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Mega-ISP Update: Layoffs At AOL, Voices At MSN

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the it's-also-easy-to-catch-a-venereal-disease dept.

rfc1394 writes: "There are two articles, the first article, in today's Washington Post, mentioned that AOL, having successfully digested Time Warner, is producing results of that digestion by additionally extruding almost 1,000 people in layoffs due to an anemic advertising market and a need to meet projected revenue goals of about $40 billion. A separate Post article mentions how Microsoft's online service MSN is having a woman named Shelley Reynolds create a series of spoken identifiers for its online service similar to AOL's famous 'You've got mail!' and identifies El Edwards as the man who is the voice behind the phrase. The second article also tells about the effect of sound on people with respect to technology, and the payments involved (Edwards reportedly got about $100; Reynolds will receive something under six figures.)"

6 of 186 comments (clear)

  1. Some Needed Msft spoken phrases by ch-chuck · · Score: 5, Funny

    They also need to come up with some soothing, high positive energy Aquarius phrases for the following:

    "This application has performed an illegal operation and will be shutdown"

    "Please wait"

    "Would you like to reboot now?"

    "We are going to MSN today"

    "I'm sorry Dave, I can't do that".

    --
    try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
  2. Audio decibel? by abischof · · Score: 5, Funny

    "It picks up a certain audio decibel [...]"

    What kind of non-sentence is that? Isn't that like saying that a bouler has "a certain mass kilogram"?

    --

    Alex Bischoff
    HTML/CSS coder for hire

  3. MSN spoken identifiers. by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    > MSN is having a woman named Shelley Reynolds create a series of spoken identifiers for its online service similar to AOL's famous 'You've got mail!'

    AOL: "You've got mail!"

    MSN/Win9x: "You've got mail! Now go tell your friends to use MSN!.

    MSN/WinXP: "You've got mail! Click here to pay $0.35 to read the first 1024 characters..."

  4. MSN Spoken Identifiers by zpengo · · Score: 5, Funny
    • "Hello! Welcome to Messin'!"
    • "You've got spam!"
    • "You've got porn!"
    • "You've got General Protection Fault!"
    • "I'm afraid I can't let you do that!"
    • "You've got pirated software! Now autodialing FBI..."
    • "Linux? That Page Cannot Be Found!"
    --


    Got Rhinos?
  5. Okay there, Shelley. by Mike+Schiraldi · · Score: 5, Funny

    "I honestly believe I have enough positive energy ? this is totally an Aquarius-type deal ? if I record these things thinking very positively, I kind of believe metaphysically it cheers people up. They'll get a positive hit," Reynolds says.


    I think Ms. Reynolds has taken a few too many positive hits herself.

    --

    --
    Mod up a post Rob doesn't like and you'll never mod again

  6. Spoken identifiers by canning · · Score: 5, Funny
    similar to AOL's famous 'You've got mail!'

    MSN- "You've got mail, are you sure you want to read it?"
    USER- *click yes*
    MSN- "Are you sure?"
    USER- *click yes again*
    MSN- "You must reboot"

    --
    I love the smell of Karma in the morning