Debian User Forums

First of all I need to establish that I am a newer user to Debian. Maybe by a few months user. I was looking around early this morning (MST) and noticed something alarming to me with the latest conference 19 talks and topics video feeds. I noticed that Google and Microsoft are main supporters of Debian. Is this new and am I missing something. I mean look at there history as human kind knows. Just asking a question and not trying to be political or opinionated. I will delete this post if I am out of line. Just wondering.

Conferences aren't cheap so Debian are happy to accept corporate sponsorship. Google are listed as an official Debian Partner[1] as well.

It's not like you can escape this sort of thing, the Linux kernel itself has Google & M$ as some of their biggest contributors (in actual code as well as money), check out the Linux Foundation membership list:

https://www.linuxfoundation.org/membership/members/

I'm pretty sure the developers don't let this influence their decisions though and one of the great things about Debian is the transparency of the decision making process.

Question answered. Thank you for your speedy reply.