Your Chance to Meet Bill Gates 529
tcak writes "From the CNET article: "You could meet the chairman of Microsoft, but you'll have to profess a passion for Windows first. Microsoft is looking for true stories about people using Windows computers to pursue a passion or hobby. The company plans to use them in a marketing blitz tied to the 20th anniversary of Windows' debut. ""
Wonderful (Score:5, Funny)
How many of us will pretend to love windows just to get a chance to relive some fond memories [zpub.com]?
Microsoft is looking for true stories about people using Windows computers to pursue a passion or hobby.
So now they have to bribe Windows users for positive reviews, eh? Seems about right.
Re:Wonderful (Score:5, Insightful)
How many of us want to see OUR names splashed around the world by the marketeers as somebody delirously in love with windows?
Re:Wonderful (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Wonderful (Score:2)
Re:Wonderful (Score:3, Funny)
"Mr Gates, I really enjoy using your windows platform as the premiere choice for writing my home-made viruses, spywares and adwares. It's easy to do. You don't even need a virus development tool kit. It comes with every version of windows."
Comment removed (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wonderful (Score:3, Insightful)
Isn't hatred one of the seven passions [commspeed.net]?
Re:Wonderful (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Wonderful (Score:5, Funny)
A protracted light saber fight ensues, at the end of which the defeated MASTER STALLMAN escapes DARTH GEEKIOUS by crawling through a Unix pipe and going into self-imposed exile in the GNU system. There he waits until the New Hope, LINUS PENGUINSTALKER is ready to begin his training in the arts of the VI KNIGHTS.
Re:Wonderful (Score:5, Funny)
RMS is the wookie (mostly because he won't need a costume).
Re:Wonderful (Score:3, Funny)
Do you honestly believe Stallman would have ANYTHING to do with a group by the name of VI Knights?
;)
Jw
You fake it (Score:4, Funny)
Re:You fake it (Score:4, Funny)
I guess they were afraid to ask for stories about people who use Windows in a critical environment. I think I should put an entry in:
"My passion is screaming at my computer when it blue screens in the middle of a deathmatch. Late-night REGEDIT sessions whenever Windows hoses itself is an amusing hobby too. For everything else, there's FreeBSD."
Damn, I wish writing all contest entry essays were that easy.
Re:You fake it (Score:3, Insightful)
It sounds like they're looking for people who have been motivated by the experience of Microsoft products to participate in open source development.
Re:Wonderful (Score:2, Funny)
So I guess my essay on how I use Windows to pursue my passion because I can't get the shit to run right under WINE yet is right out?
KFG
Re:Wonderful (Score:4, Funny)
"It was a good paper, too." --Ellen Feiss
Ob. Simpsons... (Score:3, Funny)
Bill if your gonna buy reviews, use cash like the the hardware and gaming industries. Stop being a cheapass!
Re:Wonderful (Score:4, Funny)
my only question is... (Score:5, Funny)
Apple's Switch (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Apple's Switch (Score:5, Funny)
That's the whole idea.
Another Microsoft innovation!
Re:Apple's Switch (Score:5, Interesting)
*I'd never block Microsoft's ads, sometimes I even click them in order to give the site some free money from Microsoft.
Re:Apple's Switch (Score:2)
I'd like to be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that's how it works.
Most of the things that Microsoft ads link to are to download free whitepapers to explain how much cheaper Windows is. I think advertising is still based on click through but they probably use a number of methods to detect people repeatedly clicking on an ad.
Ellen Fleiss for Windows (Score:4, Funny)
Oh yeah, Bill Gates is teh bomb.
haha (Score:2, Funny)
Oh yes... making neat internet worms!
We tried working with Windows... (Score:2, Funny)
Once he'd got Windows up and running we let the users try it o
Dear Bill. . . (Score:2)
Thanks to Windows, my kitchen table doesn't stain.
Yours forever,
Steve Jobs
I use Windows at work! (Score:5, Funny)
Do I get to meet Bill now?
ObSimpsons (Score:2, Funny)
A passion for windows (Score:2, Funny)
Passion (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Passion (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Passion (Score:5, Interesting)
So yup, I have had the chance to work with two or three MS and Windows fanboys/zealots, whatever
Re:Passion (Score:2)
Re:Passion (Score:5, Insightful)
Mac Xealots push design superiority.
Windows Zelots push the fact that they put in a lot of time and effort into it, and they just can't turn back now.
Re:Passion (Score:5, Insightful)
I like windows because i have _no_ time invested in it, and i dont need to invest time in it.
