Slashdot Mirror


Through The Steve Ballmer Looking Glass

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.

470 comments

  1. It all fits... by ScytheBlade1 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I believe I speak for everyone when I say..

    "That explains SO much."

    "All I can say is WOW." very...apt statment.

    "Apparently, there was a big demand for integrating 'LOTUS 1-2-3 with Miami Vice.'" no crap? I mean....whoa!

    "$500 dollars? $1000 dollars?" . . .

    You're right. I can no longer say that MS has no sense of humor.

    Oh how I wish that was a false statment...I mean, it even goes along with the new goatse.

    1. Re:It all fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And it all has this feeling of... authencity?

    2. Re:It all fits... by KevinKnSC · · Score: 5, Informative
      Oh how I wish that was a false statment...I mean, it even goes along with the new goatse.

      First, for the people too terrified to follow that link, it is safe for work and will not burn your retinas like the original goatse. Second, those pictures aren't actually for Teen Beat, as claimed, but were promotional, in some weird alternate reality where that kind of thing could help promote your product.

    3. Re:It all fits... by Rob+Carr · · Score: 1
      the new goatse.

      That was disgusting! Shame on you for posting a link to that picture!

      I'm going to have to wash my eyes out with soap. Ewww. I'm gonna puke.

      --
      This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
    4. Re:It all fits... by Bucket+Truck · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Did anyone call the number at the end of the ad? Does it get you MS or maybe Bill's private line?

      --
      Tongue: A variety of meat, rarely served because it crosses the line between a cut of beef and a piece of dead cow.
    5. Re:It all fits... by enosys · · Score: 4, Informative
      Regarding that picture: you should check what Snopes has to say on it:

      These images are actually publicity photos taken of the then 30-year-old Bill Gates coincident with the initial release of Microsoft Windows in 1985. The Corbis photo archive identifies their depiction thusly: "Bill Gates, CEO of Microsoft, reclines on his desk in his office soon after the release of Windows 1.0. 1985 Bellevue, Washington, USA."

    6. Re:It all fits... by QuaZar666 · · Score: 4, Informative

      I just tried calling it and it came back saying it is not a working number. :(

    7. Re:It all fits... by sjrstory · · Score: 1

      My retinas!

    8. Re:It all fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's legit, it was made for the 1985 company meeting.

    9. Re:It all fits... by SenorChuck · · Score: 0

      Did anyone else notice the Mac Plus sitting in the corner of one of the photos on the snopes site? Wouldn't that be similar to taking a Stanley tool, making a mold of said tool, and using that mold to make and sell your own tools?

      You know that Mac probably wasn't sitting there because he had so much love, admiration, and need for it.

      --
      A wise person makes his own decisions, a weak one obeys public opinion. -- Chinese proverb
    10. Re:It all fits... by macdaddy357 · · Score: 1

      I was surprised to see that even back then Ballmer had no hair, and looked like Zippy the Pinhead.

      --
      How ya like dat?
    11. Re:It all fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      1) This was already discussed on slashdot. http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/01/18/151024 8
      2) Yes, we all noticed it.
      3) His first release was for the friggen Apple II, not IBM compatable PCs, get some research.

    12. Re:It all fits... by bonch · · Score: 1, Insightful

      That's because it's not really an ad. Just an internal company joke. This is the second time Slashdot has fallen for an anti-Microsoft joke from a submitter. First, the fake "Teen Beat" magazine story, and now this "ad."

    13. Re:It all fits... by JabberWokky · · Score: 1
      in some weird alternate reality where that kind of thing could help promote your product.

      That reality is generally referred to as "the 80's". The original Mtv, Reganomics, the Bangles and Max Headroom all make those pictures look rather staid. Besides, that was when PCs were the new, hip thing, bringing down the big companies because even the smallest business could afford what, a decade ago, took millions of dollars to buy and a team of engineers to keep running.

      --
      Evan

      --
      "$30 for the One True Ring. $10 each additional ring!" -- JRR "Bob" Tolkien
    14. Re:It all fits... by Curtman · · Score: 2, Funny

      This is the second time Slashdot has fallen for an anti-Microsoft joke from a submitter

      Uh huh, and Monkey Boy was just a bad dream too right?

    15. Re:It all fits... by spacerabbits · · Score: 0

      says how?
      Is Bill G. in the room? :-)

      --


      fortune is my favourite linux command
    16. Re:It all fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Oh how I wish that was a false statment...I mean, it even goes along with the new goatse.

      AIEEE!!!

    17. Re:It all fits... by paganizer · · Score: 1

      for anyone who has trouble seeing it, I set up some non-evil versions (quictime, DivX, MPG) at http://www.changestorm.com.nyud.net:8090/downloads /Ballmer.htm
      100% guaranteed goatse free.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    18. Re:It all fits... by theLastPossibleName · · Score: 2, Funny

      it is safe for work

      My company's website filter denied access to the link to the wmv file. It put it in the "violence" category. It saves me from Steve Ballmer but it fails to save me from goatse??? Go figure...

    19. Re:It all fits... by BasilBrush · · Score: 1

      Do your tonsils get sore rubbing against Gates purple helmet?

    20. Re:It all fits... by paganizer · · Score: 1

      Damn.

      Newbie mistake. I am SOOOO ashamed.

      here it is without the spaces.

      --
      Why, yes, I AM a Pagan Libertarian.
    21. Re:It all fits... by Hognoxious · · Score: 1

      Think that's bad? Try this. I don't fancy yours much.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    22. Re:It all fits... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "...even the smallest business could afford what, a decade ago, took millions of dollars to buy and a team of engineers to keep running."

      Ironically, it still requires a team of engineers to keep Windows running.

    23. Re:It all fits... by FuzzyBad-Mofo · · Score: 1

      I beg to differ. It may be safe for work, but a lounging doe-eyed Bill Gates is not exactly recommended for ocular health.

    24. Re:It all fits... by Bongoots · · Score: 1

      "[...] Bill Gates reclines on his desk in his office [...]"

      So is that how he's amassed his fortune? I must start practicing this and see how far it gets me.

      First attempts show that it is hard to use a computer when you are leaning on it... and especially if you are behind the screen :\

    25. Re:It all fits... by KevinKnSC · · Score: 1

      Well, I wasn't suggesting you get it blown up to poster size to hang on your wall. I just think you'd have to really hate Microsoft to put that picture in the same league as goatse.

    26. Re:It all fits... by SenorChuck · · Score: 1

      1) Angry much?
      2) I was simply amused by the Mac in the background. Billy G got his ideas from somewhere.
      3) I didn't know about that thread. I'll make sure I search the previous 50 years of Slashdot before I ever post my amusements again.
      4) Here's your Prozac. Have a great day slashing other comments.

      Come back when you've got something better to do than cut someone down because you're being a grouch.

      --
      A wise person makes his own decisions, a weak one obeys public opinion. -- Chinese proverb
  2. But WAIT there's MORE! by da3dAlus · · Score: 1

    Actually, not really.

    --

    Sometimes I doubt your commitment to Sparkle Motion.
    1. Re:But WAIT there's MORE! by flewp · · Score: 2, Funny

      Weird that I saw this here on Slashdot today. I was just looking at it earlier today, when I was cleaning up some of my files, and chuckling to myself about it.

      The best part is when he mentions that it has a clock.

      --
      WWJD.... for a Klondike bar?
    2. Re:But WAIT there's MORE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right! When it comes to Windows there is actually less than meets the eye.

  3. And now for a limited time offer! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Billy G will personally steal your idea AND take over your company!

    1. Re:And now for a limited time offer! by Scaba · · Score: 1

      OK, boys - buy him out!

      (Obligatory Simpson's reference)

    2. Re:And now for a limited time offer! by Spassvogel · · Score: 1

      don't forget slap a patent on it, bully everybody to recognize it, and give otu discounts to all his pissed off major accounts fixing to jump ship to open source.

      and if that doesn't work, donate funds to countries or nedical care (in return for setting up internet service with windows PCS) and call it charity.

      course that trend of "charity" wasstarted by ted turner, who donated a billion to hte uN when countries started threatening ot pull him of the airways in thier countries and asked other billionaires to "give more", but that's another debate...

  4. Funny? by Saxton · · Score: 3, Funny

    Let it not be said that Microsoft has no sense of humor.

    But that's not funny! :-)

    -Aaron

    --
    My name is Aaron Landry, and I approve this message.
    1. Re:Funny? by Stonent1 · · Score: 1

      Anyone who has seen the MS Matrix spoof can attest to their sense of humor.

    2. Re:Funny? by fm6 · · Score: 4, Funny
      Doesn't count. Making bad jokes is not any sign of a sense of humor. Rather the opposite. Standard Buffy reference:
      Anya : OK. A man walks in to the office of a doctor. He's wearing on his head, um, oh wait, there's a duck, is that right?
      Guy From Audience: You suck!
      Anya : Quiet, you'll miss the humorous conclusion.
    3. Re:Funny? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Quoting a terrible teen drama is not going to help prove your case, I'm sorry. It did, however, make me laugh.

  5. Funniest crap by fuzzdawg · · Score: 1

    I've seen in a long time. LOL

    --
    Sig* sig = theOneSig();
  6. Old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    I saw this, like, 15 years ago.

    1. Re:Old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Just Imagine a SNL sketch of this starring Linus making fun of it

    2. Re:Old by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      Long time Microsoft droi^H^H^H^H employee huh?

    3. Re:Old by DeVilla · · Score: 1
      I saw this, like, 15 years ago.

      Like, where? Nebraska?

  7. Yes there is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    He forgot to mention BSOD and hundreds of virii and worms at no added cost.

    1. Re:Yes there is... by the_mad_poster · · Score: 2, Informative

      Actually, there are tens of thousands of worms and viruses out there. Several thousand unique worms and viruses (when you exclude variants).

      No, not all of them run on Windows, but most of them.

      --
      Alito: A vote for Alito is a punch in the eye to put that bitch back in her place!
    2. Re:Yes there is... by LO0G · · Score: 1

      Hey, there were no Windows 1.0 viruses or worms.

      Windows 95, yes, but Windows 1.0? Nope.

      There wasn't a WWW, and DNS was only 1 year old at the time... There were maybe 2000 hosts on the internet.

    3. Re:Yes there is... by gl4ss · · Score: 1

      yeah, but didn't dos viruses work beautifully back then?

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    4. Re:Yes there is... by LO0G · · Score: 0

      Maybe.

      But there weren't Windows viruses.

      Don't forget that the first big worm (the Morris worm) didn't hit until about 4 years after this.

    5. Re:Yes there is... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      How old are you? I ask because you appear to be blissfully ignorant of the hundreds of DOS boot-sector viruses which spread themselves around long before the widespread adoption of the Internet. Let's also not forgot the rash of Visual Basic macro viruses which were common for a short while back in the mid to late nineties. They didn't rely on a network to spread either.

    6. Re:Yes there is... by gl4ss · · Score: 2, Informative

      windows wasn't an OS back then, just something that ran atop MS-DOS.

      the normal viruses of that day spread through boot sectors and piggybacking on dos programs - and were plentiful enough. there's no 'MAYBE' about it.

      ambulance...

      and are we talking about viruses or worms anyhow?

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    7. Re:Yes there is... by EvilNecro · · Score: 1

      Funny thing, I was cleaning out my home office and came across my original box of "The Norton AntiVirus" Version 1.0. From the box "Runs under MS/DOS (PC/DOS) 2.1 or higher". "Includes both 3 1/2 and 5 1/4 disks" WooHoo!
      Wonder if I can still get updates for it....

    8. Re:Yes there is... by OSgod · · Score: 1

      And if memory serves this was when wave after wave of Mac viruses shut down the computing labs at colleges within minutes. -- It's true-- usually the virus was carried by floppy by a student, unknowingly, moving from macine to machine as each one died. it would take about 10 minutes for a lab of 50 machines to be useless.

    9. Re:Yes there is... by LO0G · · Score: 1

      I'm plenty old enough. There were hundreds of DOS based viruses. And hundreds of Mac based viruses. And no Unix viruses (to my knowledge).

      And absolutely no Windows based viruses. The virus writers never bothered to write viruses that could infect Windows executables.

      The root cause of all of those viruses? File swapping on dial up BBSs. They weren't self propogating, the user had to install them.

    10. Re:Yes there is... by LO0G · · Score: 1

      gl4ss: My point exactly - there were no Windows viruses.

      So a Windows advertisement wouldn't mention them.

      Would you expect a Mac advertisement to advertise all the Mac init viruses that went around then? In 1985, viruses were a far bigger problem for Mac users than they were for PC users (Mac users seemed to download stuff from BBS systems more than PC users did - mostly little system utilities etc).

    11. Re:Yes there is... by GrahamCox · · Score: 1

      windows wasn't an OS back then
      and still isn't! :)

  8. Is this real?? by goneutt · · Score: 1

    Okay, I guess a small firm might use a low budget format like this, but hadn't M$ already make good money from MS-DOS sales.

    /. will teach the eBaums webmaster not to post microsoft stuff.

    --
    Bacardi + slashdot = negative karma.
    1. Re:Is this real?? by ocelotbob · · Score: 3, Informative

      I've got my doubts as to the legitimacy of the video, however, this could have been made for the tradeshow circuit, instead of the television circuit. Trade shows have been known to have slightly off-kilter advertisements in there, such as parodies of TV commercials, and this would fit in fairly nicely.

      --

      Marxism is the opiate of dumbasses

    2. Re:Is this real?? by appleLaserWriter · · Score: 1

      (1) It was probably for an early company meeting. Microsoft often casts Steve & Bill in various skits, then plays back the skits at the annual company meeting.

      (2) Microsoft makes a ton of money, but spend as little money as necessary (sometimes less).

  9. 1.0? by StevenHenderson · · Score: 4, Funny
    Steve Ballmer pitching windows 1.0 in a television commercial

    Judging from the way my XP machine behaves, they still have yet to reach that 1.0 milestone... :)

    1. Re:1.0? by ScytheBlade1 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Funny thing about your comment. Please, review with me.

      A) This is slashdot, aka linuxfest.
      B) You just suggested that they have yet to hit their 1.0 milestone
      Then..
      C) You say, and I quote, "from the way my XP machine"

      *blink*

      So. Is there any reason that you're using the pre-1.0 milestone? ;)

    2. Re:1.0? by StevenHenderson · · Score: 1

      Plan on making the migration to Linux this week, actually! Recommendations for a n00b? I was thinking Suse...

    3. Re:1.0? by Kenshin · · Score: 2, Funny

      Judging from the way my XP machine works, maybe you need to remember that CDs go in the drive SHINY side down.

      --

      Does it make you happy you're so strange?

    4. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      what! you mean the summary was MISLEADING!!! i am truly outraged!

