IE Sends Cake to Firefox 2 Team

The firefox team was gonna send a cake too... by 192939495969798999 · 2006-10-26 01:18 · Score: 5, Funny

but they didn't have time, seeing how they were too busy building a better browser! Good night, everybody!

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stuff |

Re:The firefox team was gonna send a cake too... by mnmn · 2006-10-26 01:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Isnt it obvious? They since they just released IE7 they want a cake back.
Only to include a file in it for the developers at Redmond.

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"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Re:The firefox team was gonna send a cake too... by LifesABeach · 2006-10-26 02:12 · Score: 5, Funny

"Beware of Geeks, Bearing Gifts" - Casandra

itsatrap by Kuciwalker · 2006-10-26 01:18 · Score: 5, Funny

I think this is the poster child for the "itsatrap" tag.

Re:itsatrap by shadowcode · 2006-10-26 02:50 · Score: 5, Funny

Don't believe this guy, itsatrap!

The Browser Wars by BRUTICUS · 2006-10-26 01:19 · Score: 5, Funny

...just got a whole lot friendlier

Re:The Browser Wars by the_humeister · 2006-10-26 01:25 · Score: 5, Funny

It's a lot better than in the past when we had drive-bys from the IE and Firefox gangs.
Re:The Browser Wars by forgetmenot · 2006-10-26 02:52 · Score: 5, Funny

Obviously, you didn't read the part where a naked Ballmer jumped out of the cake throwing gobs of it at everyone and screaming "I'll f***** destroy You!"
Re:The Browser Wars by AlecLyons · 2006-10-26 03:02 · Score: 5, Funny

Browser Wars 2: This time it's amicable
Re:The Browser Wars by Mr.+Bad+Example · 2006-10-26 03:45 · Score: 5, Funny

> Obviously, you didn't read the part where a naked Ballmer jumped out of the cake throwing gobs
> of it at everyone and screaming "I'll f***** destroy You!" ...followed by five minutes of him jumping around screaming "Confectioners! Confectioners! Confectioners! Confectioners! Confectioners!".

Pie? by BeeBeard · 2006-10-26 01:20 · Score: 5, Funny

Are they sure it wasn't just humble pie? :)

Re:Pie? by robyannetta · 2006-10-26 01:50 · Score: 5, Funny

The Firefox team couldn't eat it because of all the ActiveX ingredients... [ducks]

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- Just my $0.02, take with a grain of salt, your mileage may vary.

You have to admit by captnitro · 2006-10-26 01:22 · Score: 5, Insightful

That was pretty classy. (Even if ultimately it was intended as a bit of good-natured competitive ribbing, which it doesn't look like.)

I have to say, often times we're prone to think that large organizations such as Microsoft are just a big, faceless entity. As a whole, this may or may not be true, but either way, they're only made up of people. The IE team only wants to ship the best software possible given their resources, as does Mozilla.

The best to both teams -- let the competition continue!

Re:You have to admit by waif69 · 2006-10-26 01:34 · Score: 5, Insightful

This is awesome! It shows that at least some of the team members of the IE development team have some self-respect and can appreciate quality work. This shows that just because a group of developers work for the giant doesn't mean that they are disrespectful and bad sports.
Re:You have to admit by Random+BedHead+Ed · 2006-10-26 01:45 · Score: 5, Interesting

Good points, but look at it this way: the IE folks owe everything to Firefox. Really. The fact that their offices no longer smell of mothballs is a direct consequence of Firefox's rise. Microsoft was able to keep an open and evolving cross-platform development platform at bay (i.e., the web), but the fact that their strategic product wasn't a profitable product kept development in the dark ages until Firefox came along. IE will always improve (and indeed, will only improve) if it has this competition. As one of the co-creators of Firefox said recently:

Firefox brought Microsoft back to the table, but they make no guarantees how long they'll stick around. I can't imagine why any individual--let alone an IT department--would bet on a company with a proven track record of gross abandonment.

