Through The Steve Ballmer Looking Glass 470
Class Act Dynamo writes "I was browsing for a video clip I saw the other day, and I came across this clip from 15 years ago of Steve Ballmer pitching windows 1.0 in a television commercial. All I can say is WOW. Apparently, there was a big demand for integrating "LOTUS 1-2-3 with Miami Vice." You'll understand when you see the clip." Let it not be said that Microsoft has no sense of humor.
sheesh... (Score:1, Insightful)
$99 then, $200+ now for Windows 1.0 (Score:3, Insightful)
What can I say? (Score:0, Insightful)
Re:I'm slightly untrusting. (Score:2, Insightful)
That's the point. It wasn't a joke then but it sure as hell is one now.... Now all we need to complete this whole trollish article is for someone to find the Windows XP with reboot Chimp pic and the troll will be complete.
Fucking Hell... Is it such a slow weekend that this drivel is making it on? WTF. People used to call me a slashbot and I think I'm slowly realizing wtf they're talking about. I'm sure that plenty of articles are being rejected en masse for the same reposted old stale ass drivel.
Someone start a goddamn poll on which editors need to be fired.
B
Re:This wasn't a TV commercial (Score:3, Insightful)
I had a job where they just had to do a "Weakest Link" takeoff at all company meetings, just because they happened to have a female marketeer with a British accent. Made me dread the meetings. She was a lot more attractive than Anne Robinson, but her impersonation sucked.
Re:1.0? (Score:2, Insightful)
Seems like it got modded funny because it is negative towards microsoft and windows xp.
Newsworthy? (Score:4, Insightful)
I really fail to see how this is News for Nerds or Stuff that Matters. It's just as bad as Bill Gates in 1983 Teen Beat Magazine [slashdot.org].
Editors, can we have a Childish Microsoft Bashing section so I can filter this crap from my frontpage?
Re:sheesh... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:1.0? (Score:2, Insightful)
I know, it has a reputation of being one of the most difficult to install and administer, because of the "guru" factor. I don't think that's accurate. If you're inexperienced when it comes to computers, I would suggest something with a stronger grounding in point and click. If you're well-experienced, then you might be more comfortable with Debian.
I grew up on DOS (except for my first experience, which was with a VIC-20 in 1984). I barely used Windows. Even after Windows95 came out, I refused to use it. I didn't start using Windows until Windows98 - and only begrudgingly. Not long after, I started playing with Linux. A friend/coworker introduced everyone in the office to it and a lot of us grabbed onto it and have been die-hard ever since (back in about 1998).
I played with Red Hat, mostly. I didn't like it. It didn't feel right and it was hard to figure out where things were for me. It felt kludgy. But then I got my hands on Debian. The only reason I bothered with Debian was that I knew Slashdot used it.
I LOVED it! I don't know why, but the whole process made so much sense to me. Maybe it was because dselect was a lot like ANSI-based BBS interfaces I used back in 1989 to 1996, when I ran my own BBS. All I know is that everything fell into place at that point. Even to this day, I still don't use a GUI on linux (unless it's ncurses or something). No xwindows for me.
A year and a half later, I was employed by the biggest UNIX company in the world, debugging their enterprise servers. All because Debian clicked and I latched onto it. It changed my life.
Debian may not be your thing, but if you prefer a command line and knowing where things are located and don't just want magical things to happen behind the scenes when you click on a button, you will probably love Debian. You can apply the glossy coat, too - but you'll dig the undercarriage.
My other preferred distro is Slackware. For exactly the same reason as Debian (except I'm a major fan of Debian's apt-get - I would hate to live without it).
Otherwise, I might suggest Gentoo. I played with that a bit and like it. It is very configurable and can be just as light or detailed as you want it to be. Their site offers much information on how to configure it at whatever level you care for.
Mandrake seems good, but I couldn't get it to work properly with my 23" HD Apple Cinedisplay LCD. It displayed the desktops at the prefered resolution (1920x), but only displayed in a *screen* resolution of 1024x768. That meant you had to mouse around the environment just to see the rest of the desktop. No amount of LineMode tweaking seemed to resolve it. Played with NVidia's custom linux drivers. Copied and tweaked configurations from a lot of resources on the net that used the same monitor (or in some cases had even successfully managed to do dual displays with such monitors!) . . . But I couldn't swing it in Mandrake. After a few days, I gave up - simply becuase I didn't have any more time to affort to that venture.
Anyway, you probably don't care about that if you're just using a regular monitor. So don't let that detract from your consideration.
I can't offer much in the way of Suse. I used Caldera back in the day, but not for long. A number of my colleagues use Suse and love it. I personally would not reccommend it to anyone as a first choice, but I have no solid justification for that.