    5. Re:1.0? by MaGGuN · · Score: 2, Insightful
      What is that supposed to mean anyway?

      Seems like it got modded funny because it is negative towards microsoft and windows xp.

    6. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      D) ???
      E) Profit

    7. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Or Mandrake!

    8. Re:1.0? by Mad+Merlin · · Score: 0
      I started out with Mandrake. I'd say it's a very good distro for those new to Linux. It has a very solid installer, and has a good compromise between being friendly and letting you get at the raw guts if you want to.

      I haven't tried Suse myself, so I can't say much about it, but I've heard good things about it also.

    9. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't need to know which "side" to insert the CDs, my 5.25" drive can read/write on both sides.

    10. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But can your mother?

    11. Re:1.0? by Seumas · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I know this is completely off topic, but here is my suggestion: Debian.

      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! :)

    12. Re:1.0? by jbrader · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Ubuntu its based on Debian so it's got all that apt goodness but the installer is way easier to use and the community (ubuntulinux.org) is really great. And as a good cherry on top they'll even ship you a pressed cd with the install disk and a live version.

      --
      You are so boring that when I see you my feet go to sleep.
    13. Re:1.0? by aichpvee · · Score: 0

      It's just more bad moderation on slashdot. Should have been modded Insightful.

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
    14. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ha Ha, You are teh funny! It is so funny to make fun of M$!

      Too fucking bad they're laughing all the way to the bank.

    15. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone can't provide the Gates family with oral services, which apparently is the only way to get an XP installation to behave.

    16. Re:1.0? by eno2001 · · Score: 1

      I'd like to tell you where to insert something... ;P

      --
      -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
    17. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      FreeBSD.

    18. Re:1.0? by eno2001 · · Score: 1
      Too fucking bad they're laughing all the way to the bank.

      And? How does that have any bearing on anything? Some of us aren't into computers to make money or "win" anything. We're into computers because we like what they can do for us and the free/open software world allows us to use them to fuller advantage. Sure it takes more work to do it than it would with Windows. But it also takes more effort to build a nice piece of furniture than it does to go to Ikea and buy some. Which would you rather have? The custom built piece or the prefab piece that rolled off a conveyor belt? I'd rather have the custom built piece myself. But that's just me. I hope you found this educational. :P

      --
      -"...bad old ideas look confusingly fresh when they are packaged as technology" - Jaron Lanier (Digital Maoism on Edge.o
    19. Re:1.0? by XchristX · · Score: 0

      If u want to install Debian, easiest way to do it is by booting into a knoppix cd & doing "sudo knoppix-installer". That way, you won't have to go thu that horrible, buggy and inaccurate Debian Installer (It couldn't detect my scsi controller or my graphics card or my eth0, but knoppic could). After installation, lo and behold, u have a complete debian distro in ur harddrive in less than an hour!

      --
      l'Homme n'est Rien l'Oeuvre Tout: Gustave Flaubert to George Sand
    20. Re:1.0? by hdparm · · Score: 1
    21. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How interesting that you were the only one who felt the need to spend so much time in justifying that choice..

      Don't listen to him. Use Mandrake if it's your first distro.

    22. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Recommendations for a n00b?

      Go with FreeBSD, and do so for the following reasons. First is the amount of documentation available. It's very extensive. Second is the package management system. You have available binary packages or you can compile everything from source (what I did). It doesn't take as long as the binary package zealots claim. The tools are easy to use and powerful. Ports acts as an enormous dependency tree, and the binary packages are produced from ports commands--it's quite logical. Next, is the configuration. Many of the ``user-friendly'' Linux distributions get their supposéd ease of use from custom GUI configuration tools that edit both standard and nonstandard text files in hard-to-predict ways. Although ease of use is important for a newbie, it's just-as or more important that you learn how to edit things on a low level, too. Finally, the standard OS in the next years won't be Linux based. It won't be FreeBSD, either, but FreeBSD is closer to it than Linux is, and you'll benefit by getting a head start.

      If you insist on using Linux, I recommend staying away from Mandrake. Ubuntu or Fedora would be the best suggestions for a good combination of easy and powerful. Slackware is more powerful and just as easy to use, but only once you've acquired the configuration skills Mandrake abstracts away from you. Debian would be a good suggestion, too.

      Lastly, if you do decide to go with Linux, start looking at the Linux From Scratch books. The LFS and BLFS books are the documentation that should come with every open source project. Extensive doesn't touch it. You'll gain more from blindly following the LFS book than you will from using Mandrake for a year.

    23. Re:1.0? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      You failed to mention that Debian supports GNOME, KDE, and fluxbox. It's not that hard of a step for someone to go from the command line debian you are talking about, to a mostly point-and-click one.

      Me, i grew up with DOS but latched right onto Win95 (being close to 12 at the time...). I used the command prompt a lot, whenever windows decided it didn't want me to do something. I still use the command interpreter in windows XP. When using Debian, i prefer the point and click interface, but i do like to be able to get "dirty" in a command line, and the whole PTY system kicks ass (i love it - too bad im an addicted gamer with tastes linux games are failing to meet)

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    24. Re:1.0? by X0563511 · · Score: 1

      They will ship as many CD packages as you want, for no cost whatsoever. I have 10 of them in shipping now, to hand around.

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    25. Re:1.0? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 3, Funny

      My Windows 2000 CD has a hologram on the top surface, which is considerably more shiny than the data surface, and hence goes into the drive shiny side up. Trust Microsoft to make things more confusing than they need to...

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    26. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      .....
      ./configure --prefix=/usr
      make && make install

      Now we're going to install libtool, this can be
      trick so it best to follow the instructions here;

      ./configure --prefix=/usr
      make && make install

      Now we move onto........

    27. Re:1.0? by agraupe · · Score: 1

      If you're addicted to games, do what I do... have a gaming box running windows with all your games, and when you're ready to upgrade to your next gaming box, take the old one and convert it over to linux. Complete with a KVM switch, you now have a linux desktop for work, and a windows box for gaming :)

    28. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Recommendations for a n00b?

      Windows XP

    29. Re:1.0? by apt142 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Not if it's been pira^h^h^h^h. No, you are completely right.

    30. Re:1.0? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      My copy of XP is shiny on both sides, you insensitive clod!

    31. Re:1.0? by Joshua53077 · · Score: 0

      I called the phone number and it isn't working. Does anyone know how I can get my hands on this innovative product? I've never seen a screen that allows me to see windows on it. I'm done with appleworks and my Apple II, I'm moving to the company that innovates. Hello Microsoft!

    32. Re:1.0? by Kehvarl · · Score: 1

      Judging from the way my XP machine works, maybe you need to remember that CDs go in the drive SHINY side down.

      Ah HAH! That's the secret. Everytime I put the CD in shiny side up, it goes through this absolutely horrific ritual that I somehow cannot stop myself from completing. When it's done I have windows XP installed. Now I know the secret. We know how to beat them!

      Shiny Side Down!

  10. sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    its "stories" like this that keep me from becoming a paying subscriber. Mildly humorous but the blatant, useless MS bashing from a submission with no news quality whatsoever is juvenile and unbecoming for the business that is slashdot.

    1. Re:sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you must be new here.

    2. Re:sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Meh, they'd have to do a lot better to get me to subscribe. The play-school version of liberal politics and silly MS bashing are pretty much part of the ambience, but easily ignored. The constant dupes, IRC style spelling and grammar, self righteous bleating of Michael, and poor performance of the site itself are the things that make it not worth paying for.

    3. Re:sheesh... by aichpvee · · Score: 0

      I don't think this counts as MS bashing. Ballmer is just really funny. But maybe you're just a windows fanboi and can't tell the difference.

      --
      The Farewell Tour II
    4. Re:sheesh... by Chapium · · Score: 1

      I guess it depends on your idea of what the "business that is slashdot" should be. Sure this isn't a BBC forum, but would you want it to be?

    5. Re:sheesh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      That is not said or implied in the complaint, juvenile and unbecoming behavior for a business were what he mentioned.

      The fact is that the sophomore humor and mindless bashing have long since gone stale. A liberal political slant and fan point of view are expected and anyone complaining about the fact that Slashdot has a pro-linux slant is at the wrong site, but the constant flow of this sort of story is more attractive to the 'M$ sucks' variety of Linux fan than someone actually interested in the technology, philosophy, advocacy, or real world effect of FOSS.

    6. Re:sheesh... by Scaba · · Score: 1

      It doesn't keep you from reading it, though, does it?

    7. Re:sheesh... by X0563511 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This is why i believe "flamebait" moderation should be +/-0, rather than -1.

      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?

      --
      For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
    8. Re:sheesh... by stinerman · · Score: 1

      Feel free to change it in your settings then ...

  11. $99 then, $200+ now for Windows 1.0 by Bs15 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    According to this commercial, it was priced at $99, now if you want a vintage copy of M$ Windows 1.0, its $200+. Take a look on ebay.

    1. Re:$99 then, $200+ now for Windows 1.0 by fusionpit · · Score: 0

      Abandonware proponents argue that such software is more ethical to make copies of than new software that still sells. Some who are ignorant of copyright law have incorrectly taken this to mean that abandonware is legal to distribute; no software is old enough for its copyrights to have expired, and even in cases where the original company no longer exists, the rights still belong to someone.

      http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abandonware

  12. Our prices are _INSANE_ by maggotbrain_777 · · Score: 1

    Reminds me of the Crazy Eddie electronics outlet commercials, that used to air on the east coast in the early 80's.

    1. Re:Our prices are _INSANE_ by MushMouth · · Score: 1

      Uh, isn't that the point?

    2. Re:Our prices are _INSANE_ by maggotbrain_777 · · Score: 1
      Somehow, I'm not surprised that someone has a Crazy Eddie tribute site Crazy Eddie
      Here is one of their commercials for viewing pleasure(real player only):

      Crazy Eddie commercial

    3. Re:Our prices are _INSANE_ by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Too bad Ballmer and Gates didn't go to jail like Crazy Eddie.

  13. Thank god for wireless by joel8x · · Score: 4, Funny

    I clicked on that wile browsing from my throne (laptops with wireless connections = the new newspaper folded under the arm) and essentially saved myself from pissing all over myself.

    --
    Sound waves should be free!
    1. Re:Thank god for wireless by csguy314 · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah. phew... only pissed all over the laptop... that was close.

      --
      This is left as an exercise for the reader.
    2. Re:Thank god for wireless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      wait, so you were on slashdot in the restroom?

      I will never touch another person's laptop ever

    3. Re:Thank god for wireless by strredwolf · · Score: 2, Funny

      I take it you were recreating the MIT Athena Bathroom Cluster?

      --

      --
      # Canmephians for a better Linux Kernel
      $Stalag99{"URL"}="http://stalag99.net";
    4. Re:Thank god for wireless by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Funny

      Before you flush. . . .Imagine a Beowulf Clusterr of those.

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    5. Re:Thank god for wireless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      At least he didn't piss on a spark plug ...

    6. Re:Thank god for wireless by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You must have CompleteCare

    7. Re:Thank god for wireless by fritter · · Score: 2, Funny

      Please tell me you did this at home. Were I at work, and I walked past a men's room and heard Steve Ballmer screaming wildly and another guy giggling uncontrollably, I'd quit that day.

    8. Re:Thank god for wireless by Kippesoep · · Score: 1

      Hmmm... you could wipe your "exhaust" with the newspaper when you're out of toilet paper. I'd like to see you do that with the laptop (well, not actually see it).

  14. Where's the audio? by IO+ERROR · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who can't hear the audio on this file? I've tried totem, xine and vlc, and nothing wants to play the audio...

    --
    How am I supposed to fit a pithy, relevant quote into 120 characters?
    1. Re:Where's the audio? by jfengel · · Score: 3, Funny

      And I cannot even begin to explain how much happier you are for that fact.

    2. Re:Where's the audio? by name_already_taken · · Score: 5, Funny

      Works great in Windows Media Player. I guess that's what you get for trying to save $99.

      --
      Putting moderation advice in your .sig lowers your karma!
    3. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Have you tried playing something else, just to make sure all the right volume controls (PCM, master, the one on your hifi) are turned up?

    4. Re:Where's the audio? by digitalchinky · · Score: 1

      er, you could try windows media player :-)

    5. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try using a real operating system.

    6. Re:Where's the audio? by deviantonline · · Score: 1

      xine just played the clip fine for me

    7. Re:Where's the audio? by enosys · · Score: 1

      According to WMP 10 the audio is: Windows Media Audio 9.1 16 kbps, 16 kHz, mono (A/V) 1-pass CBR

    8. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Mplayer says
      Selected audio codec: [ffwmav2] afm:ffmpeg (DivX audio v2 (ffmpeg))

      Would be interesting to see how many different codecs could actually decode that.

      Video it claims is
      Selected video codec: [ffwmv1] vfm:ffmpeg (FFmpeg M$ WMV1/WMV7)

    9. Re:Where's the audio? by MaGGuN · · Score: 1
      Hah, Microsoft didn't even get _that_ right. From what you are saying, one would have to buy their product to hear their commercial, how stupid is that?

      It is sort of like the support service that names a website for support, when you call for help because internet isn't working. (Yes, it IS equally stupid)

    10. Re:Where's the audio? by superpeach · · Score: 1

      audio worked fine here with totem, even though I had no idea I had totem.. or what totem was. I was expecting gst-player to appear and crash.

    11. Re:Where's the audio? by Frankie70 · · Score: 1

      Am I the only one who can't hear the audio on this file? I've tried totem, xine and vlc, and nothing wants to play the audio... Nah, I can hear it fine. You probably have an *IOERROR*.

    12. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      it plays on kaffeine... so it should play on xine.

    13. Re:Where's the audio? by Quattro+Vezina · · Score: 1

      Hmm...it's working fine with my Xine-based player (Kaffeine 0.4.3b, using xine-lib 1.0 RC8).

      Have you tried upgrading xine-lib (I'm not even using the current version, and it works tho)?

      --
      I support the Center for Consumer Freedom
    14. Re:Where's the audio? by mibus · · Score: 1

      Works great in Windows Media Player. I guess that's what you get for trying to save $99.

      $99? I thought the going rate was $699? ;-)

    15. Re:Where's the audio? by thomasdelbert · · Score: 1

      It's only $99? Wow! I was thinking $500 or mayeb $1000! Cool!

      - Thomas;

      --
      ___ This sig is in boldface to emphasize its importance!
    16. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Shut up, hippie free-faggot.

    17. Re:Where's the audio? by XchristX · · Score: 0

      Try on the plf build of mplayer. Works fine. Warning: Only view said video if you have a very strong stomach. I've seen horror movies that frightened me less!

      --
      l'Homme n'est Rien l'Oeuvre Tout: Gustave Flaubert to George Sand
    18. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Try plugging in your speakers and/or headphones.

