THERE seem to be briefings from Microsoft-friendly, truth-hostile Linux foes. A lot of Google and Android FUD is being coordinated from above and we know this not only because can we see the professional background of those who are seeding anti-Google hatred. Microsoft also got caught (several times) hiring PR agents to bribe reporters in exchange for Google FUD. AstroTurfing groups like LawMedia and Burson-Marsteller were covered here before. There are other groups that must not have been caught red-handed yet.

"People who allege that Android is closed source are either spreading the propaganda or are victims of that propaganda."So anyway, there is a new smear against Android and it comes from a pro-Microsoft lobbyist (in his temporary anti-Android blog). In turn he is cited by Microsoft's booster Matt Rosoff (he spreads a lot of Linux FUD these days, having come from Directions on Microsoft), who is parroting such pro-Microsoft lobbyists as a matter of need. This is exactly the pattern we have been seeing over the past year. They keep inventing new FUD (e.g. GPL-flavoured claims of violations), push it hard into the press (even by borderline spamming) and while reasonable people debunk the FUD, the lobbyists already move on to the next piece fo FUD and start hammering on those same journalists whom they previously exploited to plant misdirection and misinformation. After a while they run out of FUD and then recycle the older FUD which is already thoroughly debunked but possibly forgotten. Since Microsoft has its own cheerleaders inside the press (pretending to be journalists and hiding their commercial affiliations), there will always be one or two lackeys who parrot the official Microsoft line (smear), which then leads to more. It's like spreading a disease. They rely on 'fanbois' who carry the FUD onwards because of ideology and lack of critical skills.

This is part of the lethal combination of patent FUD and extortion against Android and Linux. The suggestion (which we prefer not to repeat) can currently be debunked very easily, first by pointing to Google's git repositories and secondly by showing that one is able to compile android code without any real difficulties. People who allege that Android is closed source are either spreading the propaganda or are victims of that propaganda. ⬆