IE people should be very glad there's a Firefox, and pray it has staying power. And should keep sending cakes to the Mozillers.
Re:You have to admit by eck011219 · 2006-10-26 02:08 · Score: 5, Interesting

I agree -- I have a couple of friends who work in Redmond and are just as fed up with the corporate BS as any Slashdotter. But they're working on things that deeply interest them, and they (as yet) believe that they and the other very sharp people on their teams can produce better stuff than Microsoft has in the past (besides, it's apparently a great place to work, if you can get past the corporate sellout thing that so many of us have a problem with). So I'm not at all surprised about the cake -- you have to figure that the IE folks and the Firefox folks are in contact from time to time and are watching each other carefully all the time, and the IE team at MS is going to be just as interested as Firefox in getting something cool out for the public.

The problem with Microsoft is not bad coders. I'm sure they have some, but I bet the percentage is no different from other companies. The problem is when upper management starts making coding decisions based on shareholders' concerns, or when marketing starts making standards decisions and passing them down to coders. One of the friends at MS said that pretty much all the coders he knows would much rather be working with accepted standards instead of hackneyed MS pseudo-standards.

Anyhow, I agree completely that this was a classy move. I would still have some marketing intern taste it before the whole team digs in (lest today be remembered as the day Firefox development froze forever at 2.0!), but I think most in-the-trenches coders would be happy to pat a rival on the back for something cool.

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It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.

Yum, Cake by GiggidyGiggidy · 2006-10-26 01:23 · Score: 5, Funny

When the cake was opened, the Firefox team found it was not quiet finished and full of bugs.

Re:Yum, Cake by StevoJ · 2006-10-26 01:50 · Score: 5, Insightful

and it only worked with one particular fork

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That didn't really make sense. But I'm going to post it anyway.
Re:Yum, Cake by Chris_Jefferson · 2006-10-26 02:46 · Score: 5, Funny

The firefox team sent back a plain sponge with a note saying "If you would perfer a more exciting cake, there are a large number of extensions you can get."

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Combination - fun iPhone puzzling

Of course it wasn't poisoned by roystgnr · 2006-10-26 01:23 · Score: 5, Interesting

If it wasn't for the Firefox team, we'd all still be stuck with IE6 and the Internet Explorer team would have had to look for new jobs.

New cake; old ingredients by spookymonster · 2006-10-26 01:23 · Score: 5, Funny

While the IE team touted the cake as 'new and innovative', after further investigation, the Firefox team discovered that Microsoft had used ingredients that originally appeared in Mozilla cakes several years earlier.

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- Despite popular opinion, I am not perfect.

It takes time.. Give it another year or two by iOsiris · 2006-10-26 01:23 · Score: 5, Funny

Then the FF team will slowly start disappearing from mysterious causes

Happy to have a job again! by EggyToast · 2006-10-26 01:24 · Score: 5, Insightful

Remember, Microsoft disbanded the IE team shortly after 6 was released. The IE team sends a cake not just for a "birthday," but as thanks for giving them jobs!

giving back by jmyers · 2006-10-26 01:27 · Score: 5, Funny

Who says Microsoft does not give back to the open source community?

Re:giving back by Reverend528 · 2006-10-26 01:37 · Score: 5, Funny

Unfortunately, the license forbids the firefox team from redistributing the cake.

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Badass Resumes
Re:giving back by dominator · 2006-10-26 01:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Like it or not, they'll be distributing "derivative works" of the cake in the next few hours...

*ducks*

Icing on the cake... by Capt+James+McCarthy · 2006-10-26 01:29 · Score: 5, Funny

reads "Thank You for tabbed browsing."

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There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.

Give Me A Break... by beringreenbear · 2006-10-26 01:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

For a change, Microsoft's IE team was showing a bit of class and acknowledging that without the competition and innovation from Mozilla Firefox, there (probably) wouldn't have been an IE 7 project. It also hints that there might be some subtle changes in Microsoft's old Cult of Bill approach. At the end of the day, software developers are just people, and political football aside, there really is no reason for animosity. Kudos to Microsoft's IE 7 team for being good sports.

Maybe It's Just a Gift? by Secret+Agent+Man · 2006-10-26 01:30 · Score: 5, Insightful

Maybe while us users squabble in our own browser war, the development teams actually don't care all that much. Maybe they truly are just glad of how everyone is advancing (as opposed to just trying to one-up each other). I'm not saying that everyone in both companies feel that way, but instead of reading stuff into this surprise present, maybe it was just a good gesture.

