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It's funny. Laugh. Software The Internet The Media Linux

Forbes' Dan Lyons Hates Groklaw, Wants to Be BFF with Linux 169

Posted by Zonk from the hard-to-tell-the-winner-without-a-score-card dept.
Anastasia Beaverhousen writes "In what many will consider either a total change of heart (or complete BS), Forbes columnist Dan Lyons was caught on video by Linux.com (also owned by Sourceforge) at a recent conference professing his undying love for Linux. The words, "pry it out of my hands at gunpoint" were even used at one point. 'After wading though some of the Lyons vs. PJ mire while writing this brief piece, I found myself wondering, "Aren't we all supposed to be grown-up journalists, or bloggers, or whatever? Aren't Linux and Free Software supposed to be about love and harmony and making the world a better place? Can't we, please, smile on our brother, everybody love one another, right now?" In any case, old-hippie sentiments aside, Dan Lyons says that despite the many attacks on him as a supposedly anti-Linux attack dog, he loves Linux. And uses it. And that he has trouble understanding why anyone would think he doesn't love Linux. '"
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Forbes' Dan Lyons Hates Groklaw, Wants to Be BFF with Linux More

Forbes' Dan Lyons Hates Groklaw, Wants to Be BFF with Linux

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  • Dan Lyons is a douchebag (Score:4, Insightful)

    by GroceryShopper ( 1017136 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:03PM (#21120259)
    Sure Dan, we love you too. Now, go fetch that Vista bone and Bill will give you a biscuit. Yeah, yeah, good boy.

    • The real story... (Score:3, Insightful)

      by encoderer ( 1060616 )
      The real story for those here who care to see it, is that there's a huge population of people for whom Linux is not mutually exclusive from Windows.

      People who can love linux without hating Microsoft. People who can objectively use the best tool for the job.

      I'm a web developer. On any project save for .Net, it's obvious that the LAM* stack is the best server-side technology, and just as obvious (in my personal case) that Windows is the best environment for my dev box.

      • Re:The real story... (Score:5, Interesting)

        by osu-neko ( 2604 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @08:09PM (#21121919)

        Yup. LAMP on the servers, OS X on the dev box, Windows on the fun box (with all my favorite PC games installed). Windows is on the dev box too, although usually running under Parallels, and generally not that often. For various reasons, I happen to like all three operating systems. I've never understood why liking one of them is supposed to make me hate one or both of the other two. Nor do I want some uber-system that would supposedly take the best of all three and give me everything I want in one package. People don't understand that there are trade-offs in any design, and no matter which way you go, it'll make it better in some situations and worse in others. There is not and never can be a single OS that works best for all people in all situations. Better to have diversity, and use the best tool for each task at hand.

        Incidentally, this makes for a quick and easy touchstone for judging someone's intelligence and reasonability. Ask them, "What's the best X?" If they answer with anything other than a question, "Best for what?", they're probably an unintelligent or unreasoning zealot of some sort or another. The question itself is nonsensical -- without defining "at what", the term "best" makes no sense. The fact that the question makes sense to them and that they even have an answer is a sign of muddled thinking.

        • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

          by nostriluu ( 138310 )

          There is not and never can be a single OS that works best for all people in all situations.


          Umm, why not?

          (I'm talking out of Windows, Mac OS X and Linux, btw).

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by fbjon ( 692006 )
            Basically it's because people usually don't agree universally on how to do things, and compete for attention. If there were a single OS supposedly good for everything, it would inevitably be forked.
            • Well, I don't agree. To pick one at random, ignoring backwards compatibility (which is a boondoggle in this theoretical case), I don't think there's any reason everyone couldn't be satisfied with Mac OS X (I prefer Linux, but OS X is probably the best hybrid of user friendly and UNIX backend at the moment). Of course, competition is good, but I'd say at the moment operating systems are basically stalled as far as general capability and experience goes.

              • I don't think there's any reason everyone couldn't be satisfied with Mac OS X

                I don't care for the OS X UI. I find KDE and GNOME to be more productive.

