Bonum Certa Men Certa

Marriages of Inconvenience

Knowing who is who...

The other day we mentioned an eye-opening incident which occurred at Interop. The industry that extracts money from Free software by spreading fear and purporting to resolve real, exaggerated or imaginary issues is a tad controversial, but to be fair, there are two sides in this story.

In light of the fact that Black Duck is among those controversial companies, which are also seen moderating panels or weighing in on the Novell/Microsoft deal (betrayal of the GPL and consequences of GPLv3), it's worth bringing up the observation that a 'Walli effect' seems possible here and thus we must be careful. Black Duck was actually founded by -- wait for it --a Microsoft employee. This is new to us.

I met Black Duck CEO, Doug Levin back in October 2003 at the Enterprise Linux Forum in Washington D.C. I instantly liked him. He was just starting Black Duck Software and as a ex-Microsoftie talking about IP assurance I wasn’t convinced about the bright future of his business. However, I enjoyed meeting Doug and wished him the best of luck and went on my way.


To be fair, just coming from Microsoft does not make a person malicious (cultural effects aside), but other Microsoft employees who started companies which offer 'open source solutions' tend to blend in 'real' Open Source software with software that's reliant on the Microsoft stack (inconvenient matchmaking), including .NET stuff with licences unapproved by the OSI. In some way, they serve as bridges and so-called peace-makers, but hidden motives -- if any exist -- must be born in mind. They may still have some former colleagues and friends, whose goals are different from that of Free software. It's quite likely actually.

While on this particular subject, 2 days ago I decided to drop Open Sources (an Inforworld blog) from my reading list because every single page there has a huge Microsoft Port 25 ad (it's AdBlock-resistant) which reads "open source heroes," showing me photos of Microsoft employees. It's as though someone approaches me upon every single pageload and says: "These are your friends. Meet your heroes from Microsoft."

“Black Duck markets itself as an 'open-sourcy' company even though it's purely proprietary.”With all due respect, having read the blog for years, Open Sources can no longer be seen as an (free) open source blog and it's also run by IBM and Sun employees now, both of whom seem to be fond of hybrid models (dual-licensing). It used to be just Matt Asay and Dave Rosenberg, both of whom moved to CNET and pretty much abandoned InfoWorld, albeit over time. This was merely a straw that broke the camel's back because trollish blogging (e.g. "Microsoft should buy Red Hat", use of the derogatory word "freetards") had me openly protest and threaten to leave before.

Getting back to the main subject at hand, in my personal blog I wrote approximately a year ago about the fact that Black Duck markets itself as an 'open-sourcy' company even though it's purely proprietary. Also noteworthy is the fact that Black Duck got accused by Palamida of 'stealing' (coping, typos included) a GPLv3 database that required a huge deal of research.

The bottom line: Despite Black Duck's latest acquisition (essentially of userbase), which could be worse news than good news, it's probably safer to stick to those whom we can trust a little more. Palamida appears to be it because Hewlett-Packard, which recently introduced and now boasts a similar project/initiative, is uncomfortably close to Microsoft -- to the point of striving to intervene with the already-made vote on OOXML. That was utterly unacceptable.

Last but not least, over the past few years, having read the relevant RSS/news feeds very carefully, it seems as though Black Duck spreads more fear (for sales) than its counterparts. It's just an observation.

Comments

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
Qualcomm Arduino Takes Aim at Raspberry Pi
Qualcomm is a Microsoft partner
 
