Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

What If There Was a Microsoft Appreciation Day?

Posted by Soulskill on from the good-luck-finding-one-around-here dept.

theodp writes "In 2005, Microsoft came under fire after withdrawing support for an anti-gay-discrimination bill. 'I don't want the company to be in the position of appearing to dismiss the deeply-held beliefs of any employee, by picking sides on social policy issues,' explained CEO Steve Ballmer. That was then. Microsoft — like Google and Amazon — has since very publicly declared its support for gay-marriage legislation, which means it — unlike Chick-fil-A — needn't worry about the 'deeply-held beliefs of any employee' causing it to be blocked from doing business by the mayors of Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. I guess we'll never know what Microsoft versions of 'Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day' or 'National Same-Sex Kiss Day' would have looked like."

26 of 362 comments (clear)

  1. What's the point of this "story"? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Other than just trying to rile up commentators? Clickbait much?

    1. Re:What's the point of this "story"? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 5, Funny

      If there were a Microsoft Appreciation Day, there would be a story on Slashdot about it. It'd get over 1K comments, about a third of which would be iOS vs Android and libertarian vs liberal flamewars, a separate 100-comment thread on the evil on H-1B, another one about why Unity sucks, and the rest would be uniformly panning the UI Formely Known As Metro (occasionally diverging into the 5-minute hate of ribbon). All of that would, of course, generate a quite astronomical amount of ad views.

      Given that there isn't a Microsoft Appreciation Day, Slashdot has to content itself with imagining that there is one, and going from there. It's not as good as the real thing, but for some reason people mostly ignore the Bitcoin stories outright these days, and even the regular AGW flamewars barely scrape a measly 400 comments, so you have to do with what you have...

      In other news, what if Richard Stallman said "I laid off the 'shrooms and bought an iPad - fuck GPL, it was all just a bad trip all along" - stay tuned!

  2. Ready... set... Troll! by pspahn · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I'm not even sure what this post is about or why it is something that matters.

    I imagine there will be a troll fest coming in 3... 2...

    --
    Someone flopped a steamer in the gene pool.
    1. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by cpu6502 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      >>>Chick-Fil-A has a rather affectionate relationship with its customers. Hard to see the same thing happening at McDonalds, never mind Microsoft.

      Interesting. Maybe I ought to try this Chick-Fil-A business.
      The ACLU has strongly criticized the mayors of Boston, Chicago, et cetera. They say if the government follows-through on blocking Chick-Fil-a then the ACLU will sue the local governments for discrimination against a business (or group) based upon its religious beliefs. Though I am pro-same sex marriage, I agree with teh ACLU that it is not the role of government to punish/boycott/ban people or businesses or groups for their speech or ideas.

      --
      My AC stalker: " I personally agree with your posts most of the time, but that won't keep me from modding you troll"
    2. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by sumdumass · · Score: 3, Informative

      To be fair, the CEO made the comments outside the business realm to a group at a southern baptist online convention. His son repeated and clarified the remarks when asked by reporters outside that. The official company stance on the issue was somewhat agnostic as they said they didn't want o be involved in the debate and wanted to leave it to the political and government arenas.

      It is really being blown out or portion to state that Chick-Fil-A itself as a company other then donating to a charity the owner's wife is involved with has an anti gay or anti gay marriage stance. Even with the controversy in the headlines, we haven't seen any gays step forward saying they were refused promotions or denied jobs because of their orientation.

    3. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by icebraining · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Chick-Fil-A isn't refusing to serve gays, so I don't see how is your post relevant.

      --
      Dilbert RSS feed
    4. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by mdf356 · · Score: 3, Informative

      The post actually presents an interesting issue (via the time.com link): why do corporations feel they have to take sides on the gay marriage issue?

      As I recall, Microsoft's reasoning was made explicit at least once. MSFT believes that, by supporting issues such as same-sex marriage, it can attract the most talented gay people in the software industry as employees, who may see the company's support of such an issue as a reason to work for MSFT rather than a competitor.

      --
      Terrorist, bomb, al Qaeda, nuclear, yellowcake, kill, assassinate. Carnivore is dead... long live Echelon.
    5. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by Omestes · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I personally don't want to give my money to hate-mongers and bigots. Thats why. And I generally advocate that no one else should support assholes as well.

      This appreciation day thing is creepy, since its supporting them just because they are run by an asshole. I'm glad that hatred can make you the money here in America, for no reason but for the fact that you hate someone who someone else hates. I find this depressing as hell.

