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I Pity The April Fool! 59

Posted by emmett from the we're-done-we-promise dept.
Well, we hope you had a good April Fool's here at Slashdot; we're done with weird translations for the day. It's been an interesting day online, from Andrew Leonard's Salon piece to the Google MentalPlex to the l33t.freshmeat.net post over at Freshmeat, and of course, the Advogato joke on Andover. Also check out the 'Windows Games' post on Linux Games. Special thanks to Rinkworks and Babelfish for translations. Personally, my favorite April Fool's site on the entire web can be found here. Oh, you mean it's not? Oh, dear...
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I Pity The April Fool! More

I Pity The April Fool!

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  • Nope... that's always been there... its a scaled down and faded version of the original (circa '98) LG logo... in its first incarnation it was unmistakable as an electronic joystick, but now it does rather resemble something more phallic at that low resolution now that you mention it... :/
  • No, I hadn't! I'm going to have to show that one to my girlfriend... She'll love the "PsyDuck with a railgun"... I'd buy some PokeQuake merchandise, that'd be so funny!

    If anyone else has other cool news that I missed, please post it, this is much better than the Slashdot news today...
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [152.7.41.11].
  • Finally, slashdot posts some *funny* April Fools Day links! :)

    I don't know who linked to it before, but the newsletter [ticalc.org] over at ticalc.org [ticalc.org] did the translations right, with a human to mangle them! I laughed and laughed...
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [152.7.41.11].

  • Re:HNN (Score:1)

    by pb ( 1020 )
    Nope, looks like business as usual.

    Those whacky '1337 d00ds...

    "Phree Phiber Optik!!1!" :)
    ---
    pb Reply or e-mail; don't vaguely moderate [152.7.41.11].
  • NOw I guess it's safe to read again.
  • "I fully intend to
    e-mail my
    representatives,
    and I hope they
    realize the
    important impact
    that Microsoft has
    had on the
    computing
    industry alone,
    and ALL the other
    industries
    as well."

    If that ain't a joke, I don't know what is...
  • Here [freshmeat.net] is the right link to the freshmeat submission.
  • That was the best first post ever.
    --
  • Once again, Slashdot shows why all the geeks keep coming back. This whole thing was done with a classy sense of humor. Obviously, everyone expected weird stuff out of /. today, and this was a great way of being funny while not trying to fool anybody.

    The sad part is that Segfault isn't this funny anymore even on its best of days!
  • Personally, I think their humor is doing fine. Did you notice the mutilated US flag with a monitor replacing the field of stars in the Microsoft link?
  • No joke. Bad impact, not a good impact.
  • In related news : GNU Visual Basic [freshmeat.net] was announced at freshmeat. yes..it has its own NDA. and is distributed as binary only. from none other than RMS.
  • I have to agree. I was looking forward to some high class April Fools day jokes. It's sad when our local radio station does a better job. Just for comparison:

    We're having a support workers strike at the school district and as such there are no classes.

    There was an article in the paper that said students were upset about the number of classes missed and wanted to do something other than summer classes to make up for this. The radio then reported that they'd be having Saturday classes to make up for the lost days.
  • ...for the preceeding "jokes." Those responsible have been sacked.
  • ...for that last comment. Those responsible for sacking the people who were sacked have been sacked.

    Here's my [redrival.com] copy of DeCSS. Where's yours?
  • It's the funniest april fools site I've seen.
    If you don't know it's a site for shareware/demos etc.
    happypuppy [happypuppy.com]
    ---CONFLICT!!---
  • TrollDot - Jokes For Trolls. Grits that Splatter.

    I do have to admit, the trolling was much better today than usuall - I actually enjoy a good troll with the morning news... It lends a certain 'don't take yourself too seriously' aura to things.

    -jerdenn

  • Can we have some news now? pretty please ?

    -jerdenn

  • Mr. T (Score:1)

    by simceo ( 90343 )
    Mr. T says read slashdot!
  • Is that anything like an April Bar?
  • April 1st comes up once a year. You've had a year to prepare. Was that the most 'humorous' thing you guys could come up with?
  • Cnet had the best story. By far. On the front page, under high-tech notebooks. They even had stuff under "full story." Check it out.
  • I don't care how anoying, people seem to be extrmely creatve this one day!!