                There are various other things I don't like about OS X. Mostly I find it too closed, too proprietary, too... out of my control. It's a great OS for my wife -- and it's great for me that she has it because it requires less support from me than any other OS she's tried -- but I wouldn't want to use it all day.

                • >> Basically it's because people usually don't agree universally on how to do things, and compete for attention.
                  >> don't care for the OS X UI.
                  Great-grandparent - QED.

                  (replying to GGP) I think though, saying it's a difference in design is not what the die-hard (insert-OS-here) fans are arguing about, it's the flaws in each system. For example, you could argue about OSX's cost, or Linux's compatibility, or Windows' stability, and none of these are design issues, they are more technical

                • I don't care for the OS X UI. I find KDE and GNOME to be more productive.

                  There are various other things I don't like about OS X. Mostly I find it too closed, too proprietary, too... out of my control. It's a great OS for my wife -- and it's great for me that she has it because it requires less support from me than any other OS she's tried -- but I wouldn't want to use it all day.

                  If you don't like Aqua, use KDE or GNOME instead. You can install them via FINK or MacPorts.

                  I find OS X great because while it ha

                  • As a matter of fact, I could probably set up OS X so that the average Linux user would think they were running either Linux or some variant of BSD, and not OS X at all.

                    Hmm, I don't think so. Open source systems have something closed, "owned" systems will never have, centralized package management. If someone were used to a Debian style package management, they'd think having to manage the entire system and individual packages is pretty primitive. Mac OS has Fink, but it's not as complete as Ubuntu &c.

                    Bu

          • Something with lots of options is also something with too many options.

          • There is not and never can be a single OS that works best for all people in all situations.

            Umm, why not?

            Because Commodore killed the Amiga.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by rs79 ( 71822 )
              " Because Commodore killed the Amiga "

              Nice. But good point. The last thing computer manufacturors want is a machine that does what everyone needs.

              I wonder how much they bribed Tramiel to be so stupid?

        • For various reasons, I happen to like all three operating systems. I've never understood why liking one of them is supposed to make me hate one or both of the other two.

          I happen to dislike all three operating systems mentioned... and all the other ones besides. They all have serious flaws! I've never understood why disliking one or more of them is supposed to make me love some other one. Mac fanboizen and linux zealots are the worst; they almost invariably assume that anyone who is even slightly critical of their chosen OS must be a Windows fanatic and begin frothing at the mouth.

          Someday we'll have a mo' betta operating system (I predict it will have no mouse, although

      • I'm one of them. I just like computers! I have a linux server (Gentoo), a Vista Ultimate box (mostly visual studio and games, plus a media center server for my XBOX 360). For most day-to-day stuff (surfing, email) I use a cheap intel macbook.

        They all have their selling points, too: Media center is really fucking slick, and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. Linux is an awsome (and free) everything-server that's fun to tinker with. And Macs are just...comfy, or something. I grew up with them. I like usi
      • Dan Lyons was a Linux hater before SCO went down the drain.
        No one wants to stay on the losers' side.
        Just some got a backbone.

      • I'm a web developer. On any project save for .Net, it's obvious that the LAM* stack is the best server-side technology
        Those who do not know J2EE are doomed to reinvent it...

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Dan Ost ( 415913 )
          Funny you should say that. The only people I know who like J2EE are in management.

          What, pray tell, does J2EE offer that makes it a good technical solution?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by ahodgson ( 74077 )
            Well, it has the EJB and the JAAS and the JACC and the JAF and the JMS and the JMX and the JNDI and the JTA and the JTS and the .. errr
          • A language that tries hard to prevent you from shooting yourself in the foot, a set of well-thought-out and polished APIs, and excellent development tools.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Dan Ost ( 415913 )
              How, exactly, does J2EE prevent me from shooting myself in the foot?

              What kind of mistakes would I be likely to make using Python or Ruby that Java would help me avoid?

