Pranksters Post Giant Windows Logo On Hamburg Apple Store

theodp writes "Working calmly in broad daylight and filming their efforts for YouTube posterity, a fake construction crew attached a large Microsoft Windows logo to the black facade of a soon-to-open Hamburg Apple Store. Neat hack in the MIT vein, but next time the crew might want to take along a pic of the Windows logo — with the adrenaline flowing, some of the colors got rearranged and were hung upside down."

Comments

Would I have to be a fanboy...

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

... to see hilarity in this?

Re:Would I have to be a fanboy...

[phantomfive]

No, but it would help if you enjoyed MIT style pranks. This is one of my favorites. Unlike the typical MIT prank, this one caused damage, though (they used screws). The coolest part of this one, to me, was that they did it in plain daylight.

Re:Would I have to be a fanboy...

[Your.Master]

You might not even find it funny but right now you're playing the role of giant stick in the mud. There's two pieces of that: not allowing any position between utterly unfunny and "hoo-hawing to the point of passing out", and insisting that anybody who doesn't think it utterly unfunny (and who is therefore "hoo-hawing" and "slapping [their] knees") must have a profound irrational emotional position to one or both of these companies.

It's a damn prank, not an attempt at the a transcendent humour experience. It's petty vandalism, and as such the vandals should pay back Apple any cost to undo the vandalism and accept the legally required slap on the wrist. But there's not much call to read any deeper into it. People do this all the time for sports rivalries that they don't even care about, they slap stickers for company A on their competitors' products, etc..

It's kind of like this picture that made many slashdotters smile: http://www.linux-magazine.com/var/linux_magazin/storage/images/media/linux-magazine-eng-us/images/news-images/linus-windows-7-rocks/380058-1-eng-US/Linus-Windows-7-rocks.jpg. The difference is just that a little more went into this prank, but it's the same kind of prank.

Re:Would I have to be a fanboy...

[DarwinSurvivor]

Vandalism? Really? They attached some signboard to a TEMPORARY FACADE, of which the only purchase is to cover the building while under construction. Had they done this to the building itself, you MIGHT have a point, given that the signboard were attached in a way that A) was reasonably difficult to remove or B) actually damages the building (nails, etc).

It's over-reacting like yours that has made the world see the US as a place where you can get sued for looking at someone funny. Thankfully I like in Canada where we have Justice's of the Peace that screen cases for stupid crap and tell the plaintive to screw off. Saves a TON of time/money the courts can use elsewhere.

Re:Would I have to be a fanboy...

[Hognoxious]

I'm a builder and I'm on a fixed price contract, you insensitive clod!!!!!

Re:MIT?

[Samantha Wright]

This. MIT students have a long and storied history of similar pranks.

Figures

[topham]

What? They didn't include the video when, 20 minutes later the whole black facade turned blue with cryptic text all over it?

Now had it been a penguin...

[msobkow]

Had it been a penguin, then it would have been funny...

Re:Now had it been a penguin...

[nomadic]

And nobody would have understood it.

Nice Round-Up of Tux "Vandalism"

[theodp]

13 Linux Graffiti Art From Around The World

Re:They got the colours wrong.

[UESMark]

Isn't an inverted flag a symbol of distress?

Once Every Few Years

[The O Rly Factor]

Microsoft pays someone to go do a PR prank like this. Remember when they paid a crew to drop a giant Internet Explorer logo on the front lawn of Mozilla's campus?

Frankly, a company with the corporate culture like Microsoft's pulling stunts like this puts an image in my head of creepy late 30's to early 40's guys pretending like they're in a college frat again.

Re:Once Every Few Years

[artor3]

Haha, yeah, remember that one time fifteen years ago!?

Of course, there's no reason to believe these guys were paid, and even if they were it's just a bit of fun that I'm sure Apple employees got a chuckle out of. But not the fanbois! No sirree, everything is a war, and if MS does something like this, it's "creepy".

Re:The question is worth asking

[nick0909]

A lot of great urban "redecorating" has gone on in the middle of the day. If you do something at night, people automatically assume you are up to no good. If you are dressed like construction workers doing something in the middle of the day, you are just another noisy thing in the way of them getting to their coffee and they ignore you. One of the more famous ones I can recall from my area was in Los Angeles, there is a horrible interchange that gets everyone lost, so a guy made a CalTrans spec sign and hung it himself (http://www.good.is/post/the-fake-freeway-sign-that-became-a-real-public-service/). A more recent one was a surfing Madonna mural put up in Encinitas (http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/apr/25/surfing-madonna-appears-encinitas/).