      -MS Tech Support

    19. Re:Where's the audio? by daemonmonke · · Score: 1

      Eh, make sure you're running Totem/Xine on a proper OS, boss. Windows don't play 'dat. :-P

      P.S. Mplayer here, Gentoo, it's all good... except for the video. That was... sad.

    20. Re:Where's the audio? by Feztaa · · Score: 1

      Played fine for me in gmplayer, requires the binary codec pack, though.

    21. Re:Where's the audio? by nmk · · Score: 1

      LOL. You moron, the WMV file is not a Microsoft Download. Its from an unrelated site that happens to be distributing the commercial in WMV format. The "commercial" was not meant to be aired, and was probably originally recorded in VHS format.

    22. Re:Where's the audio? by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      Really? It doesn't work in Windows Media Player on the Mac. Actually, I have yet to find a single file / stream that does play in Mac WMP that doesn't play in VLC (and a large number of things for which the reverse it true).

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
    23. Re:Where's the audio? by MaGGuN · · Score: 1

      Sorry mate, the moron would be you. My post was not meant to be taken literally, it is ironic by being obviously stupid. Additionally, using irony, I tried to illustrate some of the stupid (moronic in your words) nonsense we see from certain /.'ers. And my point is proven by your response.

    24. Re:Where's the audio? by DrWhizBang · · Score: 1

      Just so you know you're not crazy, I have the same problem with totem/xine (totem-xine-0.99.22-1.1.fc3.fr, xine-0.99.3-2.1.fc3.fr, xine-lib-1.0.0-1.1.fc3.fr). Played it three times before I decided to try mplayer, which worked fine.

      --
      Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
    25. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right. The old "I meant to do that" routine.

    26. Re:Where's the audio? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      HAHAHAHA nice...

  15. Would you buy a used car from this man? by lutefish · · Score: 1

    Assuming, that is, the EULA didn't prohibit resale. That was disturbing. But the XT brought fond tears to my eyes, as did reversi.

    --
    Amor omnia vincit. Occasionally.
    1. Re:Would you buy a used car from this man? by altstadt · · Score: 1

      It's Cal Worthington and his dog Spot!

      If you wanna good car, go see Cal
      If you wanna good car, go see Cal...

    2. Re:Would you buy a used car from this man? by vraicovi · · Score: 1

      Pretty sure that was an AT. I just don't remember the reset/turbo buttons on the front of them...

  16. This wasn't a TV commercial by TheKingAdrock · · Score: 5, Informative

    There are at least a dozen of these videos floating around, some starring Bill & Steve together. They were made for the amusement of the employees and played at the yearly company meetings.

    1. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Ah, that explains the things like 286-DOS and the Nebraska reference. Couldn't believe they would actually air that stuff...

    2. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by rbanffy · · Score: 0

      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.

    3. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by fm6 · · Score: 2, Insightful
      Careful what you record, it may come back to haunt you.

      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.

    4. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by jd · · Score: 3, Funny

      No, they were made in case the DoD or FBI needed to torture geeks.

      --
      It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
    5. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by SenorChuck · · Score: 1

      Embarassing? Watching that clip gave me the jimmies. Brrrr! I'd laugh if I wasn't petrified from the absurdity of it all!

      --
      A wise person makes his own decisions, a weak one obeys public opinion. -- Chinese proverb
    6. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by dioscaido · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Do they expect their employees to laugh

      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.

      /if the parent isn't flamebait, then neither am I, right? :)

    7. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh come on. It was hilarious! Ballmer was born do to cheesy commercials. "And, can you believe it, Reversi that's right, all these features and Reversi!"

    8. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Feature request: Stop satisfying your intellectual curiosity and fix some fsckin' security holes! 75% of my day is spent fighting spam bots thanks to your awesome company's shit products.

    9. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Moofie · · Score: 1

      "and the knowledge that my code will be run by millions of people, "

      Whether they like it or not....

      --
      Why yes, I AM a rocket scientist!
    10. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Admin your boxes properly and you won't have to spend time fighting spam bots.

    11. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by nathanh · · Score: 3, Insightful
      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.

      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.

      /if the parent isn't flamebait, then neither am I, right? :)

      Amateur.

    12. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by cooldev · · Score: 4, 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?

      One should never take himself or the world too seriously. Fundamentalists do it and we can all see what the consequences are.

      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.

    13. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by spitzak · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      Well, no duh, captain obvious. No, it's not a real commercial. Bet you think you are real smart for figuring that out.

    14. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And of course your code never had bugs.

    15. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by mattgreen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Good call! Maybe someone will read this and realize there is more to this world than open source software.

    16. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And of course this one guy is wholly responsible for any misgivings Microsoft have. Yeah, I'm sure he's not technically proficient at all and personally was responsible for undermining and threatening rivals.

      Calm down dear.

    17. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by rbanffy · · Score: 0
      rbanffy, a while back you made the following statement. Have your forgotten?
      One should never take himself or the world too seriously. Fundamentalists do it and we can all see what the consequences are.

      But it was not funny! It was horrible! Terrifying. My jaw dropped. I wouldn't show it to my kids. I am usually the first one to make fun of myself (and of others), but I wait until I have a good argument to do it.

      And when the CEO does something like this, how adversely would one's carreer be impacted if he or she said it's a bad joke? ;-) The idea of being transfered to Microsoft Bob support scares me.

    18. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      Oh you're right...I forgot to enable the "stop accepting spam" option on my FreeBSD mail servers.

    19. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0


      The MS employee was trying to make MS sound like a virtual utopia for coders, while the parent was just pointing out that they have some pretty serious flaws which history suggests are harder to see from the inside.

    20. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Kehvarl · · Score: 1

      Good call! Maybe someone will read this and realize there is more to this world than open source software

      More to this world than open source? Well, I suppose there's hardware. oh, and pr0n. In connection with that last one, there -are- the absolutely intriguing creatures called "girls".

      I see your point. There is definitely more than open source software. /me ducks the lash and gets back to work.

    21. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by gstoddart · · Score: 1
      Maybe someone will read this and realize there is more to this world than open source software.


      Is it porn? =)

      --
      Lost at C:>. Found at C.
    22. Re:This wasn't a TV commercial by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Dickhead.

  17. What can I say? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    I actually felt sorry for him when I saw it.

  18. You are not the first to have found this by bersl2 · · Score: 1
  19. Except in Nebraska? by wwwgregcom · · Score: 1, Interesting

    If I ever saw a line that is going to adore slashdot comments for months to come, there it is.

    I can see it now.

    I for one welcome our new (INSERT ADJECTIVE RELEVANT TO NEWS STORY HERE) overlords, except in Nebraska!

    Or.

    In Soviet Russia, the blank, blanks you! Except in Nebraska!

    --
    What signature defines me as a person?
    1. Re:Except in Nebraska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I think you were trying to say "adorn"

    2. Re:Except in Nebraska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I wonder if the "except in Nebraska" joke was a reference to Microsoft VP Jeff Raikes, who is from Ashland, Nebraska...

    3. Re:Except in Nebraska? by jdray · · Score: 1

      In Nebraska, only old people...

      --
      The Spoon
      Updated 6/28/2011
    4. Re:Except in Nebraska? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny
      You're right. He's probably using an auto-spell check, as even a quick perusal would have picked up the mistake.....except in Nebraska!

      ahhh...let the fun begin.

    5. Re:Except in Nebraska? by fyrewulff · · Score: 1

      Yeah, being from Nebraska, I was wondering what he meant by that..

      --
      "We need to get over this notion, that, for Apple to win... Microsoft must lose." - Steve Jobs, 1997
    6. Re:Except in Nebraska? by covertlaw · · Score: 1
      Just Google the phrase "except in Nebraska". Thousands of websites, from warranty disclaimers to various age restrictions on contests to bicameral legislature will pop up that include the magic words, "except in Nebraska". Nebraska doesn't allow for voluntary disclaiming implied warranties, you must be 21 to participate in most contests, and they have a unicameral (one Senate, no House) legislature.

      I'm graduating from law school here in three months and then I'll be able to get as far away from this God-forsaken Husker Nation as possible. Go Sooners!

    7. Re:Except in Nebraska? by Sepper · · Score: 1

      Well, nice idea.... Guess it's time to edit the Subculture page... Except in Nebraska

      --
      I live in Soviet Canuckistan you insensitive clod!
    8. Re:Except in Nebraska? by Phisbut · · Score: 1
      Just Google the phrase "except in Nebraska". Thousands of websites, from warranty disclaimers to various age restrictions on contests to bicameral legislature will pop up that include the magic words, "except in Nebraska". Nebraska doesn't allow for voluntary disclaiming implied warranties, you must be 21 to participate in most contests, and they have a unicameral (one Senate, no House) legislature.

      We have about the same thing in Canada with the "except in Québec" thing. Any online "contest", or basically anything that you can win "for free", whether it's based in Canada or in the U.S., it always say: "Residents of the U.S. and of Canada (except Québec) are eligible..." or stuff like that...

      That's because government controls all gambling here, and you need to get a licence to be allowed to let a resident of Québec claim a prize, and most people (especially in the U.S.) don't care about us in Québec so they don't bother to get the licence... ... those damn cheap ****, won't let me get something for free... *mumble* *grumble*

      --
      After 3 days without programming, life becomes meaningless
      - The Tao of Programming
    9. Re:Except in Nebraska? by RomulusNR · · Score: 1

      Actually, I get mostly references to the unicameral system... and people with joke disclaimers including it for comedic effect.

      And something about Warren Buffet insisting its the best place to do business in America.

      --
      Terrorists can attack freedom, but only Congress can destroy it.
  20. I'm slightly untrusting. by endersdouble · · Score: 1

    Considering that this is from Ebaum's World, I find it hard to believe it's not just a joke/fake.

    1. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by beacher · · Score: 1, Insightful
      Considering that this is from Ebaum's World, I find it hard to believe it's not just a joke/fake.
      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

    2. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by Ohreally_factor · · Score: 2, Funny

      What's even worse is that this will get reposted sometime this next week. It'll go right inbetween the third repostings of "Sony Admits Error" and "Deep Inside the Cell Architecture".

      Someone start a goddamn poll on which editors need to be fired.

      What, so we can complain about the lack of a Cowboy Neil option?

      --
      It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
    3. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You people are uptight about the smallest details here. Oh i frogot, this is slashdot.

    4. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by LocoSpitz · · Score: 1

      What happened to the Cowboy Neil option, anyway?

    5. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by Kufat · · Score: 1

      Actually, it was a joke then, and it still is now. Internal company joke, to be specific.

    6. Re:I'm slightly untrusting. by TheRaven64 · · Score: 1

      If you look at the screen, there are a few images where windows are shown overlapping - a feature not supported by Window 1.0. It may have been real with faked screenshots, but it certainly wasn't Windows 1.0 running on the computer.

      --
      I am TheRaven on Soylent News
  21. Microsoft has always had a sense of humor... by CliffH · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... look at their product linueup. :)

    --
    sigs are like a box of chocolates, they all suck remove the underscores to email me
    1. Re:Microsoft has always had a sense of humor... by glenebob · · Score: 4, Funny

      Yeah... And the way they laugh every day during the commute to the bank...

  22. This is old news ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    I saw this vid about ten years ago. Ballmer didn't make it for use on TV -- it was shown at an internal Microsoft sales-team meeting. You know -- pump 'em up. Monkeyboy could do well selling used cars, methinks. Just the sort of person who can take a mediocre systems-software company and turn them into a globe-trotting monopoly.

    1. Re:This is old news ... by djfray · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      mod parent down: redundant and troll. not informative

      --
      This sig is o Unfunny o Funny
    2. Re:This is old news ... by Minwee · · Score: 1

      Or into a global monopoly with the trots.

      It's just about the same thing.

    3. Re:This is old news ... by MonkeyBoy · · Score: 4, Funny

      But I don't want to sell used cars.

      --

      Moof!

    4. Re:This is old news ... by wannabgeek · · Score: 0

      Just the sort of person who can take a mediocre systems-software company and turn them into a globe-trotting monopoly.

      Just curious, what were you trying to do while in M$ sales? Not the same thing? ;-)
      Arguably, he is good at his job ;-)

      --
      I'm much more funny, interesting and insightful than the moderators think
    5. Re:This is old news ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Just the sort of person who can take a mediocre systems-software company and turn them into a globe-trotting monopoly."

      Perhaps IBM should hire him.

    6. Re:This is old news ... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Wow! I wish they had a section in /. that shows other "informative" post such as this parent. I leaned a lot. Thanks.

  23. How much do you think its worth? by racerxroot · · Score: 5, Funny

    The crazy talking head on the television asked me several times how much i thought it was worth. I kept saying "nothing" but he just kept talking. Crazy man. im scared.

    --
    --- Caffeine is directly responsible for some of my greatest ideas, and some of my most embarrassing moments...
  24. All this for... by Faust7 · · Score: 2, Funny

    $99... same price as XP Home Edition I believe.

    Which also still has Reversi.

    1. Re:All this for... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually it has Internet Reversi!

    2. Re:All this for... by StarWreck · · Score: 2, Funny

      Actually WindowsXP only comes with "internet reversi" which only allows you to play multi-player. So no single player and no play at all without an internet connection.

      --
      ... and in the DRM, bind them.
    3. Re:All this for... by toddestan · · Score: 1

      I just tried running the Windows 1.01 executable on Windows XP. Windows doesn't recoginize it as a valid program, and it doesn't run.

      Windows XP actually recognizes the version from Windows 2.03 as a valid executable for an ancient version of Windows, and presents a dialog box saying that it may or may not work right and asks if I want to run it anyway. If I tell it OK, it doesn't run though.

      Sadly, by Windows 3.11, it appears that Microsoft decided that Reversi was no longer an important feature, and no longer included it with Windows.

    4. Re:All this for... by isomeme · · Score: 1

      Damn. All this time I've been crowing about running Win2k, the best OS ever to ooze out of Redmond. But the stupid thing is missing Reversi! I knew there had to be a catch.

      --
      When all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a skull.
    5. Re:All this for... by andreyw · · Score: 1

      Google around - there needs to be some minor patching to be done to the philes to get them to work under Windows XP. I'm sure that you'll even be able to find the patched versions.

    6. Re:All this for... by WWWWolf · · Score: 1

      You might want to check out the "Sick Windows Tricks" page, which has the ancient Windows apps monkeyed to work with modern Windows versions.