    The best I have seen so far is norways biggest TV channel, TV2's joke.

    http://www.tv2.no/snitch/ [tv2.no]

    They had a big repotasje on the news about a rich nerd who had made a service on the net to find out if somebody you knew was surfing on porn, just by enetering their email address. Complete with the norwegian IT-minister's comment, that the page would be shut down in a few weeks.
    But go there and see what happens! (Norwegian only)

    Wow... I like this (=

    - St4k1n
  • That site probaly mean business so laughing it off may not achieve much. I'm sure the core M$ crew and adherents are also quite intelligent and accomplished too but there seems to be _distinct_ difference of attitude towards proprietory and open source fundementals. I'm personally drawn to the open source nerd genre but I've met a lot of people who just don't get it and think "we" are some wierd communistic and idealistic cabal that is basically irrelevant to the "real world". W3.1 blew away the superiour OS/2, W95 blew away Macs, W98 consolidate those "achievements" and W2k could be the cream of their cake, so far, that icing on top that might entice even some of us core nerd types to indulge. I'm surprised at myself that I started using W98 and immediately more productive for doing so... as much as I hate to admit that.

    I'm pretty well hardcore OSS but I've found the load of endlessly dealing with code in development takes it's toll and I've started running W98 just so it can take the load of basic print/fax and business services. Yes, I could spend yet another week of my life nailing down fax and printing under linux but I have other areas of focus and dealing with even more RTFM is... well, do I sacrifice my main interests to get these fundementals out of the way or do I just "give in" and take one hour off on an old P166 and have instant print and fax services that work (for me) immediately... rather than days and days of screwing around with HOWTOs and deja searches to finaly figure it out and get it working properly ?

    That W2k post at freshmeat (on April 1st :-) was a timely message. Where my server is co-located there is an NT box next to it where the owner paid $60k for a unlimited license on some HotMail clone and I said to him, gee, he could have employed me for a year to do an opensource equivalent... he was at the point of fixing a problem by re-installing the software from scratch, yet again, but it'll be interesting to see that in another 12 months that his project gets sold off for a lot of money (with a mature client base) and I am still waiting to find a decent tutorial/example of how to use the new session abilities in php4. We'll see but there is a distinct possibility that for all the perceived shortcomings on M$ products that from a non-nerds productive investment point of view that his investment may blow my efforts (for years now) out of the water and his strategy will "win" in the end.

    I'm absolutely sure "we" have the right ethical stance but I'm yet to see any real rewards for the majority of open source business models. For the lucky few that got in early and stuck to it, sure, there are now plenty of millionares from OSS, but there are a lot more of us left out in the cold.

    Linux/*BSD have two distinct advantages, price and complete access to source. Both are important to nerds but only one is important to the majority of non-hardcore-nerds out there and that's price... so if M$ ever decide to release future updates of W98 for free then (seeing W2k is really NT, a different beast) then we could see further slowdown of growth in the OSS world.

    I would not mind betting on the fact that M$ is rearranging their financial structure right now to cope with releasing future updates to W98 for free within another 12 months. They have already got $b's out of it and the new future is W2k so giving away W98 updates would not cost them much and be a brilliant marketing move.

    M$ definately have a comunity based mindset out there so if they galvinise it (taking on a core OSS principle) and tease it along with a big gift like "giving away" updates to W98 to the masses of non-nerds who would not pay for W2k anyway then that just might be a real hard nut for linux to crack wide open.

  • Na deze babylonische spraakverwarring ben ik blij dat Slashdot weer gewoon Nederlands spreekt, zoals het hoort. Alle hete grutten en sterre oorlog vrouwtjes nog aan toe, het is de dag der dwazen en zelfs dit rustpunt in de maatschappij is gek geworden. Ik moet wel zeggen dat ik genoten heb van de manier waarop de Anonieme Lafaards reageerden. Maar goed, zoals gezegd, blij weer Nederlands te spreken.
  • I hope no one missed Windows 2000 post on FM, also, don't forget RMS' visual Basic

  • This isn't written by Linus. It's just some sm4rt13-p4nt5 doing the infamous "famous open source people" impersonation...

