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Microsoft Coffee

microsoftcoffee.org

61–70 of 394 posts

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#61
post #56

Volkswagen would have benefited from reading this article> Bill Gate's comment that the prank makes Microsoft look stupid applies pretty well to the Voltswagen stunt.

But now we’re taking about Volkswagen and electric vehicles. April Fool’s ad campaigns don’t have to be funny to be effective.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#62
post #34

Is there any reason to believe that this actually happened? Conveniently, it was published on April 1st. The story itself would be a great April Fools' prank. :)

That would be a better Aprils joke than the one being claimed

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#63
post #19
post #9

If this happened in 2021 someone would be in prison or fired at best. That said, this is a hilarious story and reminds me of the things people used to do in the early days of the internet in terms of trolling and such. Unfortunately, after groups like the GN*A and others successfully trolled the world several times, nation states figured it out and started trolling to actually control the narrative of the internet! A…

Prison? That seems over the top.

Prison is where most Microsoft software was packaged back then: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2008/07/what-do-prisone...

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#64
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm not sure what employee actions they're supposed to support. MS didn't get a chance to 'support' this, these guys did the thing on their own. If I'm MS I'm not sure I want to do a lot to "support" them after the fact as I really don't need groups of other employees stocking the shelves with fake products... Any prank that looks like it has someone else's name on it, or approval... but isn't approved is just always…

When you're employed by a corporation, to what degree are you an individual and to what degree are you an extension of that corporation? Microsoft isn't a person or individual. For MS to support something...really means some hundreds of individuals inside MS support a thing and have coordinated to communicate that support to the other hundreds and BOOM, MS now supports a thing (or doesn't). All of this is about permi…

>MS supported this by virtue of MS employees doing it.

Would that apply to say crimes?

Should corporate then get to tell people what else they can't do since being an employee includes ' support'?

I think you're inadvertently wandering into some really wonky territory.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#65
post #34

Is there any reason to believe that this actually happened? Conveniently, it was published on April 1st. The story itself would be a great April Fools' prank. :)

The news footage is pretty convincing

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#67
post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, those poor, poor Waggener Edstrom PR people. It's about time someone like you took a stand for them - they surely can't fend for themselves.

Creating a mess and leaving it to other people to clean it up. It's littering. Even if someone is paid to clean up your litter, you shouldn't litter in the first place.

I think the disagreement here is that this is litter in the first place.

My take is that PR overreacted. They thought it was a mess, and they thought they needed to do Serious Damage Control or whatever. But they were wrong.

This was a well done hoax. A more competent PR team would have leaned into it and showcased how Microsoft isn't just a cold corporate monolith. That it has a humorous side, or is more "human", or whatever.

I hope shenanigans never dies.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#68
post #34

Is there any reason to believe that this actually happened? Conveniently, it was published on April 1st. The story itself would be a great April Fools' prank. :)

I'd expect to see something in usenet archives, or at least some mention of it somewhere before this year, even if it's to someone complaining about the lack of evidence of it happening. Couldn't find anything.

The fact I've spent some time actually looking this up though makes this the best prank of the last few years. The video especially is a masterpiece of fakery.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#69
post #34

Is there any reason to believe that this actually happened? Conveniently, it was published on April 1st. The story itself would be a great April Fools' prank. :)

The news footage is pretty convincing

I'm assuming Seattlites would be able to confirm.

However as much discussion we've had about the internet remembering everything, I can't find anything in Google to confirm "Microsoft Coffee" except for this site, discussion of it on Reddit 13 hours ago.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#70
post #62
post #34

Is there any reason to believe that this actually happened? Conveniently, it was published on April 1st. The story itself would be a great April Fools' prank. :)

That would be a better Aprils joke than the one being claimed

I disagree wholeheartedly. I'm pretty tired of fictional April Fool's joke. If you've got a good idea for a (harmless) prank, DO IT. Don't write up some lame webpage to make people think you did it.
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