      Right now, I'm still running Win98SE to play games and do ocassional video trashing. (actually I just got a new comp and haven't even yet bothered to move the Windows partitions over... strangely long Linux uptime too...) There hasn't been much reason to upgrade, really. But if Longhorn (or any intermediate XP-based cashcow release) comes with single-player Reversi, yeah, I'll be upgrading *right* away! =)

  25. Yes. but... by aardwolf204 · · Score: 1

    Only old Koreans use Windows 1.0

    --
    Im dreaming ofa big bndwdth, That can resist the /.crowd.May ur days b merry & bright & may al
    1. Re:Yes. but... by Crash24 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Only old Koreans use Windows 1.0

      Except in Nebraska.
    2. Re:Yes. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But In soviet russia, only Beowulf Clusters from Nebraska are run.

    3. Re:Yes. but... by Crash24 · · Score: 1

      But In soviet russia, only Beowulf Clusters from Nebraska are run.

      Nice shot...but as a Slashdot cliche it should be:

      In Soviet Russia, Beowulf Clusters of Natalie Portman in hot grits run YOU! I for one welcome our old email-reading Korean overlords. Except in Nebraska.

    4. Re:Yes. but... by Moocowsia · · Score: 1

      Ahh yes.. But in Soviet North Korean controlled Nebraska Windows 1.0 only uses old people.

      --
      Moo!
    5. Re:Yes. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Can anyone explain the origin of the "In Korea, only old people yadda yadda?"

    6. Re:Yes. but... by martyn+s · · Score: 1

      There was once a slashdot story with the headline "In Korea only old people use e-mail" talking about the common use of SMS among kids. Someone suggested that this should be the new "In soviet russia..." joke. I think I was the first one to use the "In korea only old people...." joke in another story.

    7. Re:Yes. but... by skinfitz · · Score: 1


      Except in Nebraska.

      And lo, another Slashdot meme was created, and the readers saw it, and it was good.

      Now do we have to license it from Microsoft before using it?

    8. Re:Yes. but... by RoceKiller · · Score: 1

      Only old Koreans use Windows 1.0

      Except in Nebraska.

      Old Koreans don't use Windows 1.0 in Nebraska?

    9. Re:Yes. but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      I think I was the first one to use the "In korea only old people...." joke in another story.

      you bastard. The editors didn't need too much help screwing up Slashdot, but you had to go ahead and help, right?

  26. Mirror Here by nuxx · · Score: 1

    Per usual, I've mirrored the video here.

    Although, this really looks like a fake... I'm not sure why, but something doesn't sit right about the info at the end and the product ordering. Or maybe it's just me.

    -Steve

  27. And that's not all..... by bartron · · Score: 1

    What?.....no steak knives?

  28. Gives me the jibblies by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The way he hauntingly trails off with "except for Nebraska..." and an eerie stare will be with me to the end of my days.

  29. Ahhhh by GarbanzoBean · · Score: 1, Funny

    Ctrl-Alt-Del
    Ctrl-Alt-Del
    Ctrl-Alt-Del

    Please make it go away. Blue screen of death anything pleeeeeeze.

  30. Wow. by Geek+of+Tech · · Score: 1
    It's like the Oxy-clean, Billy Mays of Software.

    --
    Stop the Slashdot effect! Don't read the articles!
    1. Re:Wow. by bani · · Score: 1

      billy mays is at least sorta convincing. ballmer makes you want to run away and hide. the video isn't even the slightest bit funny, it's just sad and pathetic.

  31. Linux by Seumas · · Score: 1

    Someone needs to put together some humorous Linux "commercials". For the in-crowd, it would be hilarious. For the rest, it would be potentially good advertisement. If there are any that I've simply not seen, please offer links.

    1. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      http://www.ubergeek.tv/article.php?pid=54

    2. Re:Linux by bofkentucky · · Score: 1

      The IBM linux ads with the boy "assimilating" knowledge were great, unfortunately, it is kind of pointless if you don't know what linux is. Sorry, couldn't find any copies of the video, but it was amazing.

      --
      09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
    3. Re:Linux by Seumas · · Score: 1

      Yeah, I remember those ads. The ones with the little aryan-boy that looked like he stepped straight out of "The Good Son". :D

    4. Re:Linux by bofkentucky · · Score: 1

      Yep, that's them.

      random text to beat the filter

      --
      09f911029d74e35bd84156c5635688c0
    5. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      IBM linux ads.

      http://img.slate.msn.com/media/75/orphan_100k.asf

      just one of the few they made, somebody needs to make a torrent of these and put them on exeem or something.

    6. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Like this?
      http://homepage.mac.com/osxpert/Movies.html

      It's not exactly pro linux though...

    7. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The IBM linux ads with the boy "assimilating" knowledge were great, unfortunately, it is kind of pointless if you don't know what linux is.

      Not quite pointless -- it made a lot of people ask about "this Linux thing?". I personally saw that happen. :)

      And if it did happen to be their first exposure to "Linux", it sure was a better first impression than hearing a rant from a real life challenged computer enthusiast... (Not referring to /. crowd with that, of course!)

    8. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please not "humorous", let's shoot for good taste first... Witty sure, but not "humorous". Something hilarious for the in-crowd could be pretty damn bad or just sad in the eyes of the rest.

      A humorous IBM commercial would work, because they have more street credibility than twenty Chow-Yun Fats. They would benefit from looking more humane, flexible, understanding, whatever showing a sense of humor conveys in an ad.

      But Linux (perceived as a brand) doesn't have that kind status yet. The ads shouldn't be dead serious, boring, and static, but we can't go to the pie in the face phase yet. Something futuristic, stylish, with a real message... oh wait, I'm describing what IBM did ;-)

    9. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I downloaded this with wget and played it with mplayer running on FreeBSD-5.3, running on a computer that's never had Windows installed on it.

    10. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Good for you. Want a cookie? There's nothing you can't play if you don't care about patent issues or licence restrictions.

    11. Re:Linux by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you're gonna write stuff like that, write it right.

      "You can play anything as long as you are not restricted by method patents and copywrong licenses"

  32. My Eyes! by StarWreck · · Score: 2, Funny

    You fiends! After watching Balmer in this horrible commercial I was forced to push a 30 watt soldering iron through each of my corneas. I will never see again thanks to this slashdot article!!!

    --
    ... and in the DRM, bind them.
    1. Re:My Eyes! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      maybe it's for the better though? I mean, if you can still successfully post a comment here without being able to see, i think it's safe to say you've be here too long.

    2. Re:My Eyes! by Corbie · · Score: 3, Funny

      And somehow, even without the use of your eyes, you made less spelling and grammar mistakes than the average slashdotter.

    3. Re:My Eyes! by Xpilot · · Score: 1

      I will never see again thanks to this slashdot article!!!

      Nah, that's just because you surfed for too much pr0n. I bet you have hairy palms too.

      --
      "Backups are for wimps. Real men upload their data to an FTP site and have everyone else mirror it." -- Linus Torvalds
    4. Re:My Eyes! by erc · · Score: 1

      I actually looked. Pathetic.

      --
      -- Ed Carp, N7EKG erc@pobox.com PGP KeyID: 0x0BD32C9B What I'm up to: http://intuitives.mine.nu
    5. Re:My Eyes! by irg1231491 · · Score: 0
      You fiends! After watching Balmer in this horrible commercial I was forced to push a 30 watt soldering iron through each of my corneas. I will never see again thanks to this slashdot article!!!
      God, you sure suck at Simpsons references.
    6. Re:My Eyes! by StarWreck · · Score: 1

      NOT a simpson's reference. Just completely random. Weirdo.

      --
      ... and in the DRM, bind them.
  33. Well that was interesting by digitalgimpus · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's good to see Microsoft did at least one appearance on TV without Windows Crashing.

    1. Re:Well that was interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They didn't. It was a mock-up with Unix underneath and a full screen photo on the X server ;)

    2. Re:Well that was interesting by STrinity · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's good to see Microsoft did at least one appearance on TV without Windows Crashing.

      That's only because Windows 1.0 was incapable of displaying a blue screen.

      --
      Les Miserables Volume 1 now up with my reading of
    3. Re:Well that was interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    4. Re:Well that was interesting by skinfitz · · Score: 1

      When Steve is on screen it's usually him that crashes and burns.

  34. Windows is the same as the begining by TK2K · · Score: 0, Troll

    Alright, this is something kinda feeky, but i can make Windows M.E. boot in 3.1 mode!!
    Boot to dos, edit:sys.ini (or was it system...) change "Explorer.exe." to "Proman.exe" restart your computer, and you have windows ME running program manager instead of explorer!
    That meens there is windows 3.1 code running around in an OS released in 1999, thats just pathedic!

    1. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      If you investigare, you'll actually see that the Program Manager you boot is a 32-bit release. I don't know if it's based on the Win16 one ported, or the Progman from Windows NT 3.x. There are 16-bit code in Me, but you can't prove it that easily.

      If you use Drivespace, sometimes Windows will run in a special mode with 16-bit code (the drivespace exe itself is 16-bit) and a slightly adapted 3.1 UI (title bars in center, that kind of signs) and possibly no real 9x code at all, AFAIK.

    2. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by shumacher · · Score: 2, Interesting

      There's a progman.exe in XP sp2, (\windows\system32\progman.exe) but I can't get the thing to run. I've used progman.exe in ME before. It's been updated with each release of windows and is probably kept for legacy purposes.

    3. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by Frankie70 · · Score: 1


      There's a progman.exe in XP sp2, (\windows\system32\progman.exe) but I can't get the thing to run. I've used progman.exe in ME before. It's been updated with each release of windows and is probably kept for legacy purposes.


      I think progman.exe can still be used as the default shell by tweaking some registry settings though I haven't tried it.

      Other than that, some legacy setup programs rely on being able to start Progman.exe & install some icons on it.

      Plus, there are a lot of icons available in progman.exe which can be used otherwise.

    4. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by ben_rh · · Score: 1

      It's there in Win2K as well.

      I just wine'd /mnt/win2k/winnt/system32/progman.exe and got an ugly old Win3.1-esque program manager. It was useable as well.

      Well, when I say useable, I mean it ran. Notice the distinction between that and 'usability'.

      The only difference i could see between that and the 'real' Win 3.1 program manager i used in the old days were that Wine saw to it that the fonts were antialiased. ;)

    5. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by idiot900 · · Score: 1

      Hm. Works for me, and brings back painful memories of Windows 3.x. I shuddered as I created a program group and put an item in it...

    6. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by rabtech · · Score: 3, Informative

      progman.exe in Windows XP is just a stub to intercept DDE calls and process launches for Explorer, typically for older Windows 3.x programs that were written to depend upon its presence.

      The number of appcompat hacks, workarounds, et al is really very staggering. Linus has the benefit of just changing something and telling everyone to fuck off when their stuff breaks. Microsoft has paying customers that don't take kindly to the same sort of treatment.

      --
      Natural != (nontoxic || beneficial)
    7. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by spongman · · Score: 2, Informative

      progman.exe in XP exists mainly to provide a DDE bridge so legacy programs' installers can put shortcuts in the start menu using the old (win3.1) API.

    8. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
      The number of appcompat hacks, workarounds, et al is really very staggering. Linus has the benefit of just changing something and telling everyone to fuck off when their stuff breaks.

      That, and the fact that a) we're relying on very stabilized things (*NIX hasn't changed that much over the years), and b) few people in OSS world are creating New Cool Ground-Level Technologies just because there's a market pressure to make ourselves look like we're "doing something"... Microsoft releases a new API every week, OSS folks release a new version every week :)

    9. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by The+Angry+Mick · · Score: 1

      Man, I know how some folks hate change, but, holding onto a circa 1994 program is a little extreme. What kinds of programs are we talking about here?

      --

      I'm not tense. I'm just terribly, terribly, alert.

    10. Re:Windows is the same as the begining by cnettel · · Score: 1

      Quite a few install programs for the first year or two of Windows 95 used those interfaces to create program groups (i.e, Start menu folders). Newer software from small firms using old installshield versions and similar stuff probably did the same still around 98-99. Suddenly, it doesn't seem that old.

  35. What the... no slashdot effect? by Wayne247 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I don't get it.

    Slashdot posts a story with a link that goes (almost) directly to the file. And then it's 5 minutes later and the server happily crunches over a hundred kilobytes per second.

    Now either eBausmworld knows how to put up a content server, or slashdot just lost its edge.

    1. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      ebaumsworld is huge. It probably has the bandwidth of slashdot or more. I would safely bet that more people visit ebaumsworld per day than slashdot, or at least that they use more bandwidth because all ebaumsworld does is host movies and larger such files.

    2. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 5, Informative
      According to Alexa, ebaumsworld has a higher traffic ranking than Slashdot, at ~500 as opposed to ~1000. Furthermore, as the AC pointed out, it serves mostly multimedia files: flash, audio, and video. It uses *way* more bandwidth than Slashdot does.

      I've spent several hours perusing their collection of funny/shocking videos. Once you start, you find it hard to stop. Also a few of their celebrity prank calls are hilarious. Be sure to use Firefox, though. It's a rather shady site, and you're guaranteed to at least get millions of popups in IE, if not several spyware installations. If you use Firefox, you won't have problems.

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    3. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's a rather shady site, and you're guaranteed to at least get millions of popups in IE, if not several spyware installations. If you use Firefox, you won't have problems.

      Ebaumsworld definitely has popups, I'll give you that, but I wouldn't go so far as to call them shady. XP SP2 pop-up blocker and I never have any popups on their website. I have also been checking out Ebaums through Internet Explorer on a weekly basis (updated every Friday) for a long time now, and have never had any problem with their site. Of course you might have trouble getting spyware on your system if you like clicking on the monkey, possibly installing their toolbar, or other stupid things like that, but only if you go out of your way. Spyware isn't going to suddenly appear on your system by just viewing their website through IE. No need for the fearmongering.

    4. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by mcrbids · · Score: 1

      According to Alexa, ebaumsworld has a higher traffic ranking than Slashdot, at ~500 as opposed to ~1000.

      What are you talking about? Where would I go to get this kind of information?

      --
      I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
    5. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by Spy+Hunter · · Score: 2, Informative

      Alexa.com. That means that ebaumsworld.com is about the 500th most visited site on the Internet, and Slashdot is around the 1000th most visited. Look here. It's a useful tool, as far as you want to trust their statistics (probably not too far).

      --
      main(c,r){for(r=32;r;) printf(++c>31?c=!r--,"\n":c<r?" ":~c&r?" `":" #");}
    6. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'd just like to point out that it's not "their" content, as ebaum has a bad history of stealing other peoples' content, removing any trace of attribution and plastering ebaumsworld.com across it.

    7. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by BJH · · Score: 1

      Once you start, you find it hard to stop.

      You're not kidding... I've been there a couple of times before, but seeing it mentioned again made me visit it one more time:


      $ pwd /home/bjh/tmp/ebaum
      $ ls -1 | wc -l
      58
      $ du -sk .
      111632 .
      $


      That site is like friggin' crack...