  • Who is this guy, and why should i care? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:03PM (#21120263)
    For those of us who aren't omnipotent, who is this guy?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by joeyspqr ( 629639 )
      if you're omnipotent, you don't care
      if you're omniscient, you don't have to ask
      and if you're omnipresent, you're standing right next to him and can ask

    • Re:Who is this guy, and why should i care? (Score:5, Informative)

      by Facetious ( 710885 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:20PM (#21120489) Journal
      Early in the SCO saga, Forbes magazine essentially swallowed the story that Linux was pwn3d by SCO through direct copying, derivative works, etc. Dan Lyons was the man behind the pen at Forbes. Of course the concept of value addition without $$$ was foreign to Forbes, so it made sense in their little world that Linux must be stolen. Dan and PJ from Groklaw.net said some less than flattering things about each other, and the rest is history.

      Lyons did eventually apologize [slashdot.org].

    • Re:Who is this guy, and why should i care? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Kidbro ( 80868 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:54PM (#21120935)
      For those of us who aren't omnipotent, who is this guy?

      Heck, even those of us who are omnipotent haven't heard of this guy. That's how important he is!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dbIII ( 701233 )
      Among other things "Fake Steve Jobs" and the guy that deciding that harassing a blogger at the personal level presenting a different view was good form. I'm not sure if he was the one that published the home address or if it was the Amityville Horror that was also on the payroll.
    • Of course, that's just my opinion. Lets review his record.

      He came out strongly against blogs, bloggers, and all such. Only professional journalists like him should write.

      He's been saying for years that Lotus Notes was dead and gone, just to stir the pot and get talked about.

      He went to a lot of trouble to stand up for Sarah Radicatti (the Radicatti Group) after she was caught astroturfing her own badly written report.

      He wrote a blog calling himself "The Fake Steve Jobs" -- which is only slightly more distan

      • He's been saying for years that Lotus Notes was dead and gone...

        Well, just goes to show, even an idiot like Dan Lyons is right now and again.
        • Notes is still the #1 enterprise mail and collaboration platform. In the U.S., that margin is below the level of error but in Europe and Asia it is significant.

          Microsoft continues to be better at making software people like to use at their desktop. Its what they're good at. Yet from an enterprise I.T. perspective, the Domino/Notes platform remains much cheaper and easier to manage. It also remains much more secure, much more cross platform (there's nothing at all cross platform about Exchange) and much m

    • For those of us who aren't omnipotent, who is this guy?

      If you're not omnipotent, howcome you're not answering all those spam emails for 'male enhancement products'? According to them, you'll be omnipotent in no time...

    • since you are not omnipotent, i don't mind telling you the word you want is omniscient

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Santana ( 103744 )

      For those of us who aren't omnipotent, who is this guy?

      You mean omniscient. He's a journalist that was in SCO's side.

  • Professional troll (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:06PM (#21120315)
    This guy loves Linux the same way a politician loves the media: It makes both an excellent tool for use, and an excellent target to attack in order to bolster one's own status. So, as long as he can play both sides, he gets to think of himself as the cleverest person who ever tricked a system into working for him.

    In other words, just another self-deluded troll actively preying on his audience.

    • Re:Professional troll (Score:5, Insightful)

      by gad_zuki! ( 70830 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:50PM (#21120889)
      Im not defending this guy, but its possible to be pro-linux and against the politics of groklaw and PJ, the same way there are a lot of people who like microsoft products but arent defenders of microsoft politics. Too much groupthink around these parts lately.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by domatic ( 1128127 )
        It's very possible. I've lost much of my admiration for PJ as this thing has drug on (though I have to give her points on being consistent about where she is coming from). Still, I believe that Lyons is backpedaling because SCO is so obviously toast. He's spewed anti-Linux crap for years and only lately does he try to re-invent himself (badly) as a balanced journalist. In general, your point is valid but in the particular case of "Lyin' Lyons" I don't buy it for a second.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by rtb61 ( 674572 )
          The really significant part of the story, is that in order for a tech journalist to remain publicly relevant, they have to at least appear to know, understand and 'like' Linux.

          Consider the enormous change that has been achieved in terms of acceptability and mind share. Linux is now recognized as being the future universal operating system, to not recognize and acknowledge that, leaves a tech journalist marginalized and redundant in the tech communities public eye.

