I thought a couple of Micro$oft-related stories today were quite entertaining.
From a techy point of view, the widespread reports of their leaked Windoze code fell terribly short of the money shot. Where could we actually see the source? Would it be interesting in any way?
Rescue then from Kuro5hin, with an amusing roundup of the exasperated comments embedded in the code. “Mondo hackitude-o-rama” – we’ve all been there.
Next, a fantastic MS-baiting move from Lindows. The story so far: this openly MS-hating European company are marketing Linux as a direct, low-cost replacement for Windows. Hence – “Lindows”.
The Gates crew are incredibly unhappy at the similarity of the names however, and legal battles rage over whether you can trademark a such a commonplace word as ‘windows’.
Now, as the legal results differ in countries across the world, in some places the name Lindows is indeed banned. To circumvent this, the OS has been rebranded as, wait for it… “Lin—s” (pronounced Lin-dash apparently). So by just taking out the ‘dow’ bit, they dodge the legal order but still cheekily imply they’ve been censored. Their official website goes one step further with a tres subtle hangman device.
It’s heartening as they really don’t give a fuck about the considerable pressure MS can bring to bear on them.
19-Feb-04 at 5:01 pm | Permalink
Geek
20-Feb-04 at 9:54 am | Permalink
by god yes.