Bonum Certa Men Certa

Michael McLoughlin, Kevin McBride, and Florian Müller

Common fiends, common goals

Meeting



Summary: Some loose connection claimed to have been found between SCO's boosters, Microsoft's staff, and Microsoft Florian

Microsoft cannot compete against Linux, so it is trying to destroy Linux instead. Microsoft Florian helps 'pull a SCO' using lies right now [1, 2, 3] and somebody helps show a connection between him, Microsoft, and Darl McBride's lawyer brother, who some months ago also helped 'pull a SCO' by making false claims [1, 2]. Anyway, here is the comment of relevance:



Mueller: what is your relationship with M. McLoughlin

Direct question for F. Mueller, will you describe your relationship with MSFT's M. McLoughlin:

I did a screen cap in Feb. 2010 of twitter friends of Kevin McBride (the lawyer brother of SCO's Darl McBride).

He had 2 friends: you (Florian Mueller) and Microsoft's McLoughlin.

McLoughlin's bio is:

Michael McLoughlin. McLoughlin is

* Director, Enterprise Markets, Office of Strategic Relations at Microsoft

* Board Member atOpen Computing Alliance


It is curious to say the least. Pamela Jones also lays out a theory in Groklaw:

So is it not at least possible that a Microsoft operative deliberately tried to poison the well?

If I were Florian, I'd put out an over the top article about it, but being me, thank heaven, I'll just note that we should be alert for such tricks.

Incidentally, I see Florian has posted a request for info from the community on any infringement they notice in their projects, promising them anonymity. First of all, NOBODY from the community will respond to his request, I'm sure. I suspect he knows that too, just from reading the comments on Slashdot and here. So, I have a suspicion that this is just a cover for future "revelations" by Florian, and he will refuse to identify by source with the excuse that he is protecting them. But in reality, would that not be a perfect cover to feed the media insider info actually handed him by proprietary parties who wish to kill Android?

Just asking. I noticed that he claimed it was some guy on Twitter who told him about the German filing showing who make up CPTN. But the person disappeared that very day from Twitter. But on the internet, you leave breadcrumbs. So I followed them. The person who allegedly handed him the information had an online persona as a guy who wrote about only one topic online that I could find, a particular football team in Florida.

Now, you tell me. How likely is it that this is the guy who found an esoteric legal filing in Germany and then told Florian about it?

I find that story impossible to accept, particularly because I tried to track the guy in real space, and it was impossible.

So here's my working theory: someone thought it would be a great idea, since parties to lawsuits can't normally safely discuss litigation in public, to have a "son of Groklaw" -- an imitation of what we did, but for the proprietary side, and just as those dudes assumed, incorrectly, that Groklaw was paid to be a public mouthpiece, they hired Florian to pretend to be just some blogger who just happens to be interested in these topics.

It's a funny theory, if true. And if true, it will eventually become known as to whether or not it's true.

But Florian, as we see in this recent event, is in over his head. Plus, as the song says, ain't nothing like the real thing. And he doesn't have the benefit of a community of coders to help him, as we do. Even the media won't find his oeuvre helpful over time, if any of them still believe a word he says, because he will make mistakes over and over. He won't be able to help it. And his malice shines through everything he writes. He clearly is no expert on US law, for starters. And if he suddenly seems to understand it, we'll all know he has a lawyer advising him behind the scenes. This mistake he made will have lasting effects, in other words. The community had him pegged already. Now the media is learning. He should, in my view, tell who he is working for, because he's ruining his reputation this way. And it can only get worse. Look at what happened to Enderle and MOG and Lyons.


Watch the followups.

Recent Techrights' Posts

Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, UbuntuPIT, and Google News
We've also just noticed more slop from UbuntuPIT
 
Links 09/10/2025: Farewell to Jane Goodall, California Bans Algorithmic Price-Fixing
Links for the day
Gemini Links 09/10/2025: Lost Wages and a Saga Of Continuing To Use Palm PDAs
Links for the day
Richard Stallman's Talk in Helsinki is Done. Tomorrow Göteborg.
There are scarce details in Finnish about Dr. Stallman's talk
New XBox Leaks Probably Serve to Confirm XBox's Collapse (Many More Layoffs)
It's very much consistent with what many other sites have reported lately
The Slop Song
The train wreck marches on
LLM Slop/Advanced Plagiarism Flooding the Zone With Capital That Does Not Exist
Many publishers out there still participate in this bubble instead of calling it what it is
Links 09/10/2025: Sacked Microsoft Workers Make "Sackbird", IBM Taps CockroachDB for PostgreSQL
Links for the day
"Happy Hacking Day" Richard Stallman Talk This Afternoon (From 14:00 to 16:00) at Haaga-Helia University in Pasila
Richard Stallman in Helsinki, Finland
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
Microsoft Windows is No Longer an Operating System, It's Surveillance Project
Why is this even legal to preload on PCs outside the US?
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
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: 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