    8. Re:What the... no slashdot effect? by ro0sta · · Score: 1

      Thanks to anonymous above for clearing that up. I work for eBaum's World and I can honestly say that we have a strong stance AGAINST spyware. Our toolbar is also spyware-free, in fact, the IE version (a Firefox version is in development right now) has a feature that makes some registry changes that help prevent browser hijacking and such, we call it SafeSurf.

      Now the popups, thats another story....but we gotta pay the bills somehow....you can't buy "Slashdot Effect Immunity" for cheap these days....

  36. Selling Lemons by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Once a Used Car Salesman, always a Used Car Salesman.

  37. It's a FAKE by Spaceman40 · · Score: 1

    Check the P.O. box for one thing: 286-DOS? Yeah, right. For another, Lotus 1-2-3 was a competing product, and wouldn't have been "included" with Windows at all. (In fact, the only programs included were MS-DOS Executive, Calendar, Cardfile, Notepad, Terminal, Calculator, Clock, Reversi, Control Panel, PIF (Program Information File) Editor, Print Spooler, Clipboard, RAMDrive, Windows Write, Windows Paint - some of which were featured.) The price is right, however, at $100 or so, but when Mr. Ballmer was hired in June of 1980, he was hired as a finance/org/resource person, not a marketer or salesman at all. (He wasn't moved to "Office of the President" 'til 1992) I can understand the confusion, though - it's pretty-well put together... I guess...

    --
    I [may] disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.
    1. Re:It's a FAKE by razmaspaz · · Score: 2, Funny

      Since you live in nebraska you got the crappy version of windows. If you had lived anywhere else you would know that 1-2-3 was bundled. Guess you really missed out on the deal.

      --
      I tried for 5 years to come up with a clever sig...only to realize that I am not clever.
    2. Re:It's a FAKE by jstaylor11 · · Score: 1

      Windows, or the commercial?

    3. Re:It's a FAKE by baker_tony · · Score: 1

      My god, I'm not sure if you're serious about pointing out that it's a fake, or you're just trying to be funny... :-)

  38. Simple question. by Man+in+Spandex · · Score: 1

    Why Nebraska?

  39. Oh man! by ftgow · · Score: 0, Funny

    If that bald bastard wasn't so personable, Microsoft wouldn't have had such a monopoly!

  40. Actually, yes, thanks /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Uh... some of us on the "real" internet (since '95, not that I'm bragging) have better things to do than dig around in Google for old Microsoft ads. That said, I'm glad this got posted. I've sure as hell never seen it, and none of many techish friends have ever mentioned it. I'll sure be showing it around. I would have never guessed that old MS ads were like low-budget car-lot ads... no wonder the original mac ad seemed so incredible.

    1. Re:Actually, yes, thanks /. by mr+i+want+to+go+home · · Score: 1
      This is actually a 'joke' ad.

      People don't go around thinking that Steve B and Bill were the stars of the 'original' Matrix, do they? But just like the Microsoft-Matrix video, this was done for the pure amusement of Microsoft.

    2. Re:Actually, yes, thanks /. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Saw the posting about it not being a real ad after I posted... of course. Three cheers for not reading all the comments before posting. Still funny though, and still glad someone posted this "ancient" bit of history on /..

  41. is it me by Tibor+the+Hun · · Score: 1

    or does WMP suck ass at compressing at low bitrates?

    --
    If you don't know what AltaVista is (was), get off my lawn.
  42. o.O by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    return -ECOMPLETELYPOINTLESS;

  43. Many years by northcat · · Score: 2, Informative

    The video had been on that site for many years. So now that some random guy came across the video, he puts it on slashdot and it makes it to the front page. What's the need? Slashdot is a *news* site.

    1. Re:Many years by Detritus · · Score: 2, Informative
      Slashdot is a *news* site.

      That's what you think. You forgot "allegedly".

      --
      Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
    2. Re:Many years by notanatheist · · Score: 1

      It usually has to do with the slow weekends. You can get anything geeky or MS related posted on a weekend.

    3. Re:Many years by koko775 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Uh, no. I don't believe Slashdot posts up a lot of original or complete stories. It's a *discussion forum* as evidenced by the fact that "stories" are posted with links to other stories and there's a HUGE amount of space for comments. Slashdot is for discussion. Discuss.

  44. Except in WTF? by Pingsmoth · · Score: 1

    Shoot, I live in Nebraska. Curse you Steve Ballmer!

    --
    http://www.walkingtaco.com
  45. eBaum's World? Please. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    eBaum's World is one of those "HAHA PENSI OLOL" pretten "humor" sites that re-compresses all their videos to 32 kb/s, gives no credit to the original artist, and puts up their name in every possible position. I wouldn't be surprised if there was spyware somwhere in the loop too. Google for a version that hasn't been bastardized by WMV.

    1. Re:eBaum's World? Please. by Yufice · · Score: 1

      So what the fuck is a pretten?

  46. still the same by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Steve Ballmer is still the same cheezy salesman. has not changed a bit, except he lost his hair...

    1. Re:still the same by Sophrosyne · · Score: 1

      Coke can do that to you- and I don't mean the soft drink.

    2. Re:still the same by Mycroft_VIII · · Score: 1

      Tottaly off topic here, but Coke-a-Cola got it's name from the fact they used to add cocain to thier product. They latter got sued for substituting caffine, don't remember if it was a false advertising suit or what, or even what the outcome was.

      Mycroft

      --
      https://signup.leagueoflegends.com/?ref=4c3ed6600b6ea
  47. I will now buy Windows. by ubrayj02 · · Score: 1

    Having been a user of Microsoft operating systems since elementary school, and having never actually purchased a copy myself - I think that this sort of balls-out funny advertisement...

    Well I actually think that I like Windows now. Even though I hate it (I really hate it). This ad makes me love it.

    If the last shot was the mailing address in the form of a "Fatal Error" I think the ad would be complete.

    I will now go out and buy Windows.

  48. Clip shown on TOTN by chiph · · Score: 5, Interesting

    The clip was included in Robert X. Cringely's Triumph of the Nerds series on PBS in 1996. It was as funny then as it is today.

    Chip H.

  49. No wonder their products are what we know! :D by borfast · · Score: 1

    Well, after seing both this video and The Funny Steve Ballmer Video Thing">the ones on this page, I now understand why Microsoft products are... well... you know :P

  50. Download the latest Xine-lib by rsilvergun · · Score: 2, Informative

    the 1.0 release plays it just fine. Either that or the latest mplayer should be able to handle it. WMV's kind of a moving target, you've got to constantly update your software to play it....

    Oh, and Totem and xine use the same back end (xine-lib) so if one can't play it, the other won't (unless you've got something screwy going on where they're using different library paths). Just a heads up....

    --
    Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
  51. Microsoft must REALLY hate their employees by fussili · · Score: 1

    If what has been said about it being an internal video is true then it just joins "Developers, Developers, Developers..." and 'I love this company' in the "Horrible vault of Microsoft Internal Movies". Can you imagine being subjected to that? Even those three instances over 20 years would be too much for me. I shudder to think that there may be more that haven't surfaced.

  52. Re:Where's the audio? xine by cyber_rigger · · Score: 1

    My audio for this works fine with xine.

    I'm using debian sarge.

    I also have mplayer installed.

    Here is my /etc/apt/sources.list entry for mplayer

    deb ftp://ftp.nerim.net/debian-marillat/ unstable main

  53. THANK YOU HERCULE POIROT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    You have solved the case!

  54. ironry by countach44 · · Score: 0

    It's encoded in wmv, oh the irony.

  55. Newsworthy? by Fortress · · 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.

    Editors, can we have a Childish Microsoft Bashing section so I can filter this crap from my frontpage?

    1. Re:Newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Two articles doesn't make a trend. It's two different editors too, so they probably each found a joke that was exceptionally funny to them. I found both things funny, but I laugh at lots of stuff.

      It's better than yet another TCO shootout or some other crap that purports to be reasonable.

    2. Re:Newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Simply remove the "Funny" category from the frontpage in your options. It seems you already removed it from your sense of humour.

    3. Re:Newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny


      Would you have preferred a story about a Bill Gates spread in Man Meat Magazine?

    4. Re:Newsworthy? by dont_think_twice · · Score: 1

      Editors, can we have a Childish Microsoft Bashing section so I can filter this crap from my frontpage?

      We do. It is just called the "Microsoft" section.

    5. Re:Newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      mod parent "+1 A-Fucking-men".

    6. Re:Newsworthy? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      sure, use the microsoft company proxy.

      it blocks slashdot.org.

      and what are you doing surfing slashdot on company hours? you know that ballmer will have your arse for this.

      crips, msft employees astroturfing in slashdot, who-da-thunk?

    7. Re:Newsworthy? by Fortress · · Score: 1

      We do. It is just called the "Microsoft" section.

      Is this a joke or are you serious? I've wondered why there isn't a "Microsoft" section, seeing as about 20% of all /. stories seem to be about MS.

      Tried http://microsoft.slashdot.org but it just leads to the front page. If you click the Gates/Borg image, you get directed to a search page with MS as merely another business. I don't see a way to easily filter MS stories from what I see on the front page, like I can for Linux, Apple, BSD or any of the other topics listed in the Sections bar on the left of the page.

    8. Re:Newsworthy? by stanleypane · · Score: 1

      The word "News" is taken too literally sometimes. The advertisement is more than interesting to many and very humorous at the same time.

      Several folks have already pointed out that this is old and that's it been in the media several time in the past. PBS was one such station that apparently included it in a documentary by Robert Cringley. Unfortunately, Slashdot probably gets more visitors in a day than PBS has viewers. It'd be nice if someone had numbers to compare.

      I think posting an article like this on Slashdot is just fine by the community standards. Just look at the number of comments it's received compared to the "Google Plans Free VoIP In the UK" story just above it.

      Sometimes, the "News" can be used as an entertainment outlet. Turn on your local news station and you'll see entertainment pieces everywhere. You'd be naive to think otherwise.

  56. User error.

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
  57. Browser Racism by eander315 · · Score: 1
    From the website: To save the file above, right click and "save target as"

    If you happen to be using a browser that doesn't suck, you may need to right click and "save link as".

    Why does it always have to be about Microsoft?

    1. Re:Browser Racism by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Market share.

    2. Re:Browser Racism by bob65 · · Score: 1

      Which I've always found weird - why is it "save link as"? Am I not saving the target, not the link?

    3. Re:Browser Racism by endx7 · · Score: 1

      I use opera you insensitive clod!

  58. All I heard... by Kevin108 · · Score: 0

    Was "Developers, developers, developers..."

    --

    It's a perfect time for being wasted.
    A perfect time to watch the stars.
    - Burden Brothers, "Beautiful Night"
  59. Old? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This clip is very, very, very old... i saw it like 8 months ago, and it was still old.

  60. If you really want an unintentional laugh... by That's+Unpossible! · · Score: 1

    ...I'll point you to where you can download an episode of "Geeks in Space."

    --
    Ironically, the word ironically is often used incorrectly.
    1. Re:If you really want an unintentional laugh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
  61. Microsoft ads always stink by ralphclark · · Score: 1

    Right now, just above these here posts, an animated flash Microsoft ad is playing, banging on about Windows' supposed lower Total Cost of Ownership, according to 7-11. What the hell is OSDN doing selling advertising to these jerks?! Inviting them right here into the enemy camp to peddle their propaganda?!

    Still, I suppose it *could* be worse. Imagine if every time you logged into slashdot you risked having a bug-eyed Steve Ballmer shouting at you (shudder). I think I'll keep the silent flash ads.

    1. Re:Microsoft ads always stink by The+Cisco+Kid · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Why not take their money selling them ads on a site where the users will never beleive their hype? OSDN gets money, MS gets nothing. Sounds like a good deal to me.

  62. Developers developers developers developers! by Paralizer · · Score: 1

    Another interesting "motivational speech" from Microsoft...

    http://fun.sdinet.de/movies/developers.mpeg (1.6MB)

  63. Even in his mothers womb... by realitybath1 · · Score: 0

    balmer was a corporate drone.

  64. If Steve didthe monkey dance... by antdude · · Score: 1

    I wonder if MS would had more buyers if he did something like this. ;)

    --
    Ant(Dude) @ Quality Foraged Links (AQFL.net) & The Ant Farm (antfarm.ma.cx / antfarm.home.dhs.org).
  65. Is this for real...? by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 1

    Obviously, this is someone who has way too much time on their hands. Maybe they should try something more productive like... programming windows?

  66. Windows 2.0, not 1.0 by greendot · · Score: 1

    If I recall correctly, Windows 1.0 was ASCII windows - not graphical. They didn't do the graphics until 2.0 and even this was a sort of "tag along" with other programs. You bought, say PageMaker for Windows and Windows was only launched as a wrapper around PageMaker.

    1. Re:Windows 2.0, not 1.0 by Noginbump · · Score: 1

      I was thinking the exact same thing.

      This must have been produced later as a joke and Ballmer didn't remember his version history.

      --
      He who questions training, only trains himself at asking questions. -- The Sphinx, Mystery Men
    2. Re:Windows 2.0, not 1.0 by RabidOverYou · · Score: 1

      You do not recall correctly.

      Windows 1.0 was graphical, but with tiled windows only; Windows 2.0 had overlapping windows.

      You're likely thinking of OS/2: 1.0 was text only (but full multitasking!), 1.1 had the legendary Presentation Manager.

      You are correct about the wrapper, or "run-time". Excel 2.0 for Windows could boot from DOS, load the Windows 2.0 runtime, then itself.

    3. Re:Windows 2.0, not 1.0 by mtec · · Score: 1

      I used to use CorelDraw in a small graphics business I used to own. Corel installed run-time Windows just to run CorelDraw (the rest of the time I'd run DOS or GEM).

      Christ I'm old...

      --
      Cake or Death? Cake Please!
    4. Re:Windows 2.0, not 1.0 by spitzak · · Score: 1

      I think you may be confusing Windows with IBM's TopView, which was a few years earlier.

      Windows was always intended to run in graphics mode with a cursor, and 1.0 did exactly that. The windows version and the age of the machine in the video seem about right so it was probably filmed then.

  67. Open Source *diots by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    nothing more to say bout it

  68. Fine in Mplayer by reality-bytes · · Score: 1

    You do have your speakers turned on don't you?

    --
    Ripping an new rectum in the fabric of spacetime.
  69. Voices by Muttonhead · · Score: 1

    Ballmer and Gates have the same timbre in their voices. Almost as if they'd grown up in the same home. Must be a Northwest thing because it seems more unique than an accent.

  70. ugh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Damn. I guess that guy has always been scary.