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, October 08, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, October 08, 2025
Links 09/10/2025: Impact of Microsoft Layoffs, More Data Breaches
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Autumn Blues and C IRC Bot
Links for the day
Slopwatch Appreciated by Real Authors of GNU/Linux Articles
We do try to keep on top of those things
Upgraded R.R.R.R.R.R. Today
The Web of 2025 is full of garbage, not limited to slopfarms
Freedom From Proprietary Prisons
Forking always an option
IBM's Watson Died in 1956, Now Watson Dies Again
IBM is becoming just a reseller of GAFAM and other stuff
Microsoft Says That Constant Mass Layoffs Are Success, the Media Isn't Buying This Microsoft Narrative Anymore
If people in the media feel an obligation to repeat whatever lies Microsoft tells, what point will there be to the media?
Links 08/10/2025: "Mali Puts Free Speech on Trial" And Apple Enforces Dictatorship
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: ‘Death to Spotify’ and Law to Ban Loud Commercials on Streaming (Dis)Services
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Real Innovation and Nina.chat is Dead
Links for the day
Links 08/10/2025: Y2K38 Bug is a Vulnerability, Chat Control in Europe a Threat
Links for the day
How and Why Once-Legitimate Sites Turn Into Slopfarms
Many sites will go offline and many social control networks will shut down once they realise or even openly admit they spend money and time gardening a bunch of bots and slop
UbuntuPIT Became a Slopfarm and Gnoppix Tarnishes Its Own Brand With Slop
It fits all the characteristics of mildly-edited (if at all) slop
Slopwatch: Linux Journal and Other Slopfarms
GAFAM needs to go the way of the dodo
Gemini Links 08/10/2025: "Seek Seek Revolution" and Gradient Backgrounds
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, October 07, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, October 07, 2025
Stagnation of the Economy and What Free Software Can (or Could) Do For It
If your economic model is based on a pyramid of lies, it won't last very long
Social Control Media is Sinking
it would rightly seem like the era of centralised "social" sites (they're not social, they're about controlling the users) is ending, not overnight but gradually
Participation in Cancel Culture Detrimental to One's Career
A cautionary tale
Passion Wins
we've increased the number of birds we feed to 100+
How Solderpunk and Sean Conner Started Gemini Protocol (and, Collectively, Geminispace) Back in 2019
Based on the "official" history
Arduino is Now a Patent Bully (Qualcomm)
Qualcomm has just bought Arduino
Many Years of Microsoft Cancellations and Faked (Acquired) Revenue "Growth"
XBox is basically the "next Skype"
The Comment TheLayoff.com Has Just Censored for Criticising a Ridiculous Puff Piece of IBM Management
If comments get censored for their "style" rather than their substance, then society will be worse off
The Power of Writing Down Facts
The more we write and publish, the more people will know what happened
Microsoft's Non-Denying Denial About XBox's Death is Already Being Shattered to Pieces
Like Microsoft's 'open' 'hey hi', heralding meaningless non-committing agreements with AMD is little more than vapourware
Slopwatch: UbuntuPIT Joins the Slopfarms Club
Slopfarms gonna slop
Links 07/10/2025: Privacy at Risk, GAFAM Remains Off the Hook
Links for the day
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Modern Retro Console Idea and Batch vs Bash
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: International Criminal Court (ICC) Convicts Ali Kushayb; Moroccan Imprisoned for 'Offensive' Shirt
Links for the day
Links 07/10/2025: EU' Chat Control is Back, US Cracks Down on Democracy
Links for the day
Techrights Pursues Justice and Truth Because, Without Those, Society Descends Into Chaos
most people reject dogma and pseudoscience
Upcoming Talks by Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Göteborg, and Rome
Join with him and share the software
Something Bad is Happening in the Open Source Initiative (OSI)
The latest OSI blog post is from a Microsoft operative and a few weeks ago the Executive Director left
TLS 1.3 Dominates Geminispace (99% of Known Capsules)
it's nowadays safe to assume almost every capsule can handle TLS 1.3
Why soylentnews.org Has Been Having Technical Difficulties Lately
The network has been going up and down quite a lot this past week
A Statement Against Violence
The facts are on our side
They've Run Out of Things to Rebrand or Label as "AI"
The next few years will be interesting because if Microsoft lays off tens of thousands of workers each year, there won't be much left except mountains of debt and dying brands
The Register MS is Still Being Paid to Participate in the "AI" Ponzi Scheme Which Will Crash the Economy
The Register MS is hoping to get lucky by tricking people into a scam
Richard Stallman Confirms His Talk in Göteborg This Coming Friday
"The hosts say that the list will not be given to the state"
Most of the "Linux" Results This Morning in Google News Are LLM Slop From the Same Slopfarm, Plagiarising Phoronix
The main question is, does Google even care at this point?
Gemini Links 07/10/2025: Civil War and "Goodbye Web"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Monday, October 06, 2025
IRC logs for Monday, October 06, 2025