Microsoft Coffee • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#371

Post by ElderKorihor » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:51 AM UTC

whatthesmack wrote: post #107

iso1210 wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The VHS tracking is what makes me suspicious (and of course the date, the lack of any mention of it at all) If you've waited for 25 years to announce something, you're going to get video captured correctly. > There’s the KOMO News footage, which some of us still have on a dusty VHS tape Does anyone from Seatle recognise the two KOMO reporters? If the footage is a deep fake over real footage from that time, I'm very v…

Former Seattleite... those are (were?) legit KOMO news anchors. I believe the person on the left's name is Keith Eldridge. I don't remember the name of the person on the right, but I do recognize them.

> I don't remember the name of the person on the right

Probably Kathi Goertzen?

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#372

Post by decibe1 » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 5:56 AM UTC

cjlovett wrote: post #202

Fantastic story. I joined Microsoft in 1997 but unfortunately I cannot confirm the story, I never heard this story before, but it doesn't surprise me, we had a lot of fun back then with all kinds of pranks, and Easter eggs, until one day it was all suddenly stopped, ship an Easter egg and get fired was what they told us. That was a very sad day. I can confirm that Microsoft was doing things with Java back then, I wor…

It was a different time then. For example sql server 6.5 (An 'enterprise' level piece of software) had an easter egg in it: https://www.itprotoday.com/sql-server/are-there-any-easter-e...

All of those quirks and inside jokes were forcibly removed to assure customers and government agencies there were no 'hidden' code or features in a product - just the released, documented, and tested pieces of the product.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#373

Post by exikyut » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 6:41 AM UTC

atleta wrote: post #276

ComodoHacker wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But can you believe them on April 1st?

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…

> People tend to remember things that never happened.

While I don't intend/want to derail the focus here, this happens to make for an excellent coincidental articulation of one of the key things conspiracy theorists seem to not be able to comprehend in their mental models of the world.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#374

Post by prox » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 6:46 AM UTC

MaximumYComb wrote: post #318

atdrummond wrote: post #306

Oh wow... you have just given me some sense of comfort after feeling like a moron for over two decades. When I was growing up, my dad had visited Seattle and came back from the trip with a box of Microsoft Coffee. He claimed to have gotten it from a store called Egg-Head’s Software or Egghead Computing or something like that. (EDIT: Upon reading the full article it seems to have been Egghead Software.) I took it to m…

Everything in your story lines up with that article. It's probably worth a fair bit now if he can find it.

Yeah it’s pretty rare probably!

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#375

Post by Uptrenda » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 6:50 AM UTC

I was secretly hoping this would be Microsoft's foray into building a premium coffee machine for engineers. Give it the old Microsoft spin with an idiot-proof brewing process (pods maybe?) and ultra-fast brew times. Add support for the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP) and what not. I'd buy it. Just don't make me wait for updates before brewing and we're good ;)

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#376

Post by amansidhant » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 7:16 AM UTC

cbozeman wrote: post #305

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…

> (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…

Could you spill the beans a little? I’m really curious about happened in the 90s with Microsoft that antagonized them so much (was born in 99, so I’ve only seen the Bill Gates who’s saving lives in Africa)

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#377

Post by caslon » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 7:20 AM UTC

chrisseaton wrote: post #330

caslon wrote: post #211

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I've done both! I don't know if you've been to America, but this is every hour of every day for employees in American retail. Something funny is a stark improvement over "normal" customers, because the rich customers don't get aggravated as much. Your average poor customer wouldn't spring for a random product by Microsoft immediately after seeing it on the shelves, and your average well-off customer would figure out what was going on.

The difference in stress between the two makes one extremely easy to deal with (since not having some stupid flavor-of-the-month cereal seems much less like a big deal for someone whose active attention isn't being consumed solely with figuring out how they're going to pay for everything). Unfortunately, wealth makes a big difference: richer customers are just able to not sweat the small stuff.

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#378

Post by sn_master » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 8:12 AM UTC

Razengan wrote: post #343

sn_master wrote: post #144

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I find the PC hardware to be better too. Even dirt cheap PC laptops have touch screens with high quality pens included and are very easy to upgrade their RAM to 32/64 GB from Amazon.

I’ve yet to try any PC laptop that matches the Mac battery life and trackpad, or has a good fit-and-finish without copying the MacBook look anyway.

Samsung Notebook 9 or Razer Blade?

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#379

Post by m463 » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 9:17 AM UTC

Uptrenda wrote: post #375

I was secretly hoping this would be Microsoft's foray into building a premium coffee machine for engineers. Give it the old Microsoft spin with an idiot-proof brewing process (pods maybe?) and ultra-fast brew times. Add support for the Hyper Text Coffee Pot Control Protocol (HTCPCP) and what not. I'd buy it. Just don't make me wait for updates before brewing and we're good ;)

But what if someone was killed by a BSOD (brown stain of death)?

Re: Microsoft Coffee

#380

Post by caslon » Sat, Apr 03, 2021, 9:41 AM UTC

caslon wrote: post #377

chrisseaton wrote: post #330

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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?

I've done both! I don't know if you've been to America, but this is every hour of every day for employees in American retail. Something funny is a stark improvement over "normal" customers, because the rich customers don't get aggravated as much. Your average poor customer wouldn't spring for a random product by Microsoft immediately after seeing it on the shelves, and your average well-off customer would figure out…

This might have came off somewhat hostile to poor customers, but: I've been there, and managing how you're going to eat & pay rent at the same time on the average salary is really stressful, so I've always been empathetic.