  71. Frankly ... by kitzilla · · Score: 1

    ... I can see why the M$ crew loves this guy. Can't stand their OS, but Ballmer is one hell of a cheerleader. Hey, if they can integrate Miami Vice and Lotus, maybe they can find a way to wedge some security into Windows.

    --
    This is my post. There are many others like it. If you don't like what you read here, go try one of the others.
    1. Re:Frankly ... by homeobocks · · Score: 2, Funny
      maybe they can find a way to wedge some security into Windows.
      ...except in Nebraska.
      --
      MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
    2. Re:Frankly ... by Mr.+Byaninch · · Score: 0
      MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING

      Wow, you're an old guy. :) We were high tech: we had a PA system for the operator to issue those commands. No screaming over the din. IBM 360-20s and 30s. Amazing stuff. My Apple II with a 16k memory card (64k total) was as 'powerful' as the 360-20 that they had at my first job. But the Apple was 13 years later. Or should I say, only 13 years.

      Anyway, thanks for the flashback. The 'NO RING' was a nice touch. :)

      --
      Sig not available, please try again later. If the problem persists, then the submitter is an idiot.
    3. Re:Frankly ... by homeobocks · · Score: 1

      Hell, I remember how excited everyone was when Ethernet was invented. I think it was back in '78 or so. Man, nothing has changed. Wait for it . . . waaaait fooor itttt . . . . . . Except in Nebraska.

      --
      MOUNT TAPE U1439 ON B3, NO RING
  72. I'm Sold by ghobbsus · · Score: 1

    I can tell you what MY next OS will be. The clock on XP doesn't even fill the whole screen.

  73. WMV by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I use Linux, so I can't view .wmv files. Isn't this supposed to be Nerds for Nerds, but I can't view the content? News for Windows-using trolls if you ask me.

    1. Re:WMV by Mr.+Byaninch · · Score: 0

      I've checked the whole thread. Nope, nobody asked you.

      --
      Sig not available, please try again later. If the problem persists, then the submitter is an idiot.
    2. Re:WMV by sagenumen · · Score: 1

      mplayer can play WMVs.

  74. Get ready for the new Slashdot Section. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny
    I saw this, like, 15 years ago.

    That's because /. is trying to ease everyone into their new section: Slashdot Retro.

    It's super cool - it has 15 year old news, coverage of IBM PC jr. and all the dupes you could ever want... from more than a decade ago!

    Think of it as Easy Listening for the blog generation - we aren't getting any younger you know.

    1. Re:Get ready for the new Slashdot Section. by stuffman64 · · Score: 1

      Aren't most stories on Slashdot 15 years old to begin with?

      --
      --- At my sig, unleash hell.
    2. Re:Get ready for the new Slashdot Section. by fataugie · · Score: 1
      You're confused.

      They're posted 15 times....in one variation or another.

      --

      WTF? Over?

  75. Re:Debian recommend by falkryn · · Score: 1, Offtopic

    To continue the offtopicedness of this, make sure that if one is going to start with Debian (and I'd second that, so long as your willing to take the time to learn), grab the sarge installer. Telling a newb to start with Woodie would not be the best and brightest idea. However with the way the Sarge installer turned out, it would get my recommendation.

    http://www.debian.org/devel/debian-installer/

    Don't want to go too deep into this right now, but with Debian, you'll get a great package manager with easy updating, and a vaste array of packages, a system that actually works quite well and is subject to fairly thorough bug purging, runs on lighter resources than a number of other distros, and plus, perhaps most importantly, is free both in cost, and in ideology. They're not trying to sell you something, just the notion of freedom :-)

  76. Amazing. by rampant+mac · · Score: 1

    My sig seems to get +5 funny, every day.

    --
    I like big butts and I cannot lie.
  77. Holy Shit... by DesScorp · · Score: 1

    ...does Balmer in this ad remind anyone else of this guy?

    --
    Life is hard, and the world is cruel
    1. Re:Holy Shit... by mtec · · Score: 1

      Nah, Lesko hawks something of comparative value.

      --
      Cake or Death? Cake Please!
  78. sense of humor by mrsbrisby · · Score: 0, Redundant

    of course they have a sense of humor. don't you see the full-page jokes they publish in IT journals?

    • 0$ > 6000$
    • 0$ > 9000$
    • 0$ > 13000$
    • 100Mbit network + 2000$ Windows 2003 PC is CHEAPER than a 100Mbit network + 60,000$ mainframe running linux! THEREFORE Windows 2003 PC is CHEAPER than running Linux!
    • Stealing is better than communism!
  79. O/T - Reply to sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Kul al-qaeda-takum takhhuna!
    What does your signature mean? Google returned zero hits.

    1. Re:O/T - Reply to sig by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

      Poorly translated and transliterated from Arabic, it's "All your base are belong to us."

  80. The Internet by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    Sorta unrelated but... this article reminded me of this video on the same site. Behold the wonders of... The Internet :O

    Check out the part at 2:30, pretty interesting put into today's context.

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
    1. Re:The Internet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah... and once upon a time Bill Gates told to his businessmen audience in Budapest, that Internet was not a serious stuff for business, it was for students to fool around.

    2. Re:The Internet by rokzy · · Score: 0, Troll

      GO TO HELL, FUCKTARD! ;-)

  81. Nebraska? by spoonyfork · · Score: 0

    Why was Nebraska left out... could that be the place of refuge from Microsoft products? I am envisioning wise statesmen banning Microsoft products back in the 80's because they new the danger. They've kept a Microsoft-free land for nearly two decades. Pack up the kids honey, we're moving West!

    --
    Speak truth to power.
  82. Re:Obligatory Simpsons quote by Headcase88 · · Score: 1

    I've heard the word "developers" so many times the word has lost all meaning!

    --
    "When the atomic bomb goes off there's devastation...but when the atomic bong goes off there's celebraaaaation!"
  83. MSDN TV by DaHat · · Score: 1

    If I'm not mistaken, that video was clipped out of an early episode of the MSDN online TV show. Nice of them not to give credit to the source and claim it as their own.

  84. Not Windows 1.0 by AaronD12 · · Score: 1
    Did everyone miss the fact that is Windows 286 (aka Windows 2.0), not Windows 1.0?

    Windows 1.0 looked very much like the MS-DOS Executive application. It was not graphically enabled.

    -Aaron-

  85. Triumph of the Nerds by Castaa · · Score: 3, Informative

    If anyone hasn't seen Triumph of the Nerds by Cringely, I highly recommend seeing it. It's the best documentary about computing ever made. It offers a historic and insightful view of the people that created the personal computing industry. Cringely interviews everyone from Gates and Jobs to relative unknowns like the creator of the MITS Altair computer.

    What really makes it a great documentary is that it's as entertaining as it is interesting. Not an easy thing at all to do given the subject matter but Cringely pulls it off in spades.

    --
    Chew: You Nexus, huh? I design your eyes.
    Roy: Chew, if only you could see what I've seen with your eyes.
    1. Re:Triumph of the Nerds by Zarhan · · Score: 2, Insightful

      What really makes it a great documentary is that it's as entertaining as it is interesting. Not an easy thing at all to do given the subject matter but Cringely pulls it off in spades.

      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 :)) MSX. Last "home computers" before PC took over were Atari ST and Amiga, but Cringely missed them all.

  86. /.soon to be slashdotted by UncleScrooge · · Score: 1

    Ebaum is going to wish he didn't post this on his site.

    Bye bye bandwidth.

    --
    Slashdot 1|0 Productivity
  87. Looks just like... by Mr.+Byaninch · · Score: 0, Redundant

    ... The guy in the question mark suit who hawks the 'free money' book. Lasko, I think.

    --
    Sig not available, please try again later. If the problem persists, then the submitter is an idiot.
    1. Re:Looks just like... by Mr.+Byaninch · · Score: 0, Redundant

      Oops. I see somebody already made that connection - the governmentgrants.com guy. At least it keeps me from being the only one seeing that. And that's worth at least a horse turd or two, right?

      --
      Sig not available, please try again later. If the problem persists, then the submitter is an idiot.
  88. Yes, well ... by ScrewMaster · · Score: 1

    he still looks like Peter Boyle as the monster in Young Frankenstein.

    --
    The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
  89. BYOK by Sebadude · · Score: 1

    Yikes, I hope it's a BYOK (bring your own keyboard) type of deal.

    --
    Eh.
  90. More like abandonwarez by tepples · · Score: 1

    Windows 1.0 falls under the abandonware title

    You mean abandonwarez. Last time I checked, 1985 > 1923.

  91. Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I was around in the 80's. It was my teens and it was in 1984 that I found computing as a hobby. Not too long after that, still in the 80's, I woundup doing work for a trader in one of Chicago's commodity markets and pretty much everyone and their mother used Lotus 1-2-3. Microsoft had "Multiplan" - their answer to Lotus 1-2-3 (the reigning spreadsheet of the day) but no one really cared.

    In fact, Microsoft's software lineup was incredibly diverse since it was a young company trying to put its hand into every market to shore the perception that they had a hand in anything and everything. Sort of like today except back then companies constituted real competition vs. today where you're practically assured of being roadkill if Microsoft sets its sites on you. There was "Microsoft LISP" (no, I'm not kidding; it was actually another company's product repackaged) and Microsoft even had software that worked on the Commodore 64 home computer. I mentioned Multiplan earlier, Microsoft's spreadsheet, well not only could you buy it for the IBM PC, check out this screenshot of their Commodore 64 version:

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:C64_Multiplan .p ng

    Am I rueful? A little bit. Do I miss those days? Not a chance. What you can do today with a home computer vs. back then is night and day. In retrospect it is slightly surprising that things held my attention as they did. The Net, tons of free software (open source and otherwise), powerful desktop computers all were quite some time off. If you thought dialup today is bad, try operating on the common standard of the day, 1200 baud modems, as in 120 characters per second, as in, yes it took several seconds to fill an 80x25 text screen which most people had in the form of MS-DOS (forget GUI desktops, they weren't common place for quite some time to come).

    What I so miss however is the the sense that there were lots of great things happening. They're happening today, but the attitude back then was different. For example, you could realistically expect a company to try something "way out there." For example, I was aware of one Chicago trading company (again, commodities markets) had purchased LISP machines to see if it could come up with AI strategies to improve their trading systems:

    http://www.sts.tu-harburg.de/~r.f.moeller/symbol ic s-info/symbolics.html

    While open source is prevalent today in some circles, companies have moved to a situation where vendor support is an end all, be all when it comes to decision making. They can be risk averse to the point of self-detriment resulting in very staid environments at times. One example of this is the IT department for the state of Texas. A friend who works there told me once that unless some set of software came on the HP-UX CD, forget about using it. For him, this meant forgetting about PERL since it was not shipped on the HP-UX CDs (this was a few years ago). Even my situation today reflects this to a degree. I work at a very large financial institution and Apache is non-existent in our production systems. While internal Apache sites can readily be deployed to share infromation with coworkers Apache on customer facing servers is a no go.

    There just seemed to be more variety in what companies might try because the IT market hadn't settled down. While open source is great (something that I personally have great faith in), back then we did not have today's situation where IT like the automotive industry had just a handful of companies owning respective markets, a.k.a., consolidation. As a frame of reference around the turn of the 20th century there were 30+ automotive companies in the USA. By the 30's things had settled down to the "Big Three" that we've known internalized for quite some time. Today Lotus' 1-2-3 is just a memory as are Symbolics machine, the Commodore 64 and many, MANY other things.

    -M

    PS: Having said that, I have a pretty sweet desktop these days - a 64 bith Athlon system. The things I do today are pretty amazing in and of themselves... thanks to Moore's Law.

    1. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Mr.+Byaninch · · Score: 0

      If I remember correctly, 1-2-3 was the killer app that made PCs happen. Anyone else remember that? It started with Visi Calc, but the main guy at 1-2-3 (I should know his name) made Lotus 1-2-3 the reason PCs took off. OK, so now you know how long I've been bangin' keys.

      --
      Sig not available, please try again later. If the problem persists, then the submitter is an idiot.
    2. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 5, Informative

      Well Mitch Kapor founded Lotus. The individual (I forget his name) who did the coding (someone else entirely, Kapor was the business man) did it all in a very short period of time pretty much by himself. He was writing 1-2-3 in assembly language. Yes a concept that is hard to believe for many Slashdotters with all their talk of PHP, PERL, Python et al, but back then, writing desktop applications in assembly language was quite common and in fact a *NECESSITY*. Why? Because other programs were written in this manner manipulating the IBM PC's hardware directly. "Device drivers? MS-DOS APIs? What's that and why bother?" was often the viewpoint held during those times. Programs were significantly more zippy when the IBM PC's hardware was manipulated with hand written assembly. So much so that it was a business necessity... if you wanted to compete in the IBM PC software space. Otherwise your competitors had a major advantage over you - SPEED of the application.

      This is all hard to appreciate today given how powerful computers have become. Virtual machines? Not on your life, e.g., the UCSD P-Code system never caught on (the notion of virtual machines was pioneered at the U of California, San Diego):

      http://www.threedee.com/jcm/psystem/

      Why didn't it catch on? Simple, speed. The IBM PC had a 4.77 MHz 8088 processor and hand written/tuned assembly code creamed practically any program written in a high level language. In fact for years "PC Magazine" (which is still very much alive) would publish the assembly language listings to many of the MS-DOS utilities featured in its covers. Needless to say the idea of that magazine publishing assembly language listings today is quite laughable.

      -M

    3. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lotus died as soon as Microsoft came out with Excel. Excel asked you if you wanted to save your work before closing your file - Lotus didn't. After stupidly losing a few files, you'd come to hate Lotus.

    4. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Sorry anonymous, it wasn't that. It was Lotus betting on OS/2. People's short memory forget that OS/2 was codeveloped by Microsoft alongside IBM. When OS/2 sales failed to materialize Microsoft persisted with its Windows development efforts. When Windows 3.s sales rocketed, so did Microsoft business apps because at that point in time, Lotus et al were way behind the curve. They had simply figured Windows 3.x was just another OS/2 from Microsoft and it wouldn't go anywhere. They were wrong. By the time Lotus and other companies like WordPefect released Windows (which had become wildly popular) products, they were seriously behind Microsoft. The rest as they say is history.

      -M

    5. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lotus for OS/2 was totally half-assed. Lotus was betting on DOS.

    6. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by seanadams.com · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Do I miss those days? Not a chance. [...] If you thought dialup today is bad, try operating on the common standard of the day, 1200 baud modems, as in 120 characters per second, as in, yes it took several seconds to fill an 80x25 text screen which most people had in the form of MS-DOS (forget GUI desktops, they weren't common place for quite some time to come).

      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.

    7. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by ClosedSource · · Score: 1

      Every company that screwed up the transition from DOS to Windows blamed it on being fooled into developing for OS/2.