      --
      A patriot must always be ready to defend his country against his government. -edward abbey
    6. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by Missing.Matter · · Score: 4, Informative
      It's not just the personal views of the CEO. From Wikipedia, Chick Fil A donates a significant amount of money to anti-gay rights organizations:

      In January 2011, the media reported that the American fast food restaurant chain Chick-fil-A was co-sponsoring a marriage conference along with the Pennsylvania Family Institute (PFI), an organization that had filed an amicus brief against the trial ruling striking down Proposition 8 in California (see Perry v. Brown).[1][2][3][4][5] PFI had also lobbied against a state effort to ban discrimination in Pennsylvania on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.[6] Responding on its official company Facebook page, Chick-fil-A said that support of the PFI retreat had come from a local franchisee, stating "We have determined that one of our independent Restaurant Operators in Pennsylvania was asked to provide sandwiches to two Art of Marriage video seminars."[7]

      Another organization connected to Chick-fil-A through financial support, the WinShape Foundation,[8] was also quoted as stating it would not allow same-sex couples to participate in its marriage retreats.[9] Chick-fil-A gave over $8 million to the WinShape Foundation in 2010.[10] Between 2003 and 2009, the WinShape Foundation gave more than $2 million to groups such as Focus on the Family and Eagle Forum that are politically active in opposing same-sex marriage and other gay rights issues.[11][12][13] Some of these groups are also listed and recognized as hate groups by the Southern Poverty Law Center. [1]

    7. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by AdamWill · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Well, statistically speaking, since approx. 50% of Americans are opposed to same-sex marriage, you can no longer ever buy anything at all, because at least _someone_ whose salary is paid by the business probably opposes same sex marriage.

      Look, I'm gay. Hell, I'm married to someone of the same sex. But I really think some of the pro-marriage activists in the U.S. are going off the freaking deep end. It's a complex issue which deeply divides your country (and many countries). Approaching it like a cartoon in which everyone who supports same-sex marriage is a glorious white knight and anyone who opposes it is evil and eats babies isn't really a mature approach. It's frankly disingenous, disrespectful, rude and counter-productive to imply that anyone who opposes same-sex marriage is necessarily a hate-mongering bigot. A lot of them aren't.

      But then, this is America, where major sociopolitical issues are fought out in fast-food chicken restaurants.

    8. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by hairyfeet · · Score: 4, Insightful

      The funny part? There is NO "biblical view of marriage" and in fact many of the great leaders of the bible had multiple wives. In fact most of the "traditions" we have of marriage are less than a century old and the ones that are older than that most would be horrified if they knew where they came from. An example, the throwing of the garter? Came from the middle ages when they would rip the clothes right off the "bride' who was usually outright bought and didn't have shit to say about the whole thing, to "loosen her up" before being drug off to the bedroom. Source.

      So while there is plenty of precedent for hiding bigotry with the bible, both slavery and racism were considered defensible by scripture, to say its "biblical tradition" to have a single man and a woman is complete horseshit.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    9. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by amiga3D · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Is it your view that when someone disagrees with your position he is a hate monger? I know lot's of people that believe that Christianity is based on a book of fairy tales and yet I don't consider them "hate mongers" simply because they don't believe what I believe. It's not hate to state that you feel something is wrong morally. If he had stated that all gays should be shot on sight then certainly that would be hate mongering but his statement in no wise resembled anything like that. The appreciation day for chick fil-a was in response to the backlash they received in the media and by certain politicians. People wanted to show that they appreciated Mr. Cathy for standing up for what he believed. I shop lots of places that are run by people that dislike what I believe. I don't see any reason to avoid them simply because we differ in opinion.

    10. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by Uberbah · · Score: 3, Informative

      Um.... Looks like the same thing to me.

      Nope, it looks like you did us the favor of proving that you were lying, thanks for sparing us the effort. Nowhere in Obama's quotes did you find anything stating that 'God would be angry with us for redefining marriage'.

      Then there's the matter of Chic's donations to the National Organization of Marriage, a right wing homophobic hate group. Unless you can find similar donations from Obama to similar groups, your false equivalence is even more dishonest.

      Actually, he took it step further and claimed that 9-11 was God's reaction to the sins of the country.

      You're lying. Again. If you're trying to gain points through consistency, it's not working.

    11. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by squiggleslash · · Score: 3, Informative

      Was it really news that the CEO stated that he supported the Biblical version of marriage? No, it wasn't.

