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Free Software As Nigerian Scam

Posted by timothy on from the this-is-satire-right dept.

djeaux writes "In the November 4 issue of Syllabus, Howard Strauss, manager of technology strategy and outreach at Princeton University, presents 'The FREE, 0% APR, Better Sex, No Effort Diet' in which he scattershoots at open source software. The Nigerian scam is part of his imagery, leading to a great quote: 'While you are installing your free open source software you may want to write Mrs. Ahmed a check. Her $8.5 million will help pay for the real cost of that free software.' Elsewhere, Strauss describes the open source community as 'a smattering of teenagers too young to work at Redmond, hackers, virus creators, and a menagerie of others with whom you will feel great pride in entrusting your IT infrastructure.'" Not everyone at Princeton agrees.

8 of 685 comments (clear)

  1. You are one fast typist . by zymano · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    and you got 1st post too and a 5 insightful.

    You make the bonus round.

    1. Re:You are one fast typist . by bobthemuse · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      Heh. See what happens when you're a subscriber?

      Disclaimer: I do not work for /.

  2. Obligatory SCO referernce by earthforce_1 · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    'While you are installing your free open source software you may want to write Mrs. Ahmed a check. Her $8.5 million will help pay for the real cost of that free software.'

    Should read:

    While you are installing your free open source software, you may want to write SCO a cheque, to help pay for the real cost of defending their "stolen" intellectual property which they cannot disclose and will not show to you without an NDA giving SCO exclusive rights to your first born offspring.

    --
    My rights don't need management.
  3. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  4. Re:well by aardvarkjoe · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    That sounds suspiciously like you want to "take your ball and go home" -- something that would be expected from a group of immature teenagers rather than respectable software developers.

    Fortunately, most of us don't feel like we have to try to punish everyone in sight when somebody says something we don't like.

    --

    How can we continue to believe in a just universe and freedom to eat crackers if we have no ale?
  5. you fail it! by Theranthrope · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    you fail it!

  6. Re:Wow by nathanh · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    I just read the article posted, and it doesn't appear to have a single relevant statistics.

    Offer up statistics that counter his arguments.

    Otherwise, you're just saying his arguments are wrong, and basically doing the same thing he is...

    No. He's saying that the troll's arguments are uncorroborated. The troll made the claims so the troll has to provide the evidence. It's not up to the Slashdotter to provide evidence to disprove the claims.

  7. Re:I let this particular parody get to me .... by Cederic · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    I may be the wrong age-group, sex, level of intelligence or just sense of humour, but most of Homestar Runner seems pretty crap to me.

    However.

    One of the all-time truely great things on the Internet is Trogdor the Burninator.

    ~Cederic