So we admit it – the Primates Programming Inc. Quick Hit we ran in issue 17 (see Chimps go ape for Visual Basic 6.0, p. 18), which reported that chimps, baboons and orangutans are writing computer code for $0.69 an hour, was indeed a spoof.
A sharp reader enlightened us about the monkey business Dan Mezick, developer of the site www.newtechusa.com/ppi/main.asp, has been up to.
The site has reportedly drawn thousands of people. But Mezick, a.k.a. Mark Bajek, Primate Programming (PPI) CEO, has been getting more than the occasional letter questioning the truth behind his operations.
Spokespeople from the Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary (IPLS), a US$10-million research centre currently under construction in Des Moines, Iowa, recently expressed concerns about possibly being linked with Primate Programming’s spoof, and asked Mazick to remove references to the IPLS from his site.