      It's ironic that Corel who was an early Windows developer with it's Corel Draw product eventually ended up with WordPerfect that failed because WordPerfect corp didn't believe in GUIs and kicked and screamed it's way into Windows.

    8. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 0, Troll

      What's your point? Go troll somewhere else.

    9. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by seanadams.com · · Score: 0, Troll

      Stop whining.

    10. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      "Device drivers? MS-DOS APIs? What's that and why bother?"

      The "MS-DOS API" was basically an interrupt interface, programming in assembly is completely orthogonal to what API is used.


      Virtual machines? Not on your life,

      I don't think you have a very wide knowledge of VM options and their use throughout the years. Tight VM implementations using techniques like direct or indirect threading go clear back to hardware less powerful than an 8088, and they were used because for certain types of things a VM doesn't actually entail any overhead (This is because code is data. For a dynamic operation, you might substitute a number of procedural operations on data structures with a VM, where factoring and clever data encoding renders an extremely VM based implementation (This is a close cousin to the technique of generating self modifying code for things like blitting)).

      Anyway, the notion of virtual machines predates the UCSD P-Code system by many years. (If you are implying that VM implies byte code, well I don't agree (formally, the VM is an abstract model regardless of the code execution method used, many Java kiddies don't seem to learn this properly), but even then, the notion of "token threading" dates back to at least the late 60's).

    11. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      where factoring and clever data encoding renders an extremely VM based implementation (This is a close cousin to the technique of generating self modifying code for things like blitting)).

      Oops, that should be "extremely efficient".

    12. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Ingolfke · · Score: 0, Offtopic

      The same question that killed Lotus on the desktop back in the day, is still applicable today. Can it run Linux? Lotus couldn't... and now it is no more.

    13. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Thunderbear · · Score: 3, Interesting

      A large problem for PC application writers, was that just writing characters to the screen was an issue. Either you could go the standard, portable way by writing through the BIOS - which happened to be too slow for many applications - or by using assembly code to maintain the screen buffer directly.

      This was also complicated as some of the original PC's would show noise on the screen if the video memory was updated while being converted to an image. Careful programming was needed to ensure that video memory was only updated in intervals where it would be visually safe to do so.

      It is hard to imagine how much the original PC with DOS let the programmer down.

      --

      --
      Thorbjørn Ravn Andersen "...and...Tubular Bells!"
    14. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by cnettel · · Score: 1

      A whole book sent across the country in less time than it takes to read it???

    15. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by CrazyTalk · · Score: 1

      Interesting comment about the C64. Back in the day, one of the first programs I purchases was "Microsoft Flight Simulator" for the Commodore 64 after seeing an impressive demo at school. Back then I thought Microsoft was a merely a video game company. Ahh, the innocence of youth.

    16. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "(forget GUI desktops, they weren't common place for quite some time to come)."

      Actually it was common place from '84 and onwards. In '84 Apple launched the Macintosh and in '85 Commodore launched the Amiga (the Atari was also launched around that time - I think it made it to market just a short while before the Amiga). The Macintosh had a GUI. The Atari had a GUI (ok, so it was pretty horrible, but it was there) and the Amiga had a GUI, pre-emptive multitasking and 4096 colors on screen at the same time.

      Now those were exciting times. However I was still happily discovering the possibilities of my C=64 at the time. Heck, I still am. And I still enjoy the pre-emptive multitasking of the Amiga albeit on an 800MHz machine rather than 7.14MHz. The Macintosh has come the furthest of the GUI machines tohugh. AmigaOS was pretty advanced in the early versions, while MacOS had a lot more to implement (such as multitasking, proper shell and so on).

      Of course one could argue that Windows has come the longest way, since it was built on top of DOS and then merged with the NT series and so on. But somehow I still feel largely about those machines as I did back then: They're not terribly interesting, even though you can do lots of stuff with them. Why? Maybe it's the level of maintenance, maybe a dislike of general concepts. I don't really care. I can relate to why you didn't find things terribly interesting back then. You were just on the wrong side of the fence.

      My condolences.

      And sorry for going slightly off-topic.

    17. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by halivar · · Score: 1

      forget GUI desktops

      If only I could, my friend, if only I could.

    18. Re:Yes, believe it or not, Lotus ruled at one time by betelgeuse68 · · Score: 1

      Tell me, you were an avid user of software leveraging VMs on the IBM PC? I highly doubt. Yeah sure we all know UCSD P-Code Pascal compilers were creaming Turbo Pascal... if you believe that, recheck your history.

      Yeah sure the concepts were there, so what. People in the days of the IBM PC wanted SPEED above all else.

      Yes the MS-DOS API was an interrupt drive interface, do you think if I said "INT 21h" it would mean much to many people here?

      Not sure what point you're trying to make here. Mine was simple, VMs were not widely used on the IBM PC. Having had one, I certainly never cared to leverage such a system.

      Nuff said,
      -M

  92. HE SAID NEBRASKA!!! by Legato895 · · Score: 1

    oh... wait... *weeps*

  93. Looking for win.com by tepples · · Score: 2, Informative

    You are correct about the wrapper, or "run-time". Excel 2.0 for Windows could boot from DOS, load the Windows 2.0 runtime, then itself.

    Every .exe file for 16-bit Windows had a short DOS stub. Some just printed "This program is designed for Microsoft Windows" or the like, but other, more sophisticated stubs looked for win.com somewhere on the PATH and started Windows if possible and fell back to the error message otherwise. I'm guessing that the smaller programs (such as winver, notepad, and calculator) used the short stub that just errored out, while larger programs used a larger stub. Eventually, as Windows 3.x became more widespread, more developers just linked their apps with the short stub out of laziness.

    1. Re:Looking for win.com by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Windows developers lazy? Why I oughta...

      (BSOD)

  94. Sickening by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There is something sickening about how sleezy used car salesman fucks can build financial empire.
    Mind you, this is the country where Arnold Sch. can become politician.
    Something is fundamentally wrong here.

  95. Humor by Refrag · · Score: 1

    We can still say their sense of humor sucks, right?

    --
    I have a website. It's about Macs.
  96. Let me be the first to say... by fireman+sam · · Score: 2, Funny

    ... That was the fscking funniest thing I have ever seen.

    The scary thing is that there are ads of the same quality on late night television that are flogging off refurbished PC's with "Pentium 2 power" for only $599. And they even include Windows 95 and a modem. (So you too can be part of a bot net).

    I recently picked up 5 Pentium 2 computers headed for the dump. I am thinking on upgrading my Pentium 166 gateway and servers. If anyone wants one I'll sell it for only $598.

    --
    it is only after a long journey that you know the strength of the horse.
  97. Windows 2.0 by fuelvolts · · Score: 1
    The item he is advertising is Windows 2.0

    Windows 1.0 couldn't have Windows on Windows (ie more than one program open) and did not have cut-and-paste.

    1. Re:Windows 2.0 by SumDog · · Score: 1

      2.3 actually. I had a copy once. It came on 5 1/2 and if you notice carefully, the windows don't ever overlap. They just split the screen into smaller parts.

  98. Do'h by UncleJam · · Score: 1

    I posted this once in the comments section for some slashdot story. I guess I should've just submitted it, eh? ;)

    Oh well...

  99. Windows media sucks. Anyone got it in divx? by penginkun · · Score: 1

    I think the subject line says it all.

    Well?

  100. Funny Enough.... by MistabewM · · Score: 1

    I was looking at slashdot today and decided to try and see if I still had an account here...

    Loe and Behold... I have an account from before the subscriptions were offered...

    So like that ancient microfuts ad somethings never seem to go away..

    --
    "A learning experience is one of those things that says, 'You know that thing you just did? Don't do that.'" - DNA
  101. a joke back then.. by Newtlink · · Score: 0

    a work ethic now..

    --
    i hate microsoft.
  102. Some interesting tidbits by Skim123 · · Score: 2, Informative
    I believe that commerical has also been shown in the Microsoft Museum on Microsoft's campus. They have an old computer setup with Windows 1.0 that you can play with at their little museum. There are some nastolgic Windows 1.0 screenshots available, too.

    Anywho, I'm not surprised how the first feature they pimped was Lotus 1-2-3 support, as Lotus 1-2-3 was the "killer app" of the day. In fact, there are bugs in Excel that were put their purposely to allow for true Lotus 1-2-3 integration.

    --

    I could not justify my existence if I were a turkey farmer. Would I terminate myself? Undoubtably, yes.

    1. Re:Some interesting tidbits by neglige · · Score: 1

      There are some nastolgic Windows 1.0 screenshots available, too.

      "Empty desktop"... well, well, ain't that a favourite :)

      --
      My cats ate my karma. They also wrote this comment.
  103. What does a "British accent" sound like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    "British accent"? Which particular accent is that? Irish? Scottish? Welsh? Scouse? Geordie? Cockney? Werzel? Mancunian?

    I doubt many of those sound much like Anne Robinson. Can't you be a bit more specific?

    See how meaningless the phrase "British accent" is?

    Heck, if you'd called her accent "American" (esp. NE USA) you'd be closer to her real accent than some of those "British" ones.

    Answer: she's Liverpudlian, but she doesn't have much of a Scouse accent, IMO. At any rate...describing her accent as 'English' would be closer - Scottish, Welsh, and (Northern) Irish are completely different.
    OK, so Northern Ireland isn't part of Britain; it's part of the U.K. (United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland).

    1. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by qbwiz · · Score: 0

      Scottish, Welsh, and (Northern) Irish are completely different.
      To whom, exactly? People from those places, but not the people at the meeting, I'm guessing.

      --
      Ewige Blumenkraft.
    2. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by einhverfr · · Score: 1

      If you heard it, you would know the difference. There is no way not to.

      --

      LedgerSMB: Open source Accounting/ERP
    3. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Hatta · · Score: 0
      "British accent"? Which particular accent is that? Irish? Scottish? Welsh? Scouse? Geordie? Cockney? Werzel? Mancunian?

      I doubt many of those sound much like Anne Robinson. Can't you be a bit more specific?

      See how meaningless the phrase "British accent" is?

      "Apple"? Which particular apple is that? Golden delicious? Fuji? Gala? Ida Red? Braeburn?

      I doubt many of those taste much like a Red Delicious. Can't you be a bit more specific?

      See how meaningless the phrase "apple" is?
      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    4. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      bad argument.

      why group together a large group of accents that sound completely different, and then imply that a person from that group must necessarily sound like another person from the same group.

      it is just stupid and ignorant.

    5. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Hatta · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You misunderstand my argument. I was not arguing that the guy from London and the guy from Liverpool must sound exactly the same. Far from it. My point was that even though there are clear and well defined distinctions, multiple accents (or fruits) may be justifiably lumped together based on their similarities.

      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.

      --
      Give me Classic Slashdot or give me death!
    6. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by loadquo · · Score: 2, Funny

      The same language? Have a listen to a glaswegian, and see what you think then.

    7. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by plumby · · Score: 1

      Whenever (and wherever) I've been in the US, most people seem convinced that I'm either from Australia or New Zealand (which I'm not - I'm from the UK - East Midlands, and outside the US have never had my accent mistaken for an Aussie).

      I get the feeling that most Americans seems to be able to distinguish between US and non-US accents, and that's about it.

      But then, most Brits I know couldn't tell the difference between an Aussie or a Kiwi accent.

    8. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by jonadab · · Score: 1

      > "British accent"? Which particular accent is that? Irish? Scottish?
      > Welsh? Scouse? Geordie? Cockney? Werzel? Mancunian? See how meaningless
      > the phrase "British accent" is?

      No, there's a particular accent we mean when we say "British accent" over
      here. I don't know what it's called over there, or which part of Britain
      it's from. It's definitely not Cockney, and it's also not Welsh, Irish,
      or Scottish, nor is it the mumbly speech of BBC commentators. There's a
      certain accent that is meant. Those others we call by their specific names,
      but the one in question we just call a British accent or sometimes we also
      call it an English accent. (The words "English" and "British" are used
      _mostly_ interchangeably over here, although I've never heard the English
      Channel called the British Channel. It's not that we don't know the
      difference (okay, some people don't, but that's another matter); we just
      don't feel the need to make the distinction most of the time.)

      Similarly, the phrase "Southern accent" doesn't mean "any accent from south
      of here". A Jamaican accent is a Jamacian accent, and a Texan accent is a
      Texan accent, and New Orleans has its own peculiarities, but a Southern accent
      is the one spoken in Georgia and the Carolinas (among other states).

      --
      Cut that out, or I will ship you to Norilsk in a box.
    9. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Gumph · · Score: 1

      Ey up mi duck, owya goin? It's black ovver bill's movvers. :`)

      --
      'By the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes'
    10. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > 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.

      It plainly *is* the case that these accents are totally and completely different.

      Heck, I cannot even understand most of them myself - in their raw form. On the other hand, I certainly can understand almost all accents from the US.

      Did you not realise that four of these these accents come from different countries and each of these countries actually has their own language? Even when they are speaking English, their accent can be so heavy that it is not even recognisable as English to a person from one of the other countries.

      I could not understand a single word that my neighbour in Somerset spoke.

      If most people met a native of Scotland, they would almost certainly say he spoke with a Scottish accent.
      !!:gs/Scotland/Wales/
      !!:gs/Wales/Northe rn Ireland/

      "Well trained ear", my arse! You'd have to be deaf not to hear the difference - hrm, perhaps that wouldn't work (though they might be able to tell the Welsh accent from the spit).

      In any case, what the poster really meant was that it was an *English* accent; and I suppose my objection is more that 'some' people seem to think that 'British' == 'English', which it, most certainly, is not - as any Scot would be more than delighted to ram into whoever's brain it was that had the thought (God bless 'em).

    11. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You have to realize that for most Americans the only experience with accents from your side of the puddle comes from watching PBS or James Bond.

    12. Re:What does a "British accent" sound like? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      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.

      Oh yeah? What about retarded 5 year olds?

      Yes, I am trying to be a dick.

  104. Torrentspy.......... by afxgrin · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yep - It's currently up on Torrentspy.com.

    I don't know who posted it, but it's there - not too many seeds though.

  105. For all you non-Windows people... by ProdigySim · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://albinoblacksheep.com/flash/sellswindows.php There's a flash version, which should work a bit better on linux than a WMV. Besides, Ebaumsworld is terrible >.>

    1. Re:For all you non-Windows people... by Concerned+Onlooker · · Score: 1

      Ah, thank you.

      --
      http://www.rootstrikers.org/
    2. Re:For all you non-Windows people... by Bulln-Bulln · · Score: 1

      For all you non-Windows people...

      The file works just fine with VLC and WMP for Mac. Windows is not needed to watch this file.

