Slashdot Mirror
Opera's CEO to Swim From Norway to the USA
Viggeh! writes "An overly excited Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software, today proclaimed at an internal company meeting that if the download numbers of the new Opera 8 Web browser reach 1 million within the first four days of the launch, he will swim from Norway to the USA with only one stop-over for a cup of hot chocolate at his mother's house in his home country, Iceland.
The new browser was released Tuesday and was downloaded 600.000 times in the first 48 hours since release. The challenge will end on Saturday at 0900 a.m. CET, so if you want to try out some new software and make the CEO stick to his big words, download it at Opera's webpage(direct link)."
I guess he doesn't have much faith in his own product eh?
slashdot should be able to crank up that number, so long as the web server doesn't go down
By reading this, you have given me brief control of your mind.
talk about overusing significant digits
Posted by Zonk on 08:51 AM -- Friday April 29 2005
from the friday-morning-swim dept.
Viggeh! writes "An overly excited Jon S. von Tetzchner, CEO, Opera Software, today drowned off the coast of Norway after promising to swim to America if Opera managed a million downloads in its first four days. Everyone at Opera is quite sad, but they promise Opera 8.1 will have even more features because that's what he would've wanted. He leaves behind 7 computers, a wife, and 2 children."
I've seen the slashdot effect kill many a server over the years, but at last we take it to the next level. Hit that link enough, and a man will die!
~~~~~ BigLig2? You mean there's another one of me?
Can anyone really swim across the northern Atlantic? I would have thought he would freeze.
Perhaps he'll get on a cruise ship and spend the whole time in the pool?
...when he gets turned away my US immigration and has t oswim back home.
Well of course his suit will become wet, dumbass, he's gonna be SWIMMING!
P.S.: if you rate this "flame/troll" you'd better get a sense of humor. And no they don't sell those at Wal-Mart.
OK, I downloaded Opera...wait, I have Mozilla Firefox...
;)
*Drags ow32enen800.exe to the trash...
Opps, I hope the download number didn't go up
"You thought I said that I would swim?... [chuckles] No, no, I'm the CEO ... you're swimmin'. I do still get the hot chocolate though...."
Note: for those who do not work in the corporate world, the CEO did actually say that he would swim, but such truths as remembering oaths and word meaning do not apply in the corporate cosmos....
"All great things are simple & expressed in a single word: freedom, justice, honor, duty, mercy, hope." --Churchill
by not downloading Opera
I don't want to overload their servers! :)
While the rest of the world continue downloading furiously, Bill keeps his GPS_enabled, Laser_attached pet sharks ready off the coast of norway.
Muwaaahhaahaha
Rapid Nirvana
For some reason 950,000 copies of Opera have suddenly been downloaded by an IP block owned by a company in Redmond, Washington.
I'll turn into a supernova and burn up everything. Well I'll turn into a black little hole and you'll turn into string.
He's installed a swimming pool in his private jet. He'll swim around it while his jet flies from Norway to the US.
Would that be a Distributed Murder Attack?
yea, possibly. Though in that case, it's the stopover in iceland for a cup of hot chocolate that's going to kill him.
"Teachers leave us kids alone
Din't you read this?: with only one stop-over for a cup of hot chocolate at his mother's house in his home country, Iceland.
:D
He's an Icelander. He's one of the guys who grew up reading things like Njal's Saga, playing with his friends at being Gunnar or Kári and beting each other with wooden swords, playing with snow outside at some -10C and under blizzards and getting his head messed up with the perma-summer-light/almost no light seasonal cycle.
If one of these guys says he's swimming accross the Atlantic, I'd advise to my good american friends to lock themselves in their houses and get ready for a raid.
I lived 2 years in Iceland; let me tell you, it was fun there
---- Take the Space Quiz!
Assuming he means just swimming to it accross Penesseewassee Lake. Otherwise he's fucked. You ever tried swimming through urban environments? It chafes.
>Will it create world peace?
Ah, here you need to think, "out-side-the-box," as my dear managing friends with their minds stuck in dreams of the '90s would say.