When i come home from work, the last thing i want to do is spend more time screwing with cantankerous computers. I wave the mouse, the screen lights up, and i am doing whatever i want to be doing with the computer. The web browser renders every page correctly. The email program is perfectly fast even though i have thousands of messages. My terminal emulator running a text-mode irc client hasn't spun out of control consuming all my ram. Visual Studio has been minimized for days and i breifly restore it to see what i was last "working on" at home in my hobbyist coding hours.
This is windows xp for me. I spent about 2 hours assembling this machine from parts that newegg sent me and about another 2 hours getting xp, office 2003, and a few other apps installed on it. I haven't had to do a single thing to it sense.
I'd say my time investment is pretty low. That's precisely how i like it.
I've spent much more time trying to get an Aironet 352 working smoothly on OS X. I've spent a bunch more time trying to help my wife troubleshoot her ibook G4's sleep-of-death problem. (her powerbook G3 had it also, and i've spent a bunch of time on _that_ thing)
I suppose thta i haven't spent much time on my OpenBSD machine.. i put in "the time" on that thing a few years ago and i mostly forget i even have it apart from every few months wanting to do something or other with it. Which requires 2-4 hours of reading and mucking.
Of course, im not a "zealot" for any of these platforms. I use all of them at home, but the machine with me physically sitting at it the most is windows, yet it requires the least "effort" by far.
Re:Passion (Score:4, Insightful)
While it may not be good meaurable time learning windows it is still an investment in your time. And you combine all your experice using windows you find that you have a Lot of time invested into it. And switching to a different type of working will require you to start over from scratch again.
The same things happen to me when I was using Linux as my primary OS (I am now using OS X) going back to a windows system was very fustrating because all my command I knew by heart wasn't there. Having windows do a simple job like downloading a webpage once an hour and check for important change and notifiy me by email when the change was mad is a large task which can be easilly done with Linux. I have been using Linux sience 1994 and I know how to get around the system much like you probably have been using windows sience 1995 or earlier with 3.1 and DOS.
SO the truth is that you have invested a lot of time in windows and know how to deal with its problems. Vs. Fixing your Aironet working on OS X. I am sure if you were using OS X for years and OS 9 before that you will have a better understanding on how to get it to work on the ibook.
So the statement is true for you except for the fact your time was spreadout so your investment is hard to quantify.
WIndows The Imperial Operating System (Score:3, Insightful)
My goodness! (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Passion (Score:3, Insightful)
It figures... (Score:2)
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It seems like windows isn't the only POS they love...
Re:Passion (Score:4, Interesting)
So, here I am, forced to develop dynamic web content in (hackcoughspit) ASP.NET, re-inventing the wheel each time because you Just Don't Get the equivalent of CPAN for proprietary MS-culture languages, on my local machine, to be deployed on servers currently too old to run the
Typical Quote: Our "Director of Innovation" (that's "innovation" in the Microsoft sense, too) once noticed FileZilla on my machine. His reaction? "Get that dirty free software off my machines right now". Oh yes, and every project anyone undertakes has to be done in a language he can speak, just in case they ever decide to leave and he decides to start managing it directly himself.
He only can only code in VB.
Apparently he once tried to learn C for three weeks, but gave up "because it was too hard".
Oh yeah, and this is a multi-million-GPB company.
Re:Passion (Score:5, Funny)
You don't know any passionate Windows hater?
Re:Passion (Score:3, Interesting)
I realise this guy is an aberration but whenever I read a complaint about "Open Source Zealots" or whomever, I remember this guy.
Re:Passion (Score:3, Informative)
They don't come around me anymore...
One of my friends was basically touting the "new and improved" tcp stack in 2k. He didn't quite say it like that, but that's the gist of it.
He had been going over and over features at this point and I assurred him everything he mentioned we already had.
However, I couldn't forgive the tcp stack mad loving...
So I stopped while we were walking...
Turned to him and informed him... it was a very nice stack... quite nice... one of the best...
Oh yes... it was also t
Re:Passion - Gizoogle style (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Passion (Score:4, Insightful)
But I've never known anyone who is really passionate about windows, some people prefer it to other operating systems but nobody really seems to love it.
You make a very interesting point: most non-corporate buyers today will not be able to tell you why they chose Windows, beyond a "It's what I'm familiar with" or "Everyone else uses it" or "My bottle-carving program runs on it". Windows is an externally enforced choice for most people. So far so good, and by now the slashbots would be frothing about how great it'd be if only the evil M$ was broken up so that people could finally Choose(tm).
Problem: if MS were to go away, something else would take its place, say Linux. When that happens, when Linux is mandated across broad swathes of business, you can be quite sure that the crowd of lusers that you now have would bring the inevitable kvetching about how The Computer Ate My Work(tm). No amount of telling them '..but Linux is stable!' will help: they'd sooner believe that the computer is a piece of shit than admit a mistake.
