Slashdot Mirror
Microsoft Infected by Virus
Vicissidude writes "It appears that a Microsoft worker returning from overseas brought back a case of Measles with them. In fact, they had been back, working, and spreading the disease at Microsoft and other places in Redmond for at least four days prior to being discovered. Somehow I do not think that Microsoft included in their cost-benefit analysis of offshoring the potential wide-spread infection of their company. Perhaps they should include that risk in the future."
I hate microsoft with a passion. They suck. I irrationally loathe the company, their products, and everything they stand for.
and even *I* can see that this is a bullshit article, a beatup of ridiculous proportions. Stupidest. Slashdot. Article. Ever.
. . . but are we to believe that, if it weren't for offshoring, none of the tens of thousands of microsoft employees working in this country would ever go outside of the country - even overseas - and possibly bring back a flue or a cold or the mumps or something?
Also, how do you bring back the measles? Aren't we inocculated against measles when you're maybe six years old?
CowboyNeal: fuck you for posting this shit.
I'm sure you've got dozens of more newsworthy articles to post - hell, even dupes have more journalistic integrity than this POS.
What on earth has off-shoring got to do with this? People travel. People go on holiday. People work overseas. People exchange exotic diseases. It's hardly a feature of modern business practices.
My blog
And Bill Gates thought OS was viral.
"Academicians are more likely to share each other's toothbrush than each other's nomenclature."
Cohen
I got a flu from some guy at work yesterday and Slashdot ignored my story submission about it. Not much difference really, is it?
Way to go poster, this is a new low. You're actually gloating because an employee at Microsoft is ill and maybe spread it around. I think you've lost your sense of proportion. When you're laughing at a company because the day-in day-out engineers and accountants and other working folks are ill because you have a grudge against the company, that's fucked up.
Vicissidude, You're a nut. And so is CowboyNeal for posting this crap.
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
that ./ has been putting up too much of stuffs that don't matter at all?
Come on editors, there are too many cool technologies, articles, hacks, etc, submitted but rejected, and then what we see is this kind of junk.
Gee, jesus died for us and all we got is this lousy FA.
The issue is not whether it's factually true; the issue is whether it's newsworthy, and what the motivations are behind posting it. By definition, anything specifically designed to inflame controversy and disparage a certain group without having any other merit is a troll, whether it's factually correct or not.
So yes, TFA -- or rather, the act of posting it to Slashdot -- is really a troll.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
Measles.A
The latest Slashdot meme.
I'm disappointed the /. editors didn't change the usual borg picture for one with nice red spots on it ...
Perhaps the employee traveled to Indonesia.
There's a measles outbreak there.
So far, five people have died.
Explain how is this relevant to off-shoring specifically. Its definitly not anything unexpected...
Viruses were jumping continents since mass transit systems were in place. People were travelling for business purposes for good many years, often got sick and infected entire offices with a flu strain, but somehow i dont see that as worthy of a frontpage.
Although that brings another matter to the focus: Vaccinate before you travel! (yeah i know, none for measles yet... our lab is working on it right now)
...and HAHAHAHAH remember when that Enron janitor died of AIDS? oh my god and back in the 80s two engineers at IBM had the whooping cough! they DIED!! HAHAHAH god it's so great and just!! Can't wait to find out another chinese guy died of bird flu! And if we wait a few more seconds we can laugh about some more children starving to death in North Korea! MY GOD THE HILARITY NEVER ENDS!!!??!1111 lol dudez. Okay back to being serious: can we do a mini-poll on whether the poster and editor are high, drunk, or just natural assholes?
Stop the Slashdot Effect! Don't read the articles!
"I hope SP3 fixes this..."
or
" I don't know what I'll do if I have to wait for SP3 to fix this."
Which is it?
Funny thing is I was just reading here: http://www.cdc.gov/nip/diseases/measles/faqs.htm
If the chance of the diseases is so low, why do I need the vaccine?
It is true that vaccination has enabled us to reduce measles and most other vaccine-preventable diseases to very low levels in the United States. However, measles is still very common -- even epidemic -- in other parts of the world. Visitors to our country and U.S. travelers returning from other countries can unknowingly bring this disease into the United States, and if we were not protected by vaccinations, it will quickly spread causing an epidemics here. The disease is very contagious. We should be vaccinated protect ourselves and our children. Even if we think our chances of getting measles is small, the disease still exists and can still infect anyone who is not protected.