Its just viral marketting by Apple.

[MrQuacker]

Since they are Apple's viral marketing team they can't use the Windows logo so they use a knock off. Notice in the article they don't mention it is the Windows logo.

This:
        * Ensure that plenty of locals visit the store when it opens. "Hey, isn't this the store that had that wacky prank happen to them a few weeks back? We should go see if there have been any other shenanigans there within the last couple of days."

        * Subliminal reminder that Apple can now run Windows if you use Boot Camp.

        * It generally makes Windows users look desperate to Apple users, "Wow, they had to deface a store to feel better about their choice in OS". At the same time, it makes Windows users look funny and creative to other Windows users, "Haha! Stupid Apple store. This'll teach 'em! They're going to be so mad when they realize what we did!".

I'll say this, I didn't know they were opening a new store in Germany but I sure as hell know now.

Re:MIT?

[Anonymous Coward]

It is also mildly amusing for those people who can spell juvenile.

Re:They got the colours wrong.

[Kitkoan]

Wow, you are too much fun. So... lets start.

You mean by showing that Mac hardware prices *aren't* higher than other companies? When you compare equivalent hardware, Macs are generally cheaper than Dells, for example. Sometimes they are more. You think that if you can find *one* example to the contrary (for example, when the MacBook Pros still had Core2Duos (which was done for technical reasons because Nvidia lost the right to make chipsets for the Core iX cpus, which is what Apple was intending to use)), that this proves "Macs are more expensive". This is what I mean by "black and white". You constantly only accept facts that support your preconceptions, and dismiss those that don't.

Ok, lets take your words here. Macs are cheaper then Dells. Lets see this with the facts and not your words (I'll be using Alienware since it is Dell and is more easy to mix and match parts to the Mac version, you can even see the link here): Now, here is the starting point of an Alienware M17x (they don't make 15 inch models, just 14 and 17 now, which would leave me comparing to either a 13 inch or 15 inch MBP which isn't fair, so both are 17 inch models). I will also not be upgrading the Mac since the last time I did this with you, you declared it wasn't fair since Apple does have high upgrade fees. These are also BOTH customization sites so to compare you will have to follow the specs I'm listing and not alter them beyond what I'm listing or the answers will be different

Alienware

CPU: Intel® Coreâ i7 2720QM 2.2GHz

RAM: 4GB Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz (2DIMMS)

Graphic card: 1GB GDDR5 AMD Radeonâ HD 6870M

HD: 750GB 7,200RPM HDD

Screen: 17.3-inch WideFHD 1920 x 1080 60Hz WLED

Wireless card: Wireless 802.11 g/n

Optical drive: Slot-Load Dual Layer DVD Burner (DVD+-RW, CD-RW) (can't tell speed)

Price: $1,899.00

This is were I am selection the MBP 17inch model.

CPU: 2.2GHz Quad-core Intel Core i7

RAM: 4GB 1333MHz DDR3 SDRAM - 2X2GB

Graphics card: AMD Radeon HD 6750M with 1GB GDDR5

HD: 750GB Serial ATA Drive @ 5400 RPM

Screen: MacBook Pro 17-inch Hi-Resolution Glossy Widescreen Display (1920x1200)

Wireless card: Sorry, couldn't spot it so won't use it to compare at the end.

Optical drive: SuperDrive 8x (DVD±R DL/DVD±RW/CD-RW)

Price:$2,499.00

Both have backlit keyboards and free engravings (I'm pretty sure the Mac does at least11)

Now, in the end, for the most part they are about as even as I could make them (with a small amount of issues, the Dell has a better graphics card, the MBP has a higher screen pixel count). Price difference is $600. And it was you who pointed out the Dell would be more then the Apple. This was your choice. I'm just showing the fact. I could go through all the different model and will always have these kinds of differences. But if you wish, please prove me wrong while trying to keep the comparisons fair, I did by making sure to keep the MBP non-upgraded and altered the Dell configuration to the MBP's level as evenly and fairly as I could. See if you can do it, I'm not dismissing anything you'll show me if it's done in a fair manor. (unlike the last time I gave you mostly this exact comparison where you altered the Dell to have an i3 and lowered everything you possibly could and then upped the MBP settings to make it seem like price wasn't a good comparison since your new models didn't match hardware wise).

to not long ago showing you that Mac isn't the most secure OS out there (which you demanded had to be regardless that I had your word against the word of professionals)

Please quote where I sai