And oh: this is already happening today: We have a CRM app that runs crossplatform on Moz and IE, and quite a few of our customers (call centers who want their IT as lean-and-mean as possible) have standardized on Linux/OO.o because their users don't need much more. I've been to a few of these places, and FWIW the IT staff at at these places are happy as clams but user satisfaction has not gone up (it has actually dipped in a couple of places but I'm willing to pin that on poor retraining). Of course, none of this means anything except anecdotally but your post made me wonder how passionate a user in these companies would be about Linux.
It does drive my passion: (Score:2, Interesting)
Do I win?
Why did they bother to post this then? (Score:2)
Well sure, someone could lie just to meet him and then tell them what they really thing, but I'm sure the vetting process would weed those folks out.
Re:Why did they bother to post this then? (Score:2)
Just imagine - twenty thousand slashdot linux fanatics all striving mightily to outdo one another in praising windows, in the hope that one of them might get a a chance to spit in the great man's eye.
Then MS awards it to some staffer's pretty daughter in law who is known to hate Linux and proceedes to launch an ad campaign fuelled largely by those who hate MS. And Bill and Steve laugh all the way to the bank!
Dear Bill, (Score:2, Funny)
Suddenly I feel like David Carradine... (Score:5, Funny)
Anyone here old enought to remember Death Race 2000 [imdb.com]? Remember why Frankenstein (David Carradine) wanted so badly to win the race?
^_^
That was awesome! (Score:5, Funny)
Me: Remember that time you released windows?
Bill: Yeah
Me: That was awesome!
You mean *this* was awesome... (Score:5, Funny)
pursue a passion or hobby (Score:5, Funny)
I use Windows to persue my hobbies, which include
phishing, spamming, cracking and distributing illegal files via p2p !
I have a real passion for windows !
Win98 (Score:2)
Linux users need not apply. (Score:2, Interesting)
A chance to meet Gates (Score:2)
*Loads his riffle and dawns camoflage gear* um im just going duck hunting
Wait a minute... (Score:2)
Perhaps... (Score:2)
It'd keep a few people in a job having to go through all those
passionatly bashing windows? (Score:2)
Porn (Score:2, Funny)
If a story could ever be marked as Flamebait... (Score:5, Insightful)
Seriously, what is the point of posting this to Slashdot? No, REALLY? Is this some kind of group anger management therapy?
Re:If a story could ever be marked as Flamebait... (Score:4, Funny)
My pursuit of windows (Score:2)
I have often persued Windows for many hours. Sometimes it is very difficult to remember where I left my burned Windows XP CD.
Also, whenever you release a new version of Windows, I am at my computer trying to get the 0 day FTP sites so that I can have my pirated copy of windows before anyone else. Torrents have made this much simpler to accomplish.
So, thanks for being you!
Love, me
Download ISOs (Score:2, Funny)
and it was like, bleep bleep bleep bleep bleep (Score:2)
Passion for Windows? (Score:2)
But can for any sake not think of any Microsoft product that gives me or anyone I know the dreamy eyes...
Re:Passion for Windows? (Score:2)
Well, I don't particularily want to meet him... (Score:2, Funny)
Ahem... (Score:2)
*ducks*
You would think, as a real incentive, they would throw "boobies" in there somewhere..Darn!
Well at leats in france it will be easy (Score:2, Funny)
I have the passion of... (Score:2)
Don't forget to bring (Score:5, Funny)
Too late Bill (Score:2, Interesting)
Boy, I regret bashing Macintosh in elementary school years...
And oh, there is alot of Windows fans. I know, becuse I seen them. And most of the time, they're really aren't a nerd, or they're a hardcore gamer. Which is a type of nerd too infact...
I would
I'd rather meet Paul Allen (Score:2)
Phisherman Testimonial? (Score:2)
An ode to Outlook Express...
How I turned 100 hotmail accounts into a spam powerhouse?
Or, why I really like Windows. I get to billg@microsoft.com in the email line for all those annoying registration forms.
Looking for someone passionate about Windows?? (Score:2)
Hehe (Score:2)
My experience with Windows (Score:2)
Windows was reminding me how new and innovative it was every time it crashed. Brilliant.
Sept 30, Apr 1: What's the difference? (Score:2)
I love Windows because... (Score:2)
OOH! OOH! PICK ME! PICK ME!!! (Score:4, Funny)
"Hi, um, Bill, er, um, Mr. Gates. I love Windows so much, I have the logo tattoed on my heiny. Want to see it?"
"What?? That's copyright infringement!! Guards, place this manboy under arrest!!"