          So regardless of whether or not he is si

          • It's perfectly possible to dislike something and be perfectly truthful. Positives can be deemphasized and negatives hyped to the stars but one can still be truthful. This is the smell test that Lyons fails on.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by npsimons ( 32752 ) *

            The really significant part of the story, is that in order for a tech journalist to remain publicly relevant, they have to at least appear to know, understand and 'like' Linux.

            Consider the enormous change that has been achieved in terms of acceptability and mind share. Linux is now recognized as being the future universal operating system, to not recognize and acknowledge that, leaves a tech journalist marginalized and redundant in the tech communities public eye.

            So regardless of whether or not he is since

      • Re: (Score:2, Offtopic)

        by davidsyes ( 765062 )
        And, there are those like myself who, once we found Linux, pretty much had NO reason to use microsoft products. I USE windows98 only to load Lotus SmartSuite, and to play around with various windows-environment applications that I hardly ever notice. Without Lotus SmartSuite, I'd pretty much have NO reson to use ANY microsoft product.

        SO, I despise, utterly LOATHE and would wipe out with my magic wand, if I had one, microsoft's existence. Not because I LOVE Linux (I do, in that it gives me a way to escape m
        • aSSHOLE. The topic to which I responded is about or digressed into people who have or don't have undying love for msoft and Linux. What I am talking about is the guttural, visceral pain people go through BECAUSE of not getting what they want. Fanboys for Linux and fanboys for microsoft/name your company can come from the SAME cloth as the person whose "undying love" for Linux is being talked about.

          Some people on this site have to little depth of mind.
        • it is based on OOo 1.1, just like the productivity editors in Notes 8 are at the moment. The point of Symphony is that it is OOo inside an Eclipse framework. If you have other stuff running in the Eclipse framework then you can run it together with the Symphony stuff in the same framework and talk to it like it was just another Eclipse plugin (which it is - roughly speaking, there is the IBM Expeditor framework around it, but it is effectively running within Eclipse). If you want to have your Office suite i
          • Thanks for enlightening me. I'm just so passionate about Lotus SmartSuite, and I am jaded and bitter that OO.o and even ms office have some 20-30 things that S/S ought to have, without any dramatic changes in the interface, though. I guess I need to relax. In any case, it seems that VirtualBox will ease my dependency upon Win4Lin, and I will be able to in solitude use SmartSuite (particularly Approach, Word Pro, and 1-2-3.)

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by jthill ( 303417 )

        Anyone whose bullshit meter doesn't instantly redline on hearing the ~I have here a list of (pick a number) (pick a bad thing)~ argument form has something mentally wrong with him. SCO tried to maintain that line, with what both judges in the Novell and IBM cases called a "complete lack" of evidence to back it, despite repeated and increasingly acerbic orders to produce, for years. And Lyons still acted as if he believed SCO. Nobody but a child caught in a loyalty bind is actually that blind.

      • Too much groupthink around these parts lately.

        You must be new here.

        /obligatory
        //not fark

  • Just a wild guess, but maybe because we actually read his pieces parroting SCOX and attacking the Linux developer community?

  • For several years, he was front and center in the SCO FUD campaign - on the wrong side.

    His sudden "road to Damascus" moment is about as "convenient" as someone becoming a "born-again Christian" after being arrested.

    Believe at your own risk.

    • Re:He's nicknamed Lyin' Lyons for a reason ... (Score:5, Funny)

      by moderatorrater ( 1095745 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:15PM (#21120407)
      I know it's hard to believe, but when Linus Torvalds appears in front of you and tells you to stop fighting Open Source and siding with SCO, you do it.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by sconeu ( 64226 )
        Don't know about Linus, but if Tove Torvalds did that, I'd stop, because I know she could kick my ass.

    • Re:He's nicknamed Lyin' Lyons for a reason ... (Score:4, Funny)

      by Archangel Michael ( 180766 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:15PM (#21120417) Journal
      "His sudden "road to Damascus" moment is about as "convenient" as someone becoming a "born-again Christian" after being arrested."

      Leave Paris Hilton and/or Michael Vick out of this.