Need more details by Linker3000 · 2006-10-26 01:34 · Score: 5, Funny

Was the icing #FF6666, #6600FF or something else?

Was there a nice #FF0000 cherry on the top?

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AT&ROFLMAO

Microsoft lives out an episode of The Simpsons by Zontar_Thing_From_Ve · 2006-10-26 01:37 · Score: 5, Funny

P.S.: No, it was not poisoned

Montgomery C. Gates: Look at them stuffing their faces, never knowing they're getting closer to the poisoned part of the cake... There IS poison in the cake, right?
Smithers Balmer: Uh, no sir, our lawyers said that's considered murder.
Montgomery C. Gates: Damn their oily hides!

Big Black E? by Diamon · 2006-10-26 01:39 · Score: 5, Funny

Seems even the IE team knows that IE is dead.

As for the ex-lax, bugs, pubes in the cake of course none of that is true. Those things would only be possible if someone at Microsoft actually made the cake, and that's not how MS does things. They knew they couldn't make a good cake so they just went out and bought a cake from someone who already knew how to make one and then stuck their logo on it and called it theirs.

Re:Obligatory comment by pixelpusher220 · 2006-10-26 01:43 · Score: 5, Funny

the real obligatory comment is:

Nice cake...but what's with all the bugs? ;-)

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People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people :-D

Non-slashdotted picture by jsoderba · 2006-10-26 01:43 · Score: 5, Informative

The picture is hosted on flickr.

A cake? by zeromorph · 2006-10-26 01:45 · Score: 5, Funny

Shouldn't it have been cookies?

Ok, maybe they were afraid they don't accept cookies.

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"Hannibal's plans never work right. They just work." Amy/A-Team

But the question is... by Yvanhoe · 2006-10-26 02:09 · Score: 5, Funny

... did they accept the cookie ?

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The Wise adapts himself to the world. The Fool adapts the world to himself. Therefore, all progress depends on the Fool.

Re:Obligatory comment by andphi · 2006-10-26 02:29 · Score: 5, Funny

Bugs are a good source of protein. They're features!

Perhaps this is common. by LoudMusic · 2006-10-26 02:47 · Score: 5, Insightful

Lots of comments about how the IE team is happy to be empoyed, a friendly gesture, poking fun, etc etc. But I think this sort of thing is more common place than most of us imagine. Big companies that spend a lot of their time working on similar products follow eachother's progress very closely and are aware of the same difficulties they're both having. They may not be on the same team, but they're fighting the same battle. Even physical wartime battles have been known to halt to celebrate a common holiday, together.

I know that Terminix (a client of my company) congratulated Orkin (the evil competitor) on one of their recent anniversaries. It's a way of saying "We know what you're up against, and we know it kinda sucks. Hang in there."

My wife and I watched an episode of Dharma & Greg last night (TiVo, don't know the air date) where they're entering a dancing competition. Dharma's parents were against it claiming competition makes people mean and greedy. I see that a lot in society, and it doesn't have to be that way. Competition is to make us better individuals. Without competition we'd never progress to the next level. And because of that we should thank our competitors for putting up a good measure of excellence.

Even in sports like track and cross country where you can effectively compete against yourself, where's the push to keep getting a faster mile time, higher polevault, or longer long jump if you have nothing to compare it against? At the end of high school track meets I remember walking around and shaking the hands of everyone I competed with. If it weren't for them I wouldn't have been "in the top three" regularly. I'd have just been a dude running crappy lap times on the weekend.

Here's to competition! The evolver of our modern society. Thank your competitors, for they are what bring us a better life.

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No sig for you. YOU GET NO SIG!

Re:Cake, or a free trip to Australia? by bloobloo · 2006-10-26 02:53 · Score: 5, Funny

Cakes on a Plane?

That they know of anyway. by SydShamino · 2006-10-26 03:08 · Score: 5, Funny

It secretly contained chopped-up bits of the IE source code. Having ingested it, the entire Firefox team is now legally disqualified from working on open source competitors.

Or something like that. It's early still.

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It doesn't hurt to be nice.

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IE Sends Cake to Firefox 2 Team

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