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Microsoft Coffee

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321–330 of 394 posts

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#321
post #191
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They didn't interpret it correctly, and there's no rule stating a comma is necessary that's universal in every style-guide.

They interpreted incorrectly per English grammar. We don’t know whether they interpreted correctly or incorrectly per the utterer’s intention, as the utterer has not clarified their intention. This isn’t a question of style, but one of grammar.

It's not that simple. Commas are lawless.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#322

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When it comes to being charged with fraud, demonstrating that the defendant lacked the intent to commit a crime (i.e. that he or she acted in good faith) is a key defense because, in order to convict the defendant, the prosecutor needs to prove that he or she had fraudulent intent. https://www.baezlawfirm.com/two-recent-cases-highlight-impor... > U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Securities Fraud Suits Must Be Dismisse…

The SEC does more than just fraud, which is what those links speak to. https://www.sec.gov/news/speech/2014-spch033114mjw "We, for example, often bring cases based on negligence, while most criminal statutes require intent or at least willful blindness. Some of our statutes are also strict liability, which do not require intent, recklessness, or negligence."

And if you look at those strict liability violations, it's stuff like filing required forms and reports by financial officers, not what we were talking about.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#323

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (Or maybe I'm 25 years younger in a corporate environment that has thoroughly taken control of this kind of thing.) You're 25 years younger in a corporate environment that has thoroughly taken control of this kind of thing. > BillG said, in effect, that the prank was not in good taste, and that it made Microsoft look stupid rather than clever - especially as a catch-up to Sun Microsystems. He was pissed because, wh…

People aren't allowed to change? Improve? What shitty things did you do 25 years ago you're willing to let me judge current you on?

People can and do change and improve, but the point is that it's quite a luxury when you make billions breaking laws and then use those billions to create a perception that you are now somehow this wholesome person.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#324

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Analog covered up how bad it was. IIRC VHS resolution was 320x240.

Analog didn't have an "XxY" resolution. VHS was about 3MHz of luma resolution and 400Khz of chroma, which was 240 lines - but that was interlaced, so your actual vertical resolution was 480 lines per interlaced frame (30 per second at US rates) -- but your Y (luma) signal would change far more often than your Pb and Pr signals (which gave the color by recording how far off the Y signal Blue and Red were)

You have lines and also an aspect ratio, which is 4:3.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#326
post #299
post #276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, you can't believe them even if it's not. People tend to remember things that never happened. Other than that, GP may have just been teasing. I mean what's the probability that you call them and they still have the same people there after 25 years? You call them and one of those rare guys (who's still there after 25 years) answers the phone. Or whoever answers the phone is willing to take the time to find someon…

I wasn't teasing, I actually called them. I was curious if it was a deepfake ML video so I wanted to find out. I got passed around quite a bit till I spoke with a guy in news room archives who had been there "a long time and would know", that's why I specifically got passed to him I believe.

Sure, but you could be lying or they could be lying.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#327
"But Microsoft had a reputation, deserved or not, as more of an imitator than an innovator."

It seems they managed quite a decent April Fool's joke until boring old PR, sorry the entire Legal Sharks with frikkin' Lasers division dived in.

It should be possible to have a laugh locally.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#328

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most engines are also very aggressive at de-prioritizing abandoned sites, so most of the content from 90s essentially gone dark - it's indexed but cannot be found unless you know exactly what to look for.

Either way, it is funny that they claim to have millions of results, yet you can't go past Page 11.

That's not true. You just have to click the "with the omited results included" at the bottom of page 11, and that gives you many more pages.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#329

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remember that the prank preceded the mainstream web, and MS PR clearly went to great lengths to cover it up. I don't think the internet was "remembering everything" yet at that point

Usenet would have, there would be mentions on a pro or anti (mainly anti) microsoft group about it. It was 1996, not the stone age Google has lost a lot of old posts from those days, but I'd be surprised if it would have lost all of them.

April 1996 was a long time ago, almost the dawn of the Internet as it relates to Microsoft.

Internet Explorer only launched in 1995, and the anti-Linux Halloween Documents were 1998.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#330
post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

An employee can have an hour dealing with normal customers, or dealing with customers aggravated because the box they found on the shelf won't scan.

Which would you prefer?

By the way the worse option is only there for the amusement of some rich engineer you've never met and earns 10x what you do plus can afford to spend his work time making your work time more hard.

Doesn't sound as great now, does it?

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