    Besides, this Microsoft-is-adopting-Linux joke has gotten kinda old. It was TWO years ago when I got the MS Linux announcement on April 1st, for example. Man, people gotta come up with something more creative than this!

  • April fools come and go, but the inexplicable ones are always the best.

    How did they do this [bbc.co.uk] without getting killed???

  • When I first went to the website I thought this has got to be a hoax! Boy was I wrong. That is sick.

    Nate Custer

  • Actually it isn't by Linus. Read the replies.

    Dear Linux Users,

    I'm pleased to announce jointly with Microsoft(tm)(r) Corporation
    release of Linux 2000 Professional Enterprise.

    As you probably already know I'm busy with my family and I already
    have full-time job with Transmeta. Thus, it has been necessary for me to
    look for some responsible partner who would help me develop Linux.

    After extensive search, I have decided upon Microsoft Corporation
    which has been known on market for long time from their high quality
    software.

    Thus the upcoming Linux 2.4.0 will become Linux 2000(tm)(r).

    Pricing will be determined at later time. However, I would like to
    take opportunity now to remind people who have unlicensed version of Linux
    to delete it from hard disk and then wait until official release of Linux
    2000(tm)(r) will become available.

    Effective April 1st 2000, midnight, all older versions of Linux
    are illegal under Digital Millennium Copyright Act.

    They really can change the license wen they want to under the DMCA, right?
  • Yes, humor is soo important. I used the Freedom To Innovate link in the article to send the following message to my political reps: -- Microsoft has damaged consumers with their monopoly. Break 'em up, kick 'em over. The world will be a much better place without Microsoft. Bye bye to a bunch that didn't have the sense to back down from the gang that vanquished the Confederacy and Ma Bell - both bigger and badder than the Borg from Redmond. Message for Microsoft: "Do not pass go, advance directly to the history books. Innovate there." -- Now, where do I buy that sense of humor?
  • off of lkml, right here [kernelnotes.org]
  • This is the funniest site [fixedearth.com] I've seen toady. Only problem is it's not a hoax.
  • Sucked. All of it.
  • . . . was one of the many pseudonyms of sci-fi author Harlan Ellison.
  • Square Gamer [squaregamer.com] gave their site a makeover for the day.
  • Slashdot.org writers are the worst ever! The moderators are even worse. If you disagree with them they call you a "Troll" while they give retards who can't spell who say 'linux iz cul' +99 "Insightful." I'm moving to Epinions [epinions.com] for good =(

    - Jeremy Fuller

  • I HATE you!

    - Jeremy Fuller

  • Actually I didn't even realise it was April 1st until I checked /. Hmm... I can't believe it didn't say anything on my Far Side calender!
    --
  • sid=foo hoo ha
  • I'm hoping this is both relevant and useful. I was recently able to convince our companies' REAL decision-makers (in our company this is not the IS Director, but the board) to go with a Linux server for email, as they finally got fed up with Exchange. The hint I have, as odd as it is, I would imagine may work for many others. Corel Linux was NOT THREATENING to the board, so they decided to implement it on a test basis. I am not, in any way, affiliated with Corel, btw. And yes, I know that Corel is a workstation-targeted distro, but it still easily outperforms Exchange.
  • I think you jumped the gun on declaring april fools. It's not even noon in many parts of the US, and since it's Saturday, many people might not have even checked /. before this announcement. April Fools day jokes don't work if you say, "April Fool! And now here's my joke..."
  • Am i the only one that thinks that the number of people who took the Advogato/Andover thing seriously is representative of how much trust the community generally puts in /. nowadays?
    Sad, really...

    If 90% of everything isn't crap, your standards are too high.
    We will never be able to come to a consensus on which 10% ISN'T crap.
  • It's April 2 where I'm at and I'm only just reading most of the April fools messages now. Doesn't that make the poster a fool?

    Serious Request: Now that April 1 is over can you please delete the April fools posts and update the non-April fools posts to indicate that they really aren't April fools gags. Thank you.