      You're missing the context. It wasn't the CEO merely stating, out of the blue, that he supported a particular view of marriage. It was him explaining why Chic-fil-A gives money to certain "Christian" organizations that lobby, for example, African governments to pass laws that mandate the execution of gay people.

      While a lot of people have pretended this is merely about the personal beliefs of the CEO of a fast food chain, it isn't. It's about the fact that buying products from said fast food chain directly contributes to utterly horrific homophobic actions.

      And BTW, as for that "Christian" label people like to slap on homophobia - as I've said elsewhere, despite the actions of "Conservative Christians" to make me believe otherwise, I refuse to believe our creator is an evil intolerant jackass.

      --
      You are not alone. This is not normal. None of this is normal.
    12. Re:Ready... set... Troll! by hairyfeet · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Uhhh...I had to take my youngest son out of school because he was being bashed routinely and not only did the teachers know, some encouraged it. the final straw was when a teacher BROUGHT A BIBLE into class and gave a lecture about "sodomites and heathens" because he was gay and his brother catholic and we are in the middle of baptist land.

      And before you say "Why didn't you sue" it was because at the time my sister was suffering through a slow and agonizing death due to a rare nerve disorder and frankly there was no way in hell my family could have taken the extra stress of a lawsuit on top of that. Hell we would have probably fallen apart if my GF hadn't told her boss when she heard it was the end "You can write it off as sick leave and vacation or you can fire me, but either way i'm going" and spent a month and a half giving the boys a shoulder to cry on and helping keep us together.

      So don't think just because YOU don't see it that bashing isn't happening every, single, day, forget Matthew Shepard? In many places even the cops won't give a shit if you bash away on a gay, and there is a REASON why the highest suicide rate among teens is gay teens, its because their lives are made living hells and frankly nobody in power gives a shit.

      I know ALL ABOUT racist bashing, I have a 2 inch scar on the back of my head for daring to give a black man a ride in MS and before being bashed in the head by the cop I heard 'fucking dirty niggers and god damned hippie freaks, i don't know which makes me more sick" and I can tell you the treatment of gays i'm seeing in many places is NO DIFFERENT than how they treated blacks. Lynching wasn't an everyday occurrence,bashing was. Matthew Shepard style murders aren't an everyday occurrence, bashing is.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
  3. Meme time by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Soulskill: This article is bad and you should feel bad.

  4. Missing Borg Logo! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    how much $$$ did /. receive to remove it?

  5. Questions, Always These Questions.... by macraig · · Score: 5, Funny

    What If There Was an End to All These Silly Interrogatory Posts at Slashdot?

  6. It seems by maroberts · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ...that most IT companies have led the way on gay rights.

    OK, Microsoft was a little slower than a few off the blocks, but in general I think that IT corporations should be proud of their lead in this issue, and MS should be applauded for being among them.

    Still won't stop me loading up Linux instead though...

    --

    Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
    Karma: Chameleon

  7. People bash Microsoft by Smallpond · · Score: 4, Insightful

    ... because they don't know what the software market was like before them.

    A good CAD setup including workstation and licenses could be $100K. A mainframe to handle your accounting could be $6000 per month.

    Personal computing - IBM, Microsoft, and Apple - demolished the old model which was low volume, buggy software at high prices. I have no illusions about their intentions, they've made more money than any emperor. But I do appreciate what they created.

    1. Re:People bash Microsoft by Xtifr · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Nope. Most people don't know what the software market was like before MS, and those people are divided between bashers and non-bashers. Some people know what the software market was like before MS, and they are also divided between bashers and non-bashers.

      I used QDOS before Microsoft bought it and renamed it MS-DOS. I helped develop software for the IBM PC before it was released to the general public. I used CP/M, Apple II DOS, C64 OS, and Unix before MS was more than an obscure BASIC vendor. I contributed to at least one ISO language standard before the PC was released. I know what the market was like back then, and I unreservedly bash MS.

      The best thing they've done is try to implement Gary Kildall's vision--badly. The worst thing they've done is set software development back by years if not decades by deliberately ignoring or undermining open standards, and by destroying competition in the market. Between those two, I think the latter is more significant, so I freely bash them. I think I've earned the right.

      You seem to be confusing "personal computers" with Microsoft. Microsoft didn't invent the personal computer, and they weren't the first to come up with the idea of creating a vendor-independent OS. In fact, I come up empty trying to list their actual contributions to the world--aside from not dropping the market IBM handed them on a silver platter.

