I honestly do not get the controversy. They work as consultants to fund development and the start-up has been publicly known for almost a year. How is this an

I honestly do not get the controversy. They work as consultants to fund development and the start-up has been publicly known for almost a year. How is this any different from companies hiring developers to contribute to the Linux kernel or Google hiring van Rossum back in the day? The language is still free, as in freedom. Am I missing something?