  • Oh, nice behaviour. Yeah, go ahead, reproduce my translation [slashdot.org] of the stupid "Slashdot Marketing" story on the main page without giving me credit. Yeah, go ahead, post the Advogato and Google links without crediting the people who mentioned it on the site [slashdot.org] or tried to submit it, without success. Yeah, go ahead, post the FIN link without mentioning the guy who first brought it up [slashdot.org] last night. After all, it's not like we want to be moderated up or get Karma, right?

    Blargh.
  • I'm sorry, but translating every story to Italian, Portuguese, "Swedish Chef", "Hick" or "Skript Kiddie" does not qualify as a "classy sense of humour". As other people have pointed out, the real trolls did a much better job at spicing up this April 1st than the faux-troll editors. Sure, "humour" is a subjective thing, but I'll be damned if there ever was a day with so many complains about /. as there were today.
  • You've been hoaxed.

    Using NS, right-click on the story and choose "View frame in new window" You'll notice the URL is kinda suspicious:
    http://www.publius.net/hoax/home.html

    On a side note, this is one of the problems with frames.
  • Actually the Gnome folks *are* trying to implement a GNU Visual Basic (or whatever they choose call it) to be used inside Gnumeric, in order to import Excel spreatsheets. I've read this in several of the GUADEC accounts. Sad.

  • HNN (Score:2)

    by ryanr ( 30917 )
    You forgot the Hacker News Network:

    www.hackernews.com [hackernews.com]

  • You know life is getting weird when you get moderated up for a troll in binary.

    I must say that the quality of trolling today was *far* better than usual. And I suspect a few of the regular trolls will be feeling their noses *well* out if joint.

    This comment spontaneously generated by MentalPlex [google.com]
  • I was moseying on my April Fool's high when you had to just go and ruin the whole day by posting this drivel. shame :P

    Chris Hagar
  • The Advogato thing is not a joke. Andover cleverly timed their harrasment of Advogato to conincide with April fools, so that no one would believe them when they cried for help. This is despicable.

  • I've often wondered, reading the trolls and silly people, musing at the real time spent (wasted?) with ascii art to bloat my average page, set at 50 comments limit -1 flat, to 70k dowload, whether this recent outburst of noise is not a part of the psyche of /. which portends ill

    Moot the linux / free sware / open source predications, whom I understand, but is it not narrowcast *advocacy* itsself the root of wild instability in the coherence of what people write here? So that, in a rush to say something of value, even good people fail to craft an argument, and default to invective.

    Does that sect(ion) of the /. community want to loose their voice so much? I for one am a little tired to load such large pages just to get a low point limit. And the number of times my browsers (from IE to M13, depending) just fail to render a real long page totally sucks the virtue out of the medium.

    But I for one am adamant, with the erraticism of moderation as it stands, front loaded, often wasted in "killing off" trolls and flames, that I *will* continue to read "uncut" (or maye if in hurry with work at +1 or +2, itending to come back later.

    Those posts I come back here for *again and again* are (guess) 60% at +1, of which maybe half AC.

    The system works - yes, I get some of what I came for. But also I *want BAD* to loose this cruft of bad language and insult, of deliberate and pointless provocation which comes with every article

    Shame has no face in a sea of people

  • Does this mean you are done with the April Fool jokes, or just the translations?

  • Re:The Salon piece... (Score:3)

    by Mike Schiraldi ( 18296 ) on Saturday April 01, 2000 @09:05AM (#1157439) Homepage Journal
    Oh, and Freshmeat has at least two other April Fools stories:

    --

  • The Salon piece... (Score:3)

    by Mike Schiraldi ( 18296 ) on Saturday April 01, 2000 @08:41AM (#1157440) Homepage Journal
    ...can be found here [salon.com]. There are a bunch of other cool pieces there, too.
    --

  • You've all been fooled!! (Score:3)

    by Pinball Wizard ( 161942 ) on Saturday April 01, 2000 @09:52AM (#1157441) Homepage Journal
    OK, I'm not sure if anyone has properly analysed this yet, and I'm sorry if I spoil anyone's fun but...

    #1. Read the story at advogato [advogato.org] if you haven't already.

    #2. Cordwainer Byrd from the "law firm" representing Andover has an email address from bbmma.com. A simple check at Network Solutions [networksolutions.com] reveals the domain name is still available.

    #3. