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Google and Oregon Launch Open Source Initiative
* * Beatles-Beatles tells us that Google is entering into a $350,000 joint open source technology venture with both Oregon State and Portland State Universities. From the article: "With the grant, the universities will collaborate to encourage open source software and hardware development, develop academic curricula and provide computing infrastructure to open source projects worldwide. The universities will also help provide a bridge between Oregon's universities and Oregon's growing open technology industry." Google also has their version of the announcement on blogspot.
werd
I've only seen Balmer once when he wasn't on a podium, and it was scary...
Here's the story.
It was in one of the newer buildings and they were having one of those "not retreating is actually a victory" meetings about how they'd spent several million $ persuading some local council in South America to upgrade their copy of Exchange Server, or something, instead of buying some semi-functional 'open-source' alternative...
All the people around me were going "Steve Balmer... It's Steve Balmer..." in awed tones, so I took notice, for a change, rather than just keeping my lowly-assed head down, like I usually do...
Anyway, HE emerges (THE Balmer, I mean) from this meeting room - all smiles, and everyone is slapping each other on the back, and saying how great things were, and Balmer (not a word of a lie) leans forwards, furrows those beetle brows of his, and strikes a he-man pose... you know the kind I mean, surely? Elbow crooked, upper arm raised, fist clenched...?
For a moment, I thought "Yes! This is surely a sign that the man has a sense of self-irony! Surely he realises how ridiculous that looks: 'Uncle Fester strikes heroic pose'" - Yeah, I know we're not supposed to use the UF analogy, but honestly, guys... that's he looked like: Uncle Fester, in a suit, striking a Mr Universe pose...
Anyway, like I say, for one giddy moment, this girl thought we were actually being led by a guy with a sense of self awareness and humour... That he was about to turn around and say that the last few years have just been one gigantic joke...
You know?
But no. The Laughs and smiles continued among his groupies... and my heart sank.
Here he was, Mr Balmer, in all his frail male ego-trip glory... He actually believes that stuff, you know? He probably even thinks women find him more attractive!
I was told the other day (and this is probably old news to you geeks), that Steve Jobs has a 'reality distortion' field that takes in those around him and converts them to his way of thinking... If that's the case, then OUR Steve is like that in reverse: a kind of "Black Hole" of reality distortion. He surrounds himself with people who radiate distortion... and he kind of just sucks it all in and believes it all HIMSELF!
After all, why waste your time convincing the rest of the company that you're right, when you can just believe all that crap, yourself?
Can anyone else remember seeing this performance and fill in the blanks about where it was and how it happened? I KNOW I saw it: I'm not making this up!
I know I'm pretty low down the scale, and probably come across as such - in fact, I'm probably on my way to my first 3.0 - but maybe someone else who was there can verify this?
I just remember thinking at the time: "If that guy was a South American dictator, he'd be one of those ones that wears a colonel's uniform - even though everyone can see he's actually a fat bald guy!"
I decided, then and there, that all of our personal futures was being run, so as to flatter the ego of a fat bald guy!
Does that sound like a personal attack on Steve? Maybe we need that! maybe we need to get personal, before we puncture his ego-shield and deliver a good dose of clue to the guy?
I have no solutions, but I can say that even from my lowly position, 'Our Great Helmsman' look deluded.
Before adopting WHATWG, read the moonlight.NET EULA [http://www.microsoft.com/interop/msnovellcollab/moonlight.mspx]
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EAT IT
Easy +5 insightful/interesting: In any thread regarding an open source-supportive company or FOSS project being praised, all you need to do is post a comment, "If Microsoft were to do this it would be decried!"
These should be -1 Off Topic. These comments have nothing to do with the story and are misleading anyway. Most stories posted about Microsoft are about their latest shenanigans, so obviously most posts are critical of them. The few times Microsoft have been victimized by patents or done something positive a good portion of posts are supportive of Microsoft.
Instead it's free karma for saying nothing of worth.