Your Chance to Meet Bill Gates

tcak writes "From the CNET article: "You could meet the chairman of Microsoft, but you'll have to profess a passion for Windows first. Microsoft is looking for true stories about people using Windows computers to pursue a passion or hobby. The company plans to use them in a marketing blitz tied to the 20th anniversary of Windows' debut. ""

Comments

Apple's Switch

[varmittang]

Why do I get the feeling that this is going to be like Apple's Switch ads?

Re:Apple's Switch

[linuxci]

It's good to see Microsoft are worried on all fronts at the moment, they must be spending more than they ever have on improving products and advertising. You can't visit a tech site (even slashdot) without seeing ads that are saying that Windows is cheaper than Linux (unless you block ads*). Now they're doing an Apple style campaign to respond to people switching to Mac or maybe Linux on the desktop. They've revived the IE team and spending a fortune trying to patch the security holes in their swiss chesse products.

*I'd never block Microsoft's ads, sometimes I even click them in order to give the site some free money from Microsoft.

It does drive my passion:

[wild_berry]

I'd like to thank Mr Bill Gates for his product because it does drive my passion: to be involved with a hobby project that provides better software than his professional company does.

Do I win?

Linux users need not apply.

[yoder]

Sounds like Uncle Bill is taking a page from Nature Boy's playbook. Filter those who have access to you so you never have to hear an opposing opinion.

Re:Passion

[shibbie]

You need to speak to my last boss... he was a Microsoft ISV. The passion came from seeing the money roll in.

Too late Bill

[Ailure]

I used to love Windows for... six years ago? Ten years ago I thought that the alternatives for Windows did suck. Boy how I grown up now. The last time I was impressed by Microsoft was with Win XP, but now later on I realised how indiffrent it was to Win2K.

Boy, I regret bashing Macintosh in elementary school years...

And oh, there is alot of Windows fans. I know, becuse I seen them. And most of the time, they're really aren't a nerd, or they're a hardcore gamer. Which is a type of nerd too infact...

I would gladly meet Bill gates thought, even if Steve Ballmer would be a more funny guy. :)

Re:Passion

[xtracto]

Oh man, that is because you did not worked in this place where I used to work, they are trying to be Microsoft Gold partners or something like that and the Chief is certainly a Microsoft Windows Fanboy (tm).

So yup, I have had the chance to work with two or three MS and Windows fanboys/zealots, whatever

Passion = yes, gratefull = yes, Annoyed = HELL YES

[B5_geek]

A lot of us got our start with non-MS OS's, but we all owe Billy a thank-you for making PC's available to non-business's.

If it wasn't for MS, IBM would prolly still be stong-arming the MainFrame Only sales pitch. Yes Apple was first, but it just didn't catch on the way that Windows did.

I don't like his products (although Outlook2003 is damn spiffy), I don't like his embrace/engulf style, but I do love the fact that without him I wouldn't have the career that I do today. I owe him thanks.

C64 -> WFWG 3.11 -> OS/2 v3 & v4 -> Linux

I believe that MS-DOS 6.22 was the best OS that Microsoft has ever made.

Without the millions of home PC's running Windows, we would still be using 486's running at 100MHz.

Thank-you Bill. Now please just go away.

Re:Passion

[Gumshoe]

But I've never known anyone who is really passionate about windows

I knew someone once who threatened to punch me if I didn't retract an innocent assertion that OS/2 was a pretty good Operating System. Really. He was adamant that OS/2 was somehow a threat to Windows 95 and is holding the computing world back. Yes, he was a wanker.

I realise this guy is an aberration but whenever I read a complaint about "Open Source Zealots" or whomever, I remember this guy.

Re:Passion

[Shaper_pmp]

Yeah, same where I work, too (no link, because I still have to work here for a while). We're a Microsoft Gold Partner, but The MD has taken this to mean we aren't even allowed to run a single Linux server or FLOSS app, in case MS (somehow) find out and decide to withdraw our MSGP status in a fit of pique. Not, of course, that they've ever even vaguely indicated they would do so, but there you go....

So, here I am, forced to develop dynamic web content in (hackcoughspit) ASP.NET, re-inventing the wheel each time because you Just Don't Get the equivalent of CPAN for proprietary MS-culture languages, on my local machine, to be deployed on servers currently too old to run the .NET platform until they get a hardware upgrade, which was scheduled for six months ago but still won't happen for at least the next six months because we simply don't have the budget for it, doing nothing that couldn't be done in a fraction of the time, with a fraction of the resources and a fraction of the fucking about in Perl or PHP.

Typical Quote: Our "Director of Innovation" (that's "innovation" in the Microsoft sense, too) once noticed FileZilla on my machine. His reaction? "Get that dirty free software off my machines right now". Oh yes, and every project anyone undertakes has to be done in a language he can speak, just in case they ever decide to leave and he decides to start managing it directly himself.

He only can only code in VB.

Apparently he once tried to learn C for three weeks, but gave up "because it was too hard".

Oh yeah, and this is a multi-million-GPB company.

True stories

[Max_Wells_SH]

Windows Zelots push the fact that they put in a lot of time and effort into it, and they just can't turn back now.

I think you're right:

Me at Work: I just installed Messenger Plus on 6.2 instead of installing 7.0, now I can turn off the ads.
Actual MS Zealot at Work: That's full of spyware, why not make a request to MS for that feature in the next version of MSN and wait for that?
Me: ...

At least zealots will try to defend their position, or kill you when you argue with them. I was provided no such relief.

Steve Jobs?

[digithead]

Where's my chance to meet Steve? I'd be happy to babble on endlessly about how iMovie, iPhoto and the iPod have changed my life, hobbies, etc. or what a thing of beauty my G4 Cube is.

I actually would enjoy talking with Bill, but I can't generate the same amount of enthusiasm when talking about Office or the TabletPC I use at work.

Sigh.