In the context of the situation imagined in the article, "blatant lie... guy is nuts" is over-doing it.
While "you need to download and compile the framework from source" is an option, "you need 5gb and to register an account for the download" is also a fairly plausible way to present it if that option offers time savings vs the former to the person you're hoping to review your project.
I'm reading your response as jumping to "lazy" and "cheap", which I find to be pretty uncharitable. The Qt Company is free to demand whatever they like, but nobody has to like the demands.