  106. Ye gods... by breakpoint8088 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I take it all back. Whatever Ballmer's getting paid, he's earned it. Cripes. I wonder how many more pieces of embarrassing, early-career moments are out there, their stars secretly hoping they are lost forever, but in fact just waiting to surface on the vast expanse of the Internet... ...enough to support Compfused, et al, it seems.

  107. Torrent link by YowzaTheYuzzum · · Score: 1

    Here is the torrent for Triumph of the Nerds, if anyone is interested (torrent details)

  108. Microsoft has this, Apple had the "1984" spot by fontkick · · Score: 2, Interesting

    If this guy walked into our office (ad agency), there is no way he would get a decent ad. We would certainly try, but how can you work with the "NOOOOOO....IT'S ONLY $99!!!!" mentality, not to mention a complete lack of any artistic sensibility? If you wonder why Microsoft's products looked like hell for the past 20 years (pre-XP) now you know. Gawd that's awful, even for internal use. Just because something is internal doesn't mean it has to be complete crud.

  109. Except in Nebraska? by GabeK · · Score: 1

    What's the "Except in Nebraska" line at the end mean?

    --

    [sig] 10 + 10 = 100 [/sig]
  110. There are actually tons of these clips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've seen another one where BillG and SteveB drive around in an old, rusty Volkswagen and collect the shit people have left for the garbage man. At one point they pick up a Sun workstation. They drive down the block and see something else (a crappy armchair? I don't remember), but there's no space in the back of the car, so they leave the Sun workstation on the side of the road and take the armchair instead.

    1. Re:There are actually tons of these clips by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yep, all made for various company meetings. Only Slashdot would think they were real commercials.

  111. Just for the record ... by timothy · · Score: 1

    I don't consider this bashing, nor do I (generally) bash Microsoft. Like any big organization, Microsoft has done some things that deserve criticism (adjust tenses to reflect ongoing and future offenses :)), but on the whole I am anything but a Microsoft basher. My 5-second thought on Microsoft is that it is a large, smart, lucky, successful software maker which one day will cease to exist.

    Maybe the submitter secretly throws darts at taped-up pictures of MS executives, I don't know :) But my note attached to the story is sincere -- I like that this shows off a fun, exuberant aspect of Microsoft (though it would have been as funny if it was a similar ad from the early days of *any* software maker), and that is what I liked about this little video.

    Cheers,

    timothy

    --
    jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
    1. Re:Just for the record ... by Kevin+Stevens · · Score: 1

      Indeed. it was a funny and humorous joke. MS is an 800 pound gorilla and for every MS post I see just as many OSS posts (I mean jesus look at how many "FF is gaining marketshare" stories there are, and no one bitches about them).

      I don't understand why people keep making demands of slashdot like they are owed something. I see slashdot as kind of like hanging out at my friend's house. Sometimes they act like asses, and people get in fights, but most of the time its a great time. The fact that people keep showing up and hanging out is evidence enough that nothing is wrong. If a story is 3 years old, but its still "stuff that matters" thats good enough for me.

      To continue the house analogy:
      Id much rather be able to walk right in without knocking and put my feet up on the table and deal with some dupes and spelling mistakes than deal with how corporatized most sites have gotten in the past few years. I actually enjoy the dupes and various offenses against the english language, it lets me know you guys are still just human (and dorks) :).

      The editors seem to be getting an increasing amount of sh*t lately over these things. I just wanted to let you know that I think you guys are doing a great job and I hope there is a special place in hell for all the whiners, especially the grammar nazi's (though then again I kind of suspect that most of these people are posting from Storage Room B and spend most of their day aside from posting on /. bitching about their stapler or how their boss misused the word 'except' in an email to them).

      That is all. May those that think im kissing arse (and before you do accuse me of this- think real hard about what I am gaining by giving them thanks, which is absolutely nothing) mod me to -1 hell. :)
      -K

  112. How could you possibly forget... by Zorilla · · Score: 1

    Ahh! My eyes! The goggles do nothing!

    --

    It would be cool if it didn't suck.
  113. Ob. Napoleon Dynamite by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Your mom goes to college!

  114. The First thing I wondered by AmoebafromSweden · · Score: 1

    How much is 99$ in todays value?

  115. Ow! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Oh my gawd! My head hurts! Someone make it stop, please...

  116. On a sidenote by mcrbids · · Score: 1

    I have a full, working copy of Windows 1.0 on 5.25" floppies, complete with manuals. Unfortunately, the package has been opended, and I no longer have the original box. =(

    Wonder what it's worth today?

    --
    I have no problem with your religion until you decide it's reason to deprive others of the truth.
  117. Hasn't changed a bit, has he? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Eee Eee Eee Ooo Ooo Ooo Ahh Ahh Ahh!!!

  118. What's this Except in Nebraska BS I live in by sir+lox+elroy · · Score: 1

    Nebraska. What's up with that? Ah microsoft again proving that they are nothing but a bunch of money grubbing gluttens.

    --
    Kosh: "Understanding is a 3 edged sword, your side, their side, the Truth."
  119. Yes, on Amiga! by Vo0k · · Score: 1

    I remember the long, long hours spent with friends playing Lotus Esprit Turbo Challenge! Incredible game! Play the "training course" and silently watch as opponent's fuel bar slowly nears zero, and he must make a decision, let you take over and refuel or try that one remaining lap :)

    Then Lotus 2, with that monstrous swamp level, and Lotus 3 (TURBO ZONE!)
    I managed to create a level in Lotus 3 where after 3-4 checkpoints of relatively normal track with sparsely placed "turbo zones" you began riding downhill, down a VERY steep hill, straight ahead, maybe 15 laps and all the time in the turbo zone. Slowly closing to 400MPH...

    --
    Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
  120. I Hate Microshit by mitrick · · Score: 1

    That video makes them propose a shitty operating system as always and will always be.

  121. Just for fun. by Martigan80 · · Score: 1

    Besides the high squeeky voice from Steve, what leads me to believe it was for fun was the price! Just kidding, the true give away was the address!

    286-DOS

    Was the street name.

    --
    This SIG pulled due to lack of funding. (This damn war is costing too much!)
  122. That IS incredible value. by mrjb · · Score: 1

    Nowadays it costs more. And they no longer ship it with Reversi. D-': Bwaaaaaaaaaaa!

    --
    Visit http://ringbreak.dnd.utwente.nl/~mrjb/growingbettersoftware to download your free copy of the book
  123. Relative prices of hard/software by Cid+Highwind · · Score: 1

    In 1985, a PC cost $4000 and Windows cost $99. In 2005, a PC can be had for $500 (1/8 the cost), and Windows costs $199 (twice as much as it did twenty years ago).

    Unless you think going from Windows 1.0 to XP is 16 times as much improvement as from the original IBM PC to a modern P4 system, Windows has become a ripoff...

    --
    0 1 - just my two bits
  124. Conversation with ballmer by david+einstein · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    me: "I saw you selling windows, you looked like a dumbass"
    ballmer: "yeah well we now have 95 % of the market. fuck you very much"
    me: "damn! well you have a small penis and everyone fucks your wife" (probably not true but works all the time)br)

  125. I feel dirty... by Ingolfke · · Score: 1

    That wasn't a very nice thing to show me. I feel like I should take a shower.

  126. WMV!? by Esine · · Score: 1

    WHAT?! a WMV FILE? : Now how am I going to watch it with my x86_64 Linux and 64-bit mplayer? :( Can anyone encode it to XviD or something? I'm dead serious.

    1. Re:WMV!? by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

      just like i did. mplayer *.wmv

    2. Re:WMV!? by Esine · · Score: 1

      thats for 32-bit mplayer. you can't use 32-bit mplayer wmv decoder with 64-bit systems.. (wmv is closed source)

    3. Re:WMV!? by twistedcubic · · Score: 1

      http://www.linuxquestions.org/questions/history/26 7001

  127. Has/Had by sepluv · · Score: 1
    Let it not be said that Microsoft has no sense of humor.
    Surely, "had no sense of humour".
    --
    Joe Llywelyn Griffith Blakesley
    [This post is in the public domain (copyright-free) unless otherwise stated]
  128. Wow indeed by Cloud+K · · Score: 1

    For ages I've been waiting to see if there's an advert more annoying than the man yelling on the Savestyle UK ad. Fair to say this one passes with flying colours, I'm glad it's in the past!

  129. Hair? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    After viewing that commercial, I could only think of one think... that guy actually had hair?

    Now what was the commercial about?

    - D

  130. Ugh by DOS-5 · · Score: 1
    P.O. Box
    286-DOS ..

    Funny yet horrible at the same time.

  131. Doesn't Gates own Corbis? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1

    Wouldn't Corbis change the description to something more suitable for Gates' current status? When Microsoft bought Funk and Wagnels encyclopedia and made it into Encarta, one of the items that was changed was the entry for Gates. It was made much more flattering than it originally was.

  132. McBain: Let's get Silly! by sharkey · · Score: 1

    The film is just me in front of a brick wall for an hour and a half. It cost $80 million.

    --

    --
    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  133. This makes /. headlines? by siphoncolder · · Score: 1

    /. used to have REAL problems with MS - namely, bad technologies and bad security attached to them.

    I think the editors here got themselves stuck in the "hate MS" rut - there's nothing newsworthy about MS here. And it's been consistent, too.

    Yeah, there's the usual "MS has security updates! They must suck that much!" headline, but the last 3 MS headlines I saw were about (1) bashing a tech EVERYONE knew sucked, (2) showing B.G. posing for some spread, and now this.

    Maybe the next newsworthy headline will be when I make a site and put up the MonkeyBoy videos.

    --
    i'm amazed that i survived - an airbag saved my life.
    1. Re:This makes /. headlines? by RedWolves2 · · Score: 1

      Hey the editors have to dumb this shit down to the immature audience it has...you can't blame them for giving them what they want.

  134. Uncle Fester by catdevnull · · Score: 1

    I'm thinking that Steve was a big fan of Andy Kauffman. Actually, maybe he gets a Starbucks espresso enema to get as much caffeine as possible...

    Developers Developers Developers Developers!!

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  135. So basically... by sirgoran · · Score: 1

    Ballmer has been a jackass for more than 15 years. Big surprise. I did notice that the price for windows was $99.00USD. Nice to see that they've held firm to one price structure for the last 15 years. (:p)

    -Goran

    --
    Carpe Scrotum - The only way to deal with your competition.
  136. ACK! MY EYES! by Vrallis · · Score: 1

    I feel dirty now...tainted...

    I didn't finish watching it, and deleted it as fast as I can...but, unfortunately, that image will be forever burned into my retinas, and that shrill voice will forever ring in my ears...

    Why did I ever click on that?

  137. Proves my theory by Viking+Coder · · Score: 1

    This clip once again proves my theory that Bill Gates hates Nebraska.

    --
    Education is the silver bullet.
  138. Mods: The truth about bonch/rd_syringe/OverlyCrGuy by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Moderators: Please note that "bonch" is a known fanatical psycophant whose obnoxious offtopic rants are legend here on Slashdot. It doesn't matter what the topic is, he'll find a way to scrape in some pointless Microsoft shilling. While nobody expects us to love Microsoft in any way, his particularly tepid style of calling anyone he replies to "troll" or "liar" because he happens to disagree with whatever they're saying is well documented and should not be rewarded. If anything, bonch is the type of person that should not be part of the open source/free software community. He is an anathema to all that is good about free software.

    I'm posting this so that you (the moderator) have some context to consider bonch and not mod him up whenever he posts his filler preformatted rants about installing Windows or whatever that unfortunately get him karma every single time and allow him to continue posting his trademark toxic crap (read on) day in and day out. You may consider this a troll - I consider it community service. And I ain't kidding.

    If you're a /. subscriber, I invite you to look through some of his posting history. I guarantee that you'll be hard pressed to find someone that is more "out there" than bonch. You'll also probably notice he's got quite an AC following. Don't just read his posts, make sure you go through the replies.

    For example, in this recent post bonch not only calls the OP a troll but attempts to "tell it like it is" while making some vague argument about "MS". Yes, if you're confused, you're not alone. The reply (modded +0) proceeds to simply destroy his bogus argument. You will notice he did not reply. This is what some people call "drive-by advocacy". A sort of I'll just leave you with my thoughts here and move on to the next flamebait kind of deal. In fact, he almost never replies because he knows that his fanatical arguments simply do not hold up to any sort of discussion. It's not that he's chosen the wrong cause - he's just going at it in a completely wrong way.

    More? Just read though this post and the subsequent replies. I guess this stands on its own.

    More? Bad spelling in astounding conspiracy theories, more offtopic FUD and uninformed "I'm right, look at me" rants, promptly proven wrong. Worse even, bonch wants to be Bill Gates, apparently (that first one is a winner). I mean, really. You think?

    FUD, FUD, FUD, FUD, offtopic FUD, and more FUD. This guy is like the Monty Python SPAM skit, but with FUD and more FUD instead of canned meat. Amazed yet? Don't forget that KDE and Gnome make you dumb, and it's all a Slashdot conspiracy. How low do you want to go? Maybe as low as this?

    The infamous Slashdot Front Page Troll? Nuclear fireballs? It goes on and on and on and on and on and on and on (troll?). Like the energizer bunny. Or take these two, which stretch the definition of weird.

    It's up to you. We can get rid of this guy and make Slashdot a better place. I don't know about you, but I'd rather take the trolls and crapflooders over people like "bonch" any day. And I sure as hell don't want to be categorized along with him. This is not how you advocate free software, period.

  139. You're gullible... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    ... But I guess that's commensurate with giving away your hard earned software projects for free.

    This is satire from an internal MS video. Monkey Boy on the other hand was the real deal.

  140. He looks like.. by ebief · · Score: 1

    Slim shady, If you watch the video in a small window...

  141. Microsoft has NO style by eyepeefreely · · Score: 1

    Only proves that Balmer has always been obnoxious. He has no style, no charisma and is NOT funny !

  142. and windows was wildly popular because...? by Flashpot · · Score: 1

    It was the required program loader for Solitaire!

    --
    That which does not kill her only prolongs my agony.
  143. Re:Assembly by cnettel · · Score: 1

    In fact, the most expensive stuff was writing text to the screen. By manipulating the B000 (monochrome) or B800 (color) memory segments directly, even from C or Turbo Pascal, you could get far superior performance in stuff like scrolling in text editors and other screen refreshes, which affects the user experience quite significantly. I can imagine assembly was more useful for something like Lotus where the actual calculations could be sloooow back in the days, though. Just wanted to point out that I think that hardware manipulation for central routines was more common than writing it in assembly.

  144. Lucky... by SeanDuggan · · Score: 1

    You're lucky. I was born in Kentucky and people mistake me for having an Australian accent. In Kentucky. I suspect the "accent" for me is simply that I clearly enunciate my words and in a lot of peoples' minds, that means "foreign."

    --
    This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.