And circumcision? Man, that's sick. God/Evolution (delete as applicable) put it there for a reason. But I think it's common in the US. Everywhere else in the world it's only done for medical or religious reasons.
The measles were possibly spread to 2 local restaurants - tried them both before and they're both overpriced and not very good - Thai Ginger in Redmond Town Center and Malay Satay Hut on 24th.
There are a huge number of yeast infections in this county. Probably because we're downriver from the bread factory.
I'm no fan of Microsoft or outshoring myself, but this is quite possibly the worst and most insulting article I've ever seen posted to Slashdot.
Editor and the OP need to have their heads examined, and possibly find something new to do with their time.
Can someone mod down the idiots who thought this was funny and posted "funny" stuff about Windows service packs and Outlook so that they can get some karma. Kids, please grow up. Mod me troll or whatever but this article is very much in bad taste. As for the morons, who thought this funny or saw this as a chance for karma-whoring, i feel sorry for your pathetic lives.
Well everyone seems to either think the post sucks because it's attacking Microsoft or offshoring.
So when did all the geeks leave? The ones who actually might have thought the aspect of sending more technical workers overseas leading to increased risks of more interesting diseases was sort of an interesting exercise in risk analysis? I guess they are all dead or off playing Halo.
I didn't think the article was particularly against either Microsoft or offshoring. Just making an observation about a slightly unexpected repercussion for us technical folk (and by us of course I mean me since there are no others left).
If you're all dead, can I have your gadgets?
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
Also worth noting, Bill Gates is one of the world's biggest funders of measles research programs.
Anyway, how is this a significant risk? Surely the staff have already been immunised against measles. In the UK, the NHS has been providing a measles vaccine since 1960. The uptake rate for the current vaccine (MMR) is between 75% and 95% (it varies across the UK). The remainder includes children who have the vaccination separately as well as those who go unvaccinated. So unless the US employees of Microsoft just didn't get vaccinated against measles as kids, what is the problem?
The chances of drug junkie tourists getting infectituous diseases from unhygienic tourist spots is 1000 times higher than executives who travel to offshore offices which are airconditioned and where employees are highly educated!!!
God we need some good articles at slashdot.... not these stupid ones
i have to admit that the biggest reason i visit /. is to read the MS bashing. i personally don't have anything against MS, but it's fun to read MS bashing comments.
that said, i'm really disappointed that this article was posted.
as soon that Microsoft learned of the virus and the threat it posed, they quickly notified all the necessary people that they would have a patch in place to hand out (for a small fee to anyone caught with Win2K on their computers, the XP users would have to pass the Microsoft Genuine Advantage test, and prove that they did infact work there) to the employees. They said to expect it in about 6-14 months.
Come on, this story is simply begging for some funny comments. I don't see any other reason for the story.
Yet all the comments so far are modded as Informative and Interesting.
Slashdot, lift your game.
Also worth noting, Bill Gates is one of the world's biggest funders of measles research programs.
"Honey, I do wish you wouldn't bring your work home with you!"
Maybe there's another article, but the one linked in the summary doesn't mention anything about this person being an MS employee. It only says the person was at the MS cafeteria.
This is anti-Microsoft FUD at its best.
Counter-headline: "PENGUIN GETS RABIES, INFECTS FIREFOX."
-David
Well since no-one cares at all about risk management or considering for a second that it might be a good idea to think about small steps to help prevent illness when traveling abroad, I might as well just make up something funny.
Arguing with a stoner is like:
Lighting a toke with a wet match. There's no spark and the match just gets mad.
Banging your head against a pillow and hoping it will take a new shape.
Trying to fill a marshmallow with smaller marshmallows - Your opponent is just as empty of content as when you started.
Eating as many live crickets as you can without a stomach.
Peace Dude.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
> Way to go poster, this is a new low.
l es/en/
Actually I find it a very important article.
Not as it seems to "bash Microsoft" (and then I could not care less) but because it might wake my North American friends up to the fact that there are these things called "diseases" out there in the real world and that "yes, unbelievable or not" Americans can contract them and die from them.
You think I am joking?
I remember talking to my family doctor in his 60s, a few years back before he died. We were talking about infectious diseases. He mentioned that he had met young doctors in their 20s who would probably never see a case of measles in their lives.