I'd also suggest playing with Knoppix if you are very uncertain of linux and want to get your feet wet first.
I would also suggest checking out the various communities before commiting to a distro. That will play a large part in your experience with it. Mandrake, Gentoo and Debian all have magnificant communities and you will find ample assistance from people for all of them. Chances are that anything you run into, someone else has *and resolved*, too. Something to keep in mind.
Good luck and welcome to the club!
Re:1.0? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Newsworthy? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Microsoft ads always stink (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Many years (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:This wasn't a TV commercial (Score:5, Insightful)
I laughed. At first I laughed because I wasn't at the company meeting, so I thought the commercial was real and quite ridiculous. After I found out the truth, I laughed because it was clever -- and hey, how many CEOs are willing to make fun of themselves like that. Now, I laugh because slashdot fell for it, like I did.
Then again, being on the inside of a company that fulfills me intellectually with a dizzying variety of possible projects to work for, almost daily seminars on one topic or another, and the knowledge that my code will be run by millions of people, might make me a little more ready to have a good time and laugh.
Ye gods... (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time (Score:3, Insightful)
-M
Re:It all fits... (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:This wasn't a TV commercial (Score:4, Insightful)
Sure, but how does it feel to be on the inside of a company that is considered untrustworthy by IT experts the world over, that is reknowned for producing second-rate low quality software, that is famous for undermining competitors through illegal deals and threats rather than technical proficiency, and is without doubt the laughing stock of the industry?
You know, for all the brains and money that Microsoft has at its command, it amazes me that you guys continue to produce such crap.
Amateur.
Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time (Score:4, Insightful)
Wow, technology must have been really boring for you back then.
I remember thinking "HOLY CRAP a whole page a text sent across the country in less time than it takes to read it??? This is going to change everything!!!" and "wow it can draw stuff on the screen" and "wow it can make sounds" and "wow I can hook up a relay here and control the lights!".
I'm glad you're finally content with the state of things.
The rest of us are just as thrilled as ever and we're going to keep pushing ahead.
Re:This wasn't a TV commercial (Score:5, Insightful)
That is only one more reason not to work for Microsoft. Do they expect their employees to laugh? Like the post just after this one, I felt sorry for him. It's embarassing.
rbanffy, a while back you made the following statement. Have your forgotten?
Spoof videos are a tradition at Microsoft, both company-wide and within individual teams. Some are better than others, and they're all somewhat cheesy, but they're usually a good icebreaker and it's refreshing to see executives, management, and fellow employees willing to poke a little bit of fun at themselves. Quite often they involve inside jokes, and a better understanding of the personalities of the people in the video, so I guess it's not that surprising when they occasionally leak and people outside Microsoft don't get the joke.
Regardless, it helps keep employees from taking themselves too seriously.
Judging by a lot of /. comments, people here would be well advised to take your original advice. The religious ferocity that they defend open source and bash Microsoft and other entities that don't adhere to their world view -- even over silly things like spoof videos -- is rather... unhealthy.
Re:Triumph of the Nerds (Score:3, Insightful)
The only bad thing about is that there, IMHO, should be a chapter about "home computing", maybe alongside part 2 or as an additional notice. Now it only touches Apple I and II - but it really does not take note of the mad rush when *everyone* and his dog had their own home computer. Survivors were Commodore Vic-20 and C64, Amstrad, Spectrum and (in Japan and Finland
Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? (Score:5, Insightful)
It is plainly not the case that these accents are "completely different". They are after all all speaking the same language. Even if your well trained ear finds the comparison ludicrous, an untrained ear won't pick up on those differences.
For example. To a trained apple eater a Red Delicious is "completely different" from a Granny Smith. One's sweet, the other's tart. One's mealy, the other is firm. Yet any 5 year old can tell they're both apples.
So yes, the OP was ignorant when he said "british accent", but there's nothing wrong with that. There's so much information in the world that everyone is ignorant about almost everything. Have you ever complained about a help-desker with an indian accent? Did it ever occur to you that in a country as big and as old as india there will be many different dialects and accents? Can you distinguish between a Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Colombian, and Chilean accents? Can you tell which borough a New Yorker is from just from his accent? No? Well, that's ignorance.
But it's not stupidity. Stupidity is an inability to understand things. Like the fact that distinct things can have similarities.
Re:sheesh... (Score:2, Insightful)
Why?
A very good point can be very controversial, or against the grain. Why should that be punished?
What, are the geeks trying to conform to something?
Re:This wasn't a TV commercial (Score:3, Insightful)