In trying to respond to recent criticism about misrepresenting facts regarding Linus Torvalds and GPLv3, InformationWeek has managed to show exactly how incorrect their first article was.

Their misleading GPLv3 article from last week drew criticism for using false evidence to suggest that Linus is on a new anti-GPLv3 and that Linus’s insults are “the latest sign of a growing schism”.

Now they’ve done something very strange. In their new article “The Linus Files, Part Two”, they’ve dug up further, slightly older, insults which Linus has levelled at FSF, and they’re presenting these as some kind of proof that their first article was accurate. An attempt at a classic Straw man tactic, albeit executed so poorly that they’ve shot themselves in the foot.

By digging up older criticism, and being unable to find or provoke anything new, they’ve just shown that there is nothing new at all to report. No new phenomenon, no widening of an old rift. You could even conclude that things are calming down.

Ciarán O’Riordan, — Support free software: Join FSFE’s Fellowship