resume is littered with what really do look like failures. And not the “fail often, succeed better” type of failures.

    In fact if you really read the resume, there’s almost no achievement there. He has done an absolute ton of stuff. But each ton of stuff was only done for 1-2 years max.

    Think about your own life, your own work. Do any of us pack so many things into such a short time, even the more techy/entrepreneurial types? I just think it’s all bullshit.

    Years ago, I helped a friend brush up his CV (that’s what we call a resume in the UK, cos we’re posh – it’s fucking Latin). His only job had been to work in a cafe. Taking orders, taking money and giving change.

    Well, if you’re creative, you can turn that into “liaising with different functions at varying levels of ability and input”, “reconciling cash balances”, “acting as the primary interface between operational and customer-facing aspects of the organisation”, “being entrusted with the safe management of financial data input and collation”.

    That’s what Gibson’s resume looks like to me. That, plus lies. If you’re that good, you don’t just do each thing for a few months.

    With all that said, of course I think it’s seriously shit for Laporte to take the piss out of him. I am less bothered by Schwartz doing so, because I actually believe that a lot of what Gibson says is complete nonsense.

    There’s a lot to gain by googling “Steve Gibson fraud”. His stuff about SYNcookies, where he reinvented something other people had recently done, but did so in an incredibly insecure way, and in a way guaranteed to fail, while calling it “perfect and beautiful”, is a great example.

      » Quote comment

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *