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Tux Works for Microsoft?!

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the someone-will-pay-for-this dept.

Jadecristal writes: "From the contact info on the USB group contact page under Microsoft's record, one might get the impression that Tux worked for Microsoft. Perhaps he is being held against his will ... " Would any Microsoft employees care to disclose the whereabouts of a certain "Mr. Tux the penguin," and perhaps say which freezers he favors while in Redmond? Better yet, would any Microsoft employees like to comment on how many internal-to-Microsoft servers Mr. Tux currently powers?

21 of 212 comments (clear)

  1. I'll supply the weapons training... by ESR · · Score: 3

    ...if there aren't enough Geeks With Guns alumni
    already volunteering, that is :-)

    --
    >>esr>>
  2. Its more sinister than it appears... by PureFiction · · Score: 3

    Did anyone see their vendor ID #?

    Its 1118. As is readily apparent to anyone well versed in the satanic rituals, Shifted right by one in base 10, and then multiplied by 6 gives us.. *gasp* 666!

    Therfore, it is obvious that Microsoft is planning a cultish execution for our flightless mascot. Perhaps an infiltration is in order...

  3. Super OT: Interesting????????? by cancrman · · Score: 3

    Who the fsck moderated this as interesting??

    Funny. Yes
    Insiteful. Maybe (leaning toward yes)
    underated. no not really
    interesting. WTF??

    "Hmmmm. Well tux how did you feel being trapped by the microsoft consort."

    "Well Biff it was a pretty harrowing experience. honestly I've got to tell you at times it was a very insightful experence. I mean these microsoft guys can do the ctrl-alt-del vulcan nerve pince with only one finger, ALL AT THE SAME TIME! Guess they have practice, if you know what I mean (Nudge, Nudge). I mean these microsoft guys guys are a hoot, you should see Balmer's Gates impression.....

    Oh I was trying to work overrated and interesting in there but you know what? 10 budweisers take there toll on the moter reflexes after a while. And its really not all that funny anyways.

    "That's all the recycling daddy can do for one night dear...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz"

    Werd

    --
    The sole purpose of the Internet is to get porn and bomb making plans into the hands of children.
  4. Love it or LEAVE it by Gen-GNU · · Score: 3

    OK...this is off topic, I know. Moderate it down if you want to. Probably a good idea anyway... Maybe it's cause it's late and I'm still at work, or maybe it was just one too many of these 'slashdot isn't posting what I consider news for nerds' posts, but either way.. here goes.


    Jon,
    Your ceaseless barrage of non "news for nerds" and non "stuff that matters" articles are driving me up the wall!@#!
    Jon Katz must go!


    Firstly, not that it really matters, but Jon Kats didn't post this article. If you want to yell at someone, at least pick the right person.

    Secondly, (and more importantly), no-one is making you read /. If you don't like the articles, don't visit the page! What stupid sick pleasure do you get out of writing 'this posting sucks'? You not only took the time to read the story, but more time to write your useless comments on a subject that you supposedly don't care about. Here's a thought...If you don't like the stories, don't come back. Or come back less often. If the people in charge of slashdot see the number of hits dropping, they will get the idea that a number of people don't like what they have been posting lately.
    Alternatively, you could form a well crafted letter stating why you feel that a certain story or type of story does not belong on slashdot. Send that letter as an email to Mr Kats, or whoever you feel is appropriate, and try to effect real change.

    Simply posting a flame message saying Jon Kats must go! is about as intellegent as selling winblows at a Linux conference, and is likely to be about as well recieved.

  5. A hack? (or crack?) by thehermit · · Score: 3

    Looks like someone cracked into USB.org's member area and had some fun. USB's home page indicates that they're changing all members passwords as of today for "security reasons".

    Still, it would be nice to think at least one server in the microsoft.com domain is running a Linux kernel and Apache. You can just close your eyes and imagine the MS techies standing around the screen looking for NT server manager.....