    • Re:He's nicknamed Lyin' Lyons for a reason ... (Score:5, Insightful)

      by doctorcisco ( 815096 ) <doctorcisco@@@yahoo...com> on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:37PM (#21120691)
      I'll offer an alternative understanding.

      Forbes, of course, is a business magazine. In serious businesses, the leadership does not build a business plan on a fairy tale. From a corporate-business perspective, with no other knowledge of the issue, whom would you believe:

      a) A CEO who is an officer of the corporation, and may be personally, even criminally liable for patently false statements in things like SEC filings, or
      b) The people that CEO says stole some of his company's code/IP/whatever.

      I mean, how often does a publicly traded company sue someone 100x their size based on nothing but hot air? Lying is one thing. Lying when, sooner or later, you will be required to show evidence in a court of law, is something else again. Let's face it, SCO was breathtakingly brazen. I can certainly understand how someone might conclude what he did ... there's got to be SOMETHING there.

      Why it took him so long to wise up (or whether he did) would be another discussion.

      doc

      • Bullshit. (Score:4, Insightful)

        by khasim ( 1285 ) <brandioch.conner@gmail.com> on Thursday October 25, 2007 @07:28PM (#21121383)

        I mean, how often does a publicly traded company sue someone 100x their size based on nothing but hot air? Lying is one thing. Lying when, sooner or later, you will be required to show evidence in a court of law, is something else again. Let's face it, SCO was breathtakingly brazen. I can certainly understand how someone might conclude what he did ... there's got to be SOMETHING there.

        No. That's bullshit. Anyone looking at SCO's financials would see that they were losing business back before they filed the suit.

        Only an idiot would believe that story without checking ANY of the facts.

        And that's exactly what Forbes and Lyons did. In fact, they did worse. They refused to check any of the facts and instead they parroted, as if they were fact, the unsubstantiated lies that SCO kept spewing.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by frank_adrian314159 ( 469671 )
          They refused to check any of the facts and instead they parroted, as if they were fact, the unsubstantiated lies...

          And this is different from the rest of the (*) press today how?

          * The word business omitted here as redundant.

      • Re:He's nicknamed Lyin' Lyons for a reason ... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by imroy ( 755 ) <imroykun@gmail.com> on Thursday October 25, 2007 @07:47PM (#21121645) Homepage Journal

        Well, Daniel Lyons could have actually investigated the issue, instead of just swallowing what Darl Mcbride CEO said. The fact that he clearly didn't, says a lot about his skill as a journalist.

        Had he done some investigation, he would have found:

        • SCO had not produced any evidence.
        • SCO was stalling.
        • SCO's CEO (Mcbride) was all hot air.
        • Linux is developed in the open.
        • Linux has a very well documented history e.g mailing list archives, patches, and changelogs.
        • Any attempt to insert stolen source code into such a public project would be very visible.
        • Anyone accusing another party of inserting stolen source code into Linux, yet unable to produce any proof of this, is most likely full of shit.

        But instead Lyons (and others like Didio and O'gara) appears to have chosen which side to support based on 'partisan' issues i.e money makes the world go 'round, so those filthy hippies must have stolen stuff from good, honest, hard-working American corporations to make Linux work properly. Lyons' previous "apology" basically said "oops, they duped me as well. I bet on the wrong horse". If he was a real journalist, he would have quickly found some of the things I mentioned above and at least been suspicious of SCO and their claims. But he didn't. He's just a troll calling himself a "journalist".

        • >"He's just a troll calling himself a "journalist"."

          You shouldn't insult trolls by saying they're as low as Lyons.

          Some differences:

          1. Trolls will actually do research to back up their points. Lyin' Lyons never did.
          2. Trolls might be passionate about their positions and make you THINK!. Lyin' Lyons only wanted to self-promote.
          3. Some people say trolls might not be fit to sleep with pigs. Lyons, on the other hand, looked to be pretty much in bed with the MogTroll [slashdot.org]

          .

          Lyons isn't a troll - and he's not

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by khallow ( 566160 )

          Any attempt to insert stolen source code into such a public project would be very visible.

