Shame on you, Steven J. Vaughan Nichols. Shame!


Well the freetards are back at it again, stealing material and disregarding copyrights. Check out this article from Linux-Watch about Novell delaying its earnings reports because the SEC is probing its accounting. The article carries the byline of renowned freetard hack Steven J. Vaughan Nichols (shown here with his life partner). But the article bears some eerie resemblances to this press release from Novell. Note the following bits of reverse engineering:

Novell press release:
Novell delivered a response letter to the SEC on Sept. 20, 2007. On Oct. 18, 2007, Novell received a second comment letter from the SEC indicating that the SEC had reviewed Novell’s response to the Aug. 7, 2007 letter. The second comment letter was limited to certain accounting matters. Novell responded to the SEC’s second comment letter on Nov. 7, 2007 and is awaiting a response.

Vaughan Nichols article:
Novell delivered a response letter to the SEC on Sept. 20, 2007. On Oct. 18, Novell received a second comment letter from the SEC indicating that the SEC had reviewed Novell’s response to the Aug. 7, 2007 letter. The second comment letter was limited to certain accounting matters. Novell responded to the SEC’s second comment letter on Nov. 7, 2007 and is still awaiting an SEC response.

Novell press release:
“We are confident of our accounting and are working diligently with the SEC to respond to their inquiries,” said Dana C. Russell, chief financial officer of Novell. “In an abundance of caution, we have chosen to postpone our earnings release. We look forward to completing our dialogue with the SEC.”

Vaughan Nichols article:

With these issues still in the balance, Novell has elected to not issue its fourth quarter and year-end reports. “We are confident of our accounting and are working diligently with the SEC to respond to their inquiries,” said Dana C. Russell, Novell’s chief financial officer. “In an abundance of caution, we have chosen to postpone our earnings release. We look forward to completing our dialogue with the SEC.”

Novell press release:
Novell intends to release its fourth quarter and full-year 2007 earnings upon the completion of the SEC’s review. Novell is unable to estimate when the process will be completed, but currently expects to file its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2007 on or before its due date of Dec. 31, 2007.

Vaughan Nichols article:
Novell intends to release its fourth quarter and full year 2007 earnings upon the completion of the SEC’s review. Novell is unable to estimate when the process will be completed, but currently expects to file its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Oct. 31, 2007 on or before its due date of Dec. 31, 2007.

To be sure, Vaughan Nichols didn’t just cut-and-paste Novell’s press release and call it his own story. He also added a couple of original paragraphs — a big positive quote from a Novell-loving analyst saying how great things are going at Novell these days. Just to make sure everything is fair and balanced.

The whole thing is especially disappointing considering that Steven J. Vaughan Nichols is the leader of a group called the Internet Press Guild which acts as a self-appointed watchdog agency keeping an eye on other filthy hacks. The group has in the past filed complaints accusing other filthy hacks of being unethical.

Over the weekend Katie reported this transgression to Society of Professional Journalists and asked that the group revoke the hack license of Steven J. Vaughan Nichols or at least suspend his license pending an investigation. In response, the Vaughan Nichols-led Internet Press Guild has issued an open letter stating that SJVN did not copy any lines verbatim and the whole thing is a Microsoft-funded conspiracy (with Apple acting as Microsoft’s proxy) and where’s the proof and unless someone can show the exact lines that were stolen then everyone should just shut up.

On a side note, How come when Apple gets some heat from the SEC we get our sphincters probed for weeks on end by every filthy hack in the business, but when Novell gets busted the hacks either ignore the story or, if they really really have to write something, they just parrot back Novell’s bullshit and sprinkle in a little more pro-Novell bullshit of their own?

Simple explanation, Katie says. Novell distributes Linux, which by definition means they could never do anything bad. Plus Novell is the company that saved Linux from legal attacks by the SCO Group. So when Novell gets in trouble they can count on all these little freetard hacks turning into part-time flacks for the company and helping out with damage control.

Shame on you, Steven J. Vaughan Nichols. Shame.

(Photo of Pamela Jones by Eric Raymond.)