Windows is a Foil (Score:2)
Passion FOR Microsoft's products?! (Score:5, Insightful)
Here's an old by great example. Back when Win95 was released you could not natively use long file names with 16-bit apps. However, there was a product called "Name-It!" which did allow that function. In other words it was possible, but Microsoft chose NOT to implement it. Why? Because long file names was a great feature and it would give incentive to users to upgrade to new 32-bit programs.
Another great example is Messenger, the chat program not the service. Microsoft has made it nearly impossible to get rid of. Even if you edit your sysoc.inf file and uninstall Messenger, it'll suddenly come back. Even if you delete the subfolder under Program Files, it'll mysteriously come back. Obviously Microsoft considers its chat war against AOL more important than ease of use for users.
And of course there's product activation. We were told it was to stop piracy, but that was bull-shit. You can easy obtain pirated copies of XP. Let's face it, if it product activation really worked, then why is Microsoft implementing its anti-piracy feature for people downloading software? And even more importantly, if piracy has been decreased, then why is XP Microsoft's most expensive OS? Why aren't they passing the savings back to use? Once again, the real purpose of product activation is to screw over the paying customer who wants to install XP on both of his systems.
And lets not forget out Microsoft's Office products are constantly screwing with file formats to make the later versions incompatible with earlier versions. Once again, this is NOT done to make it easier for paying customers. It's merely leverage to get those customer paying again and again.
It'd be really hard to be passionate FOR Microsoft's products. It's hard to be passionate for anything that nickel and dimes you at every turn. That treats you like a criminal. And sees you merely as a cash cow to be milked at every chance.
Slashdot six months into the future: (Score:2)
And what would you do once you meet him? (Score:2)
Here is my entry (Score:2)
From the article:
Extra points are given to essays that demonstrate the positive impact Windows has made on someone's life.
Dear BillG,
Windows has had a big positive impact on my life!
First of all, it made me learn the inner bits of C/C++ really well, because I couldn't do a decent program on Win32 without debugging the hell out of it! That led me to pursue programming as a profession, since I was one of the few persons that knew how to program the damn thing!
Secondly, it saved me a fortune from b
/.ing, for good (Score:2)
What made you start using Firefox? What made you switch to Linux/OSX/BSD? What stopped working when they crippled the TCP system in SP2? Enter all the catagories with disposable emails.
Windows has helped me (Score:2)
The utter failings of windows for serious work [re: software development] has led me to seek alternative sources [re: OSS] and eventually to GNU/Linux and GNU toolchains.
Thanks Microsoft! Your ineptitude led me to where I am now!
Tom
Passion = yes, gratefull = yes, Annoyed = HELL YES (Score:5, Interesting)
If it wasn't for MS, IBM would prolly still be stong-arming the MainFrame Only sales pitch. Yes Apple was first, but it just didn't catch on the way that Windows did.
I don't like his products (although Outlook2003 is damn spiffy), I don't like his embrace/engulf style, but I do love the fact that without him I wouldn't have the career that I do today. I owe him thanks.
C64 -> WFWG 3.11 -> OS/2 v3 & v4 -> Linux
I believe that MS-DOS 6.22 was the best OS that Microsoft has ever made.
Without the millions of home PC's running Windows, we would still be using 486's running at 100MHz.
Thank-you Bill. Now please just go away.
Here's a nice, true story (Score:2)
My Dad has a PC that my sister and I used to use for our homework assignments. One night, I was writing a paper on it, when all of a sudden it went berserk, the screen started flashing, and the whole paper just disappeared. All of it. And it was a good paper! I had to cram and rewrite it really quickly. Needless to say, my rushed paper wasn't nearly as good, and I blame that PC for the grade I got.
I'm happy to report that my sister and I now share an Apple Power
PAssion of pr0n! (Score:2)
Your chance to meet RMS, Linus, ESR, Maddog... (Score:2)
My deep abiding love for Windows (Score:5, Funny)
I find screens fascinating. Just by looking at a screen, you can learn anything in the realm of human knowledge. There is no limit to the things one can learn by applying yourself to screens.
When writing, I find the word "of" to be a significant help in stringing together words into coherent sentences. I am so grateful to my elementary school teachers for introducing me to this wonderful word.
I cannot get the idea of death out of my mind. It haunts me, it consumes me, it puzzles me. I think about it endlessly.
Is there any wonder why I have a deep and abiding love for Windows?
Sounds similar to GWB's town hall events (Score:5, Insightful)
You have a shot at talking to the president, but first you have to pledge support.
First Prize, a meeting with Bill Gates... (Score:5, Funny)
My hobby and passion... (Score:4, Funny)
Windows does it for me every time.
Thank you Windows.
samba or wine (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Who do I get to meet if I HATE WINDOS? (Score:3, Funny)
If that doesn't work, you get to meet Guido and Fat Tony.