          If I understand history correctly (and I might not), Novell donated a large block of proprietary code to Linux. SCO claimed that the "stolen code" was hidden somewhere inside that. My guess is that the entire legal strategy depended on finding a spot where one could claim stolen code had been inserted into Linux. If SCO couldn't have made the claim, I wonder who would have been the second on the list?

          • f I understand history correctly (and I might not), Novell donated a large block of proprietary code to Linux. SCO claimed that the "stolen code" was hidden somewhere inside that

            So, Novell inserted proprietary code (presumably that they didn't own, since if they owned it, they had the legal right to insert it), and SCOX sued IBM?

            Interesting legal theory.

      • >>I mean, how often does a publicly traded company sue someone 100x their size based on nothing but hot air?

        When their company is dead anyway, and msft is paying for the lawsuit, and msft is making sure that time small-time redneck scammers are making (for them) big bucks? McBride is getting $34K a month, btw.

        Forget this David vs Golieth, BS. The financing for the entire scam was arranged by msft. And msft has twice the market cap of IBM.

      • By your logic, Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein should have taken the word of the US president over some tipster coming to them with slanderous information that clearly could not be true.

        If you want to pretend to be a journalist, you got to dig when someone claims something. Try to find the truth. NOT just swallow it hook, line and sinker.

        If you swallow, and then someone else tries to point out your wrong and you then attack them without AGAIN trying to find out the truth, you are not just amzingly stupid,

      • Let's face it, SCO was breathtakingly brazen. I can certainly understand how someone might conclude what he did ... there's got to be SOMETHING there.

        Only if you're too lazy to actually work for a living.

        There was one reporter following this SCO saga who actually did do some investigation. I don't recall his name at the moment (which is sad, because he deserves to be mentioned) but he works the local business beat for the Salt Lake Tribune. He reported SCO's side, of course, but he *also* hit the phone and talked to people outside of SCO to check up on their claims, and reported the results of that, too. The result was that anyone getting the stor

  • Lyons is a lying sack of shit (Score:3, Informative)

    by Master of Transhuman ( 597628 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @06:20PM (#21120485) Homepage
    Just like his Microsoft handlers.

    I've seen enough of his FUD to know what he's about.

    He's just trying to recover some "street cred" so he can go at Linux again in the future.

    POS.

  • "pry it out of my hands at gnupoint"
  • When do we see a new blog by a mysterious character called "Fake Linux Torvalds"?

    (and what on Earth would he say? Torvalds is one Hell of an act to follow, y'know?)

    /P

  • So is dan a long-haired smelly communist now? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by walterbyrd ( 182728 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @07:00PM (#21121027)
    I believe that's how he characterized all Linux users.

    Gotta love his lavish praise of "intrepid reporter" Maureen O'Gara. Dan just loved the way Maureen relentlessly stalked, and harassed, PJ and PJ's elderly mother. Especially the way Maureen bragged about obtaining, and researching PJ's private cell-phone records, and looking inside PJ's residence, and bashing PJ's religious beliefs. Maureen's action were so vile, that the entire editorial staff of linuxworld resigned in disgust. Dan loved it.

    Don't forget about how Danny squealed like a stuck pig about bloggers, and message board posters, not giving their true identity, then he turns out to be the fake Steve Jobs.

    Clearly, he misses the whole point, probably deliberately. Whether he personally likes Linux is meaningless. I don't dislike people for not liking Linux. People can hate Linux all they want, and they can say so, doesn't bother me at all. In fact, I think they sometimes make some good points. And, for all I care, people can hate groklaw, or PJ, as well.

    My problem with Lyons is that he's a liar, a hypocrite, and a bully. For somebody who loves Linux so much, he was certainly quick to side with the company that was trying to destroy Linux, and to have a complete hissy-fit against who opposed the scam. And where are these 67 positive Linux articles? Is he sure it isn't more like one or two, writen after it was decided that scox doesn't even own UNIX? And where are his retractions and apologies after it turned out the PJ, and the message board posters were right all along? Why isn't he slamming scox and msft for the obvious scam?

    • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

      by MightyMartian ( 840721 )
      He's also a stock scam promoter. Let's never forget that he's sleeze from end to the other. What a pathetic and worthless piece of shit. Forbes deserves this crap-pile of a man.

    • Re: (Score:3, Informative)

      by Alsee ( 515537 )
      For those who missed the Maureen O'Gara story on PJ, here's a link [slashdot.org] with the phone numbers and (most)addresses snipped out.

      The only word for it is creepy. And content free. The only two words for it are creepy and content free. No wait, that's three words....

      Long story story short, Maureen O'Gara stalked PJ posting JP's phone number address and home photo... reports that PJ apparently does not like the smell of paint thinner... and some strange guy apparently attempted to get into PJ's apartment... stalks to

  • The article that makes ME not believe Lyons (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Antaeus Feldspar ( 118374 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @07:16PM (#21121221) Homepage

    Back when it was possible -- just barely -- for an intelligent person to think SCO might still have a case that they were just coincidentally showing no proof of, Dan Lyons was among those trying to portray SCO as in all likelihood a bunch of swell guys who had produced something of value, only to see it ripped off, and were now simply seeking just compensation for having been ripped off.

    That in itself is proof of nothing except excessive credulity.

    What makes Lyons a two-faced mealymouth is that in the same time period he wrote the infamous "Linux's Hit Men [forbes.com]" article, in which he excoriated the Free Software Foundation for seeking compensation/compliance in cases where swell programmers had produced something of value and put it under the GPL only to see the fruits of their labors ripped off. The Foundation, Lyons tells the reader, "doesn't want royalties--it wants you to burn down your house, or at the very least share it with cloners ... maybe, as some suggest, the foundation wants GPL-covered code to creep into commercial products so it can use GPL to force open those products." Lyons' final line? "Such a pity, comrade."

    So, let's sum up. When it's a commercial company which claims it has been ripped off (even if it's actively refusing to show anyone its evidence of the alleged ripoff under reasonable conditions) Lyons thinks it's perfectly okay for them to demand huge financial recompense. When it's open source coders that get ripped off, however, Lyons thinks it's pretty jerky for anyone to actually make the rippers-off comply with the license for the code they chose to use -- if not some sort of sinister conspiracy.

    Gee, I can't think why anyone would doubt the sincerity of Lyons' love for Linux and open source.

  • Middle Name? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Surely I can't be the first person to notice this, but would someone please tell me that this guy's middle name starts with a D?

  • Dan Lyon's isn't the only SCO Troublemaker (Score:3, Informative)

    by Cassini2 ( 956052 ) on Thursday October 25, 2007 @10:07PM (#21123203)
    Andy Tanenbaum, the author of Minix, had a very interesting story about another SCO frontman, Ken Brown. http://www.cs.vu.nl/~ast/brown/ [cs.vu.nl] Tanenbaum is somewhat famous for his advocacy of microkernel operating systems. The Linus Torvalds vs Andy Tanenbaum debates on the merits of microkernel (MINIX) operating systems versus monolithic (Linux) operating systems is something of a legend. Nevertheless, Tanenbaum defends Linux fairly vigorously, and this is another comment on SCO's, Dan Lyon's, and Ken Brown's general lack of research.
  • I read he wanted to be a BBF for Linux, not BFF .... BIG difference. (whew)
  • Standing joke I hear around the office is, "Linux is user-friendly. It's just damned particular about who its friends are."

    Here's hoping Linux discriminates a bit finer in its definition of 'friend'...

    • I think the definition of friend is clear, the problem with the classification of Dan Lyons.
      He is not an user, he's an abuser.
  • There's a nice article about this on RoughlyDrafted: Daniel Lyons: Fake Steve Jobs and the SCO Shill Who Hated Linux [roughlydrafted.com]

    It is fairly obvious that if Daniel Lyons suddenly professes a love for Linux, the only reason is to attract more pageviews. Using his alter ego "Fake steve jobs" he still likes to call Linux users "freetards" as much as ever.

    Anyway, his articles (written as "Fake" Steve Jobs) about the music industry are still very entertaining and spot-on: The music industry nobs have finally figured out [Ap [blogspot.com]

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