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Microsoft Coffee

microsoftcoffee.org

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Re: Microsoft Coffee

#211

Post by caslon »

chrisseaton wrote: post #194
caslon wrote: post #179

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah yes. Jokes. Such a great evil. You'd think the whole world is owned by the 1990s Microsoft, or Oracle: boring, lifeless and monotonous. Probably beige, too. I can assure you, this wasn't within the top-ten of most annoying things that a retail worker would have to deal with in a day; it's minor and harmless, and the people who really cause trouble for retail workers wouldn't be in a position to buy every Microsoft…

Why add to anyone’s workload at all to suit your own amusement?

It doesn't actually add to a retail worker's workload; retail workers (in the United States, anyway) are paid by the hour, and at any given moment will be forced to do something. Filling it with a laugh is a step up.

Your problem is/should be with capitalism, not with a joke.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#212

Post by withinrafael »

DonHopkins wrote: post #121
floren wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Good call, this definitely looks like the same guy: https://komonews.com/station/people/keith-eldridge

Has anyone contacted him and made him an offer on that box of Microsoft Coffee? He was right, it would be worth a lot now!

I reached out to him and KOMO on Twitter, no harm in trying. Would be handy to find these reported references in tech magazines and radio programs.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#213

Post by [deleted] »

Geeflow wrote: 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. :)

[deleted]

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#214

Post by neom »

brundolf wrote: post #65
Geeflow wrote: 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 just called KOMO. They confirmed they covered it, the footage is real, and it happened. In fact, the archives tech I talked to remembered it.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#215

Post by jozvolskyef »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #193

> unlike other pranks our prank didn’t just say ‘Microsoft is successful but nerdy’. Instead, it fed the idea that Microsoft kind of sucked as a company in some way; a lazy copycat. > [...] Usually Microsoft was happy to take credit for clever pranks from employees, because it showed we played hard besides working hard. > [...] BillG said, in effect, that the prank was not in good taste, and that it made Microsoft lo…

Microsoft was sued by Sun in 1997. The pranksters may not have realized they are publicly taunting their future opponent, but Gates probably saw it that way.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#217

Post by dalbasal »

AceJohnny2 wrote: post #193

> unlike other pranks our prank didn’t just say ‘Microsoft is successful but nerdy’. Instead, it fed the idea that Microsoft kind of sucked as a company in some way; a lazy copycat. > [...] Usually Microsoft was happy to take credit for clever pranks from employees, because it showed we played hard besides working hard. > [...] BillG said, in effect, that the prank was not in good taste, and that it made Microsoft lo…

Well... msft was already pretty big, but they hadn't been for very long. It might have been ok 3-4 years prior. Maybe like Tesla now, at least for elon. I doubt "PR flacks" had much sway at the company, if you go back to its formative years. Also, this seems to have been related to some sore points at that particular time.

Also, the world was more naive before "re:all" emails from hr.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#218

Post by Diederich »

300bps wrote: post #209
Diederich wrote: post #49

On Friday, 1-April-2005, I executed an Aprils fool joke inside of WalMart Stores, Inc., Information Systems Division that ended up going somewhat wrong. The director of our area, Network Engineering, was widely liked, and I'd worked for him, first directly when he was a manager, since 1997. Pretty chill guy, great sense of humor, effective leader. I particularly liked him because he gave my team, Network Management,…

Nice but wow... I've done the telnet to a mail server on TCP port 25 trick over a hundred times. Only once did I take it almost as far as you. When our company was bought I sent an email from HR to my buddy saying that certain employees would be given the option of taking severance. My buddy asked all of his coworkers if they got that email, they said they hadn't. He then replied to the HR guy who told him he was the…

Hah, that's a good one, well done. (:

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#220

Post by jackson1442 »

supergirl wrote: post #177
laurent92 wrote: post #152

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their mistake was probably to hit “Send” by mistake 1 day too early in their PR machine.

I doubt it was a mistake. 1. some timezones were probably already on April 1, 2. better get it out first so it doesn't get lost in the other hundreds of lame corporate April 1 pranks. I don't see how people could believe it's real though. VW is such a big company. how can people think they would rename to such a silly name.

Checked when it came out and it was definitely still the 31st across the world; it was the 30th in my timezone!
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