    --
    thehermit
  6. Mark Williams is Tux??????? by morkeld · · Score: 3
    Someone changed the site recently... guess they noticed the /. effect

    Contact Information - Press Contact
    Company Name Microsoft Corporation
    Name Mark Williams
    Title
    Email markwi@microsoft.com
    Phone # 425-936-1964
    Fax # 425-936-7329

  7. Re:Shhh! Quiet!! by nicky+p · · Score: 3

    i personally don't think they needed the help...

  8. Re:His Info by CFN · · Score: 3

    Company Name Microsoft Corporation
    Name Mr. Tux The penguin
    Title Linux Mascot
    Email tux@linux.org
    Phone # 555.1212
    Fax # 555.1212


    Those bastards! Thats it, the next kernel should be named Bill_Gates!!!!!!

    Sorry about the repetition. I just learned the hard way that /. does not support tags.

  9. It comes with the job. by SkulkCU · · Score: 3

    I suppose by now it is now well known that Tux was actually sent in, and has been working as a spy. It is quite unfortunate (to say the least) that he was captured, but then again, I can't say I'm surprised it happened.

    Perhaps the policy of GPL-ing top-secret documents and spy communiqués should be reviewed and revised.

    --
    .sig last updated Jan. 14, 2000
  10. IT'S GONE (better formatting) by herb__kornfeld · · Score: 3
    IT'S GONE (Score:1) If someone saved it please post a link..if you saw it but didn't save it, please look in your cache..it might be there...do this : (all on one line!)

    find ~/.netscape/cache -not -type d -exec grep --with-filename [Tt]ux '{}' ';'

    Post this as informative...because it's a good tip about how to find stuff :) [ Reply to This | Parent ]
    --
    -- Why is there blue shit all over MY shit?! -Josh in Blair Witch Project
  11. mmm, lazy security by hatless · · Score: 4

    www.usb.org is a BSD box (BSDI/OS, IIRC). Given the syntax of the URLs for drilling down to the contact records, it looks like the info might be in some sort of X.500-style directory, probably LDAP, or maybe NDS or Active Directory. Possibly with a default or blank Root DN password, or some other such dopey move.

    If I didn't have to get some sleep, I'd check to see if I could get to it on the default LDAP port, seeing as telnet is open on the box.

    The sysadmin there needs to be bonked on the head with a stick.

  12. oh my gawd by Nastard · · Score: 4

    I just recieved a ransom note. It reads:

    "pleeze put m1cr0s0ft wind0ze 2000 on all y0r bawks3z 0r eye will k1ll tha p3nquin -mr gat3s-"

    I think it's Bill, but given the spelling and grammar, it may be our own CmdrTaco

  13. I've got a slack-7.0 box at Microsoft... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    For obvious reasons, I'm posting this as AC... :)

    I have to admit that the evil empire helps pay my rent on the 1st and the 15th of every month, but as I haven't seen anyone else step up and admit it, I will admit that I have a Slackware 7.0 box running on MS's network. The smb packages are your friend for connecting to domains and actually being able to get to all those nifty shares. :) People actually stop by my cube to talk Tux every now and then. MS isn't so anti-penguin as everyone leads everyone else to believe.

    MS even has a "Linux User Discussion" public folder in Outlook where the occassional question about "how do I get my box on the LAN, etc." gets fielded by several of us. If any other MS employees are running a box, we'd sure love to hear from you! :)

  14. Hmm... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5

    Remember the last story about the USB Forum? The one where people figured out various username/password combinations that had not been changed from the defaults...

  15. SCREENSHOT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5
    I didn't think to mirror the content, but I did capture my Netscape window while viewing the unmodified Microsoft vendor page.

    http://pangaea.dhs.org/tux.gif

    You can also get the TIFF file if you really want to see it in 24 bpp color.

    ---
    chahast at pangaea dot dhs dot org

  16. Rescue Planning Already in Progress by Skyshadow · · Score: 5
    Fear not, citizen. The all-stars of the OSS movement are already planning how to save Tux from the clutches of Microsoft.

    Here's Plan 0.8:

    Jon Katz will disable the guards at the perimeter of the Microsoft compound, putting them to sleep with a lengthy rant about how the internet will end tooth decay. Bob Young and Michael Coupland will steal past the security cameras in the main lobby, which will be looking for long-haired, hippie-looking OSS hacker types rather than guys in suits. Once Young and Coupland have breached building security, they will ssh out and irc with Eric Raymond, who will be providing fire support from a hill overlooking the MS campus. ESR will use his first-hand knowledge of the buildings (gained in his visit last year) to guide Young and Coupland to the central security office. Once at the security office, Young and Coupland will release Jamie Zawinski, who will entice the guards to leave by offering them free passes to his nightclub (years of working at MS will ensure that they look angstful enough to get in). The three will then attempt to do something useful on the W2k-based security system, causing it to come to a screaming halt. When the building is secured, Linus Torvolds will be brought in to locate Tux (after all, Linus has the uncanny ability to always move in the right direction). While Linus and his henchman search for Tux, Richard Stallman will move into position to cover the escape with an rant which will cause money-grubbing shrink-wrap licensing capitalists to burst into flames. When Tux is located, he will be hustled into the parking lot where John Carmack will be waiting to speed away to safety at speeds well in excess of 140 mph. When the last OSS Team member has evacuated the building, the Slashdot contributors will be brought in to flame the building to cinders, finishing it off with a corosive layer of hot grits. The confusion this will cause, combined with Carmack's rather insane mode of driving, will hopefully buy enough time to secure Tux at an undisclosed (but happily fridged an herring-filled) base of operations.
    Possible bugs with this plan include both the possibility that Coupland isn't actually serious about the OSS movement and will bail at the first sign of trouble and the chance that JWZ will bail before the operation is concluded. Patches to these problems are welcome.

    ----

    --
    Every year during my review, I just pray the words "slashdot.org" aren't mentioned.
  17. I'm forming a commando squad. Who will join me? by root · · Score: 5
    Ok men, here's the deal. The FreeBSD guys will create a diversion by staging a protest near the main gate demanding a port of MS Office to their platform. Second, Slashdot's main page will have all links pointing to random locations within *.microsoft.com. The masive /. effect will keep the MS IT goons off balance, and distract corporate management. Third, every Best Buy store nationwide will be simultaneously littered with flyers caiming "Free copies of Windows 2000 to the first 100,000 callers to 1-800-MICROSOFT". This will saturate all communications lines into the complex.

    Now while MS is busy, the Linux team will enter the compound, crash the WinCE running microsoft's security alarms and door locks by setting the date back to 12-31-99 and letting the clock roll over again, or by installing Explorer 5.0 or better yet, AOL Titanium. We will then move to the freezer section where the penguin is being held, free him, and get out before the crashed windows machines catch fire and fill the building with smoke. Stallman, (yes sir!) if there's time, you will go to the legal dept's office and replace the MS EULA with a copy of the GPL. And Young (yes sir!) you swap out the Win2K master CD on the assembly line with a Red Hat 6.3 distro cd.

    Ok, break!

  18. Mail? But Tux doesn't power their BSOD service by Morgaine · · Score: 5

    Well, some mail does actually make it out of Redmond, so clearly not all their servers run NT.

    But alas the Penguin just can't deliver the goods when it comes to really demanding services like BSOD. And, contrary to the usual bad press about Windows availability, the NT-based BSOD service boasts a 99.9% availability record over 5 years, totally unparalleled in the industry. Try beating that, Tux!!

    ;-)

    --
    "The question of whether machines can think is no more interesting than [] whether submarines can swim" - Dijkstra
  19. He's Free! by dysprosium · · Score: 5

    Looks like someone managed to rescue Tux. And replace him with Mark Williams.

  20. The light begins to dawn... by zeke · · Score: 5

    So Gates has been misquoted all these years.

    "64K (bugs) should be enough for anybody."

    - B. Gates

    zeke

  21. Shhh! Quiet!! by Harvey · · Score: 5

    Who do you think was responsible for the 65,000+ bugs in Win2K, fools??? And now you've blown his cover!!!

    Harvey