You see, during his trip, he is surely to begin to drown. At this point, a beautiful mermaid will rescue him, and take him to a wonderous city under the sea. Here, not only will he learn true love and the meaning of Christmas, but he will also learn the secret to world peace.
Having also learned the secret ways of the merfolk mystics, he will emerge from the depths and proceed to bring a wave of peace and prosperity to the entire world. The fact that he brings this about through a massive invading merfolk army is a minor detail, one that will surely be forgotten in the history books, where children of the future shall learn how wonderous it is to be alive in a world of peace.
Shrinkage.
all to see him eat his words =)
I don't claim I know more than I know, and if you know you know more than I know, then by all means, let me know.
do GET 'http://www.opera.com/download/get.pl?id=26712 ' >
done
C'mon in, the water's fine.
Software Wars
Bill Gates also announced he is about to take a month off at Microsoft, to complete his training for the Captain's License on a nuclear submarine.
I think from those 600K at least 25% are directed from slashdot. This is the best free advertazing ever. Anyway that, I know, was besides the point. Is he really going to swim across? I don't think a cup of mommy's chocolate will do him any good. In the contraty he can have a massive chronic diarrhoea. For that single reason I won't download Opera. I feel pitty on the poor man
"Eyewitnesses have reported a Microsoft corporate jet in the area where von Tetzcher was last seen. According to one witness, the jet descended to just above sea level, and dropped a largem ferocious-looking fish with some sort of optical device attached to its head, into the water".
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Yeah, I noticed there's no Amiga version yet. SACRLIDGE!
... and in the DRM, bind them.
This is most definitely not happening.
REALLY?????
Have a little sympathy please.
Typical windows users may have difficulty navigating around all the complicated menus. It makes sense to make it easier for them by default.
Real people on the other hand can probably work things like that out one their own.
-- MartinG To mail me: echo kewyjlcxyzvjfxbqwh | tr bcefhjklqvwxyz
I tried it once. I actually made it half-way across before I got too tired and had to turn around and go back.
The best way to predict the future is to create it. - Peter Drucker.
Doesn't Virgin Atlantic have planes with pools on board?
Irene KHAAAAAAN!
... a largem ferocious-looking fish with some sort of optical device attached to its head ...
Shark with laser-beams? Cool!
(Prepares CV for sending to Microsoft. I've always wanted to be a henchman...)
Tedious Bloggy Stuff - hooray?
every where I look, another number beginning with 6.
<aol>Me too!</aol> All I see is six, six, six. Six-hundred sixty-six. Beastly, isn't it?
Not to mention the modding-up for the people who explain it.
Assume I was drunk when I posted this.
Looks like you're trying to replace the CEO of opera with a small shell script! :-D
Disconnect your television. Do your own research. Draw your own conclusions. They're probably lying. Don't be a sheep.
One word: Shrinkage
Opera calls their tiny products "embedded".
Not to mention the modding-up for the people who explain it.
Add in the modding up of the person who points out that the person who explained the modding up procedure is being modded up and it's a full blown mod orgy.
Do you Gentoo!?
With all this global warming stuff, maybe he'll wait a while before swimming.
...knowing I just downloaded a piece of software with no intention of using it just to see someone perform a task during which they will surely die.
What support group do I go to for this?
In other news, the CEO of Intel declared that he is looking for a copy of the April 19, 1965 issue of Electronics containing Moore's original article predicting 'Moore's Law.' "If I can find one", he declared, "I will personally swim from Santa Clara, California to Phoenix, Arizona!" After aides pointed out to him that there is technically no waterway connecting the two cities, he announced that his decision was not yet final and "some details still had to be worked out". Speaking on condition of anonymity, several top PR flacks worldwide expressed concern that this whole thing was getting out of hand.
...dropped a largem ferocious-looking fish with some sort of optical device attached to its head...
What would a shark do with an intellimouse(tm)?
Like my comments? Try my podcast: http://www.baldmove.com
Still, he's Icelandic. He should have no trouble with a shark. (1)
The only thing to worry about is the lasers, and a reflective bodysuit would handle that pretty well. (Of course, then he looks like the Silver Surfer, and then we've got Galactus to worry about.)