> this was language The Register used in an article

So, in response to that, I'd like to point out a few things.

1. This is, I feel, now widely and well-established language in this discussion. For example, note its use in the comments to this article about the discontinuation of CentOS Linux three years ago: https://blog.centos.org/2020/12/future-is-centos-stream/

2. Others are using it in the context of this story; for example, here: https://fosspost.org/red-hat-is-shooting-itself-in-the-foot-...

3. The direct personal reason that I used the phrase "a bunch of freeloaders" is that this is a Douglas Adams quotation, or rather, paraphrase. I am not an especially big name, but those who do know my name may recognise it: I was once the president of ZZ 9 Plural Z alpha, the official Douglas Adams appreciation society. I was interviewed quite widely in media around the world at the time that the Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy film came out. I used the phrase in order to refer to the Douglas Adams line about "a taxi service for a bunch of degenerate freeloaders." For reasons which I trust are obvious I removed the adjective.