3 ms·

It's been a long-running story. Florian is a stopped clock who proclaims that the sky is falling for free software about every patent and copyright issue. One o

It's been a long-running story. Florian is a stopped clock who proclaims that the sky is falling for free software about every patent and copyright issue. One of the best examples is a recent controversy over Android's use of its Bionic replacement for glibc. Here's a post that tries to sum up the issue and includes Linus' own opinion: http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linus-on-Android-headers-claims-seem-totally-bogus-1212280.html http://www.h-online.com/open/news/item/Linus-on-Android-head... This is just one example of a long-running pattern with Florian's claims.

Steko 15y ago
There's two schools of thought on Florian. One is more or less how he presents himself - professional blogger about IP issues, a campaigner against software patents and neutral ref who reports on IP disputes. Take a look at the first few pages of his blog, nothing really stands out as overlu biased -- Apple won here, Apple lost here, new patent troll on the scene, etc. The other view is that he's a paid shill for MS out to SCO Linux. Groklaw dug up something where he no commented when asked about his financing (or perhaps specifically about Microsoft) and some weak link between him and Darl McBride (he was apprently in the wedding party of McBride's brother's wedding party or something). Neither of those is especially damning but it's at least eyebrow raising esp when you combine it with the Android claims he made earlier this year. I'm not ready to subscribe to the second view but I definitely take any android-geddon analysis from him with a large grain of salt.
tzs 15y ago
That's a pretty poor example. Linus says he hasn't looked at what Google is done and is just assuming they wouldn't want to do anything wrong. Mueller offered his opinion on whether what Google was doing has a copyright problem. He backed that opinion by citing to legal experts who argued that there might be infringement. Some other people offer a different opinion (without citing to legal experts to at least show plausibility). Maybe Mueller is wrong on occasion when he offers his opinion. However, when he's reporting on facts rather than opinion (i.e., in most of his writing), he's quite accurate and a very useful source of information.

Steko 15y ago

There's two schools of thought on Florian. One is more or less how he presents himself - professional blogger about IP issues, a campaigner against software patents and neutral ref who reports on IP disputes. Take a look at the first few pages of his blog, nothing really stands out as overlu biased -- Apple won here, Apple lost here, new patent troll on the scene, etc. The other view is that he's a paid shill for MS out to SCO Linux. Groklaw dug up something where he no commented when asked about his financing (or perhaps specifically about Microsoft) and some weak link between him and Darl McBride (he was apprently in the wedding party of McBride's brother's wedding party or something). Neither of those is especially damning but it's at least eyebrow raising esp when you combine it with the Android claims he made earlier this year. I'm not ready to subscribe to the second view but I definitely take any android-geddon analysis from him with a large grain of salt.

tzs 15y ago

That's a pretty poor example. Linus says he hasn't looked at what Google is done and is just assuming they wouldn't want to do anything wrong. Mueller offered his opinion on whether what Google was doing has a copyright problem. He backed that opinion by citing to legal experts who argued that there might be infringement. Some other people offer a different opinion (without citing to legal experts to at least show plausibility). Maybe Mueller is wrong on occasion when he offers his opinion. However, when he's reporting on facts rather than opinion (i.e., in most of his writing), he's quite accurate and a very useful source of information.