    2. Re:People bash Microsoft by Nethead · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I too was an early MicroSoft user. I remember the paper tape of BASIC 1.0 being passed around at the computer club. I grew up using MS BASIC on the Altair, TRS-80, Kaypro, VIC-20 and C64 (sysres made that so sweet to work with.) I even "re-engineered" the VIC-20 BASIC and ROM for use in a telecom board (think of a VIC-88 with 4x6522 and 4x20 LCD display with a 4MHz 65C02, hella board for the day.) Come the PC I used QBASIC to run broadcast automation. I could freaking fly around a DOS machine with Norton Commander and my Northgate keyboard ("Function keys on the left, where God intended!")

      When Windows came along and I found this Linux thing, and then later, this BSD thing. I just can't do Windows anymore.

      But I do have to give it to them for giving us a common language that was easy to port from platform to platform back in the day. Not an easy thing considering the vast architectural differences between those machines. I'm not sure if that is what they intended, but it worked out that way. I mean, you could take a BASIC program for calculating orbits that was developed on a Cromemco and quickly get it running on a C64.

      I do have to thank Bill Gates for choosing to locate in the Pacific Northwest. I've never worked for Microsoft, directly, (and god knows I've had the offers) but he created a great ecosystem where I am able to get people to pay me to play with very expensive network toys.

      As much as I don't like working with current MS products (except keyboards and mice, hell, I'm typing on one now) I sure am glad to have grown up in their shadow.

      --
      -- I have a private email server in my basement.
  8. What if... by SpeZek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What if Slashdot just stuck to posting actual news stories instead of speculatory flamebait?

  9. A gay viewpoint by girlintraining · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I don't consider it real progress that some companies come out in support of gay marriage, while others are against it. I go to Pride, but I wish we didn't have it. Real progress will be when it ceases to matter whether or not you're gay; When it's as natural as not being gay.

    It's like black history month. I don't support that either. People call me racist for it, but I don't. There is no black history month; Black history is American history. It's human history. And their accomplishments should be celebrated the same way as every other historical accomplishment is. We don't need a "special olympics" history for people based on the color of their skin, we need to delete those divisions from our history books, mentioning only that there was a period of time (known as the Stupid Ages) when it was relevant, and then we grew up and put a stop to it. Ta-da, the end.

    It'll be progress with companies like Chic-Fil A say they don't support gay marriage or homosexuality, and gets no press coverage at all. Like, wait, what? Why the fuck does anyone care what a fast food restaurant owner thinks about a perfectly natural state of being? That'd be like Ford Motor Co., coming out and saying they're against red heads marrying. It would go on the back pages, in the "News of the Weird" section.

    That's where shit like this belongs, and until that's where it ends up and people pay it no more attention than as a source of fringe humor and entertainment when companies make announcements like this, we're still in the Stupid Ages of our future history books.

    --
    #fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
  10. One critical difference by eclectro · · Score: 4, Informative

    Chic-Fil-A is a private company serving the interests of a private owner. Microsoft soft is a publicly held company which primarily exists to serve the interests of their shareholders.

    The same sex marriage debate is divisive and there are strong beliefs on both sides. Does a public company exist to sell a product and provide a profit to its shareholders, or help enact social change even if it means the cost of business? Even if it hurts shareholders?

    It simply does not make sense to take sides on a on a highly divisive social issue.

    In Chic-Fil-A's case, Rahm Emmanuel shot his mouth off saying "Their values are not our values" and supported his alderman's postion to stop Chic--Fil-A from building a restaurant based on Chic Fil A's president stance on opposing same sex marriage. Which subsequently led to the anti-boycott and Chic-Fil-A's single biggest sales day in the history of the company Aug 1

    --
    Take the cheese to sickbay, the doctor should see it as soon as possible - B'Elanna Torres, "Learning Curve"
  11. Re:I ate at chick-fil-a every day this week. by An+Ominous+Coward · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I understand the sentiment, but please reconsider your choice. Chick-Fil-A did not come under attack because of its CEO's statements, although those statements did fan the flames afterwards. Chick-Fil-A came under fire for its funding of hate groups. And I'm not using "hate group" here in a wishy-washy, "anyone who disagrees with me is a hate group" way. I'm talking about groups that are pushing for Ugandan law to make homosexuality a capital crime. There's some confusion out there about much of Chick-Fil-A's millions of dollars of donations research that particular organization, but I would anyone involved in supporting GLBT issues to find any association with that hate group to be reprehensible.