"Why?" I asked. "Because immunisation is so effective." he answered.
That was in Ireland.
An outbreak of measles is incredibly rare in the "west". Can someone please explain to me how one of the U.S.A.s most important companies just suffered an outbreak?
Do you Americans not immunise your children?
http://www.who.int/vaccine_research/diseases/meas
cheers
front
Well maby trojan's in their wallet.
(out of date though, never got to use them)
Using Microsoft's exciting new BorgLite technology, employees will begin automatically downloading the new anti-virus Service Pack 3 to their wetware immediately (note: patchsize may break older models)! Who needs vaccines when you have Automatic Updates? ;)
Slashdot is dying! ...happy now?
...and this was the first time I actively looked for a way to mod submitter and posting editor down.
Worst. Story. Ever.
Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
So, to get something good out of this article: Go check if you defenses -- your body's defenses, not your computers -- are up to date. How about tetanus? Polio? At least consider Hepatitis B, even if you are a nerd and don't have sex and faint if you even hear the word blood. These things don't have to happen.
The site's slogan is "News for nerds. Stuff that matters." Slashdot is often criticized for intentionally posting story summaries that many find inaccurate, highly biased, and/or inflammatory and that incite heated posting, while ignoring news or commentary on issues which outsiders may consider more serious or important (see Slashdot subculture) - this is mostly acknowledged, and frequently even celebrated by the community itself.
Now people, don't edit it there.
Grow up.
Slashdot = Sarcasm
This is one of the shortest articles in /. history and no one seems to be able to read it.
You are right that the article is important, but what you've posted has nothing to do with the article. The article is important because it lets people - who may or may not be immunized - know that they may have been exposed to the virus. That's it.
An outbreak of measles is incredibly rare in the "west". Can someone please explain to me how one of the U.S.A.s most important companies just suffered an outbreak?
What "outbreak"? According to the article, there is one confirmed case of measles in "an adult", who may or may not work for the company.
Do you Americans not immunise your children?
Even if 100% of American children are immunized, not all Americans are born and grow up in America, and not everyone in America is an American.
Besides, the vaccine is not 100% effective.
According to the Seattle Times, the adult picked up the measles in France, another western country.
What is this tight-assed crap, Cowboy Neal? Wake up! I agree with the poster who wrote that this must be the worst story ever.
Bashing:
...all in one totally irrational article!
Wow. I stand in awe of the article's author, story submitter and the editor that was so quick to accept it. Amazing work, guys!
The person travelled to France.
Check here.
In other news Linus Torvalds catches the common cold showing Linux is much more susceptible to basic vulnerabilities than Windows is. Proving once and for all Windows is more secure than Linux.
So I agree with just about everyone--BS article.
Condoms are better to protect against hiv.
So imo circumsising because it'll help a bit more against hiv isn't an arguement. If it's not 100% effective, it's almost criminal to give people a false sense of safety (don't need a condom for protection, I'm circumsised).
And yes, some people probably are that stupid.
Learn about pinball machines on www.flippers.be
This is just sad. It's one thing to pick on MS for the many, many, many holes in their OS's however this is just sad and lame on so many levels, now wonder slashdot is falling of my radar.
You know what would help fix the problem of horrible stories like this? Give the moderators the power to *REMOVE* a story.
It makes sure you don't come back with something that you can spread to your community. Measles kills and blinds and damages brains.
This is what I can say about measles after I contracted it at Siggraph 2001 (Los Angeles).
(1) It sucks! The body ache that comes with it really hurts. It also comes with symptoms of a very bad cold.
(2) Your vaccine can expire. Mine was 15 years old. You're supposed to get a booster vaccine every 10 years. Get your boosters.
(3) U.S. doctors are not very good at diagnosing measles correctly because they've seen so few real cases. Mine told me I had a "virus from hell", and did not think it was measles even after I suggested it as a possibility.
(4) Measles hurts more than chicken-pox as an adult (yes, I got that three years later, for the second time in my life), but chicken-pox also sucks a great deal.
(5) Your resistance to chicken-pox (probably measles too) can fail if you contracted them as a small infant (as in my case with chicken-pox) so get your boosters.
Religion is poison to rationality, and we lose sight of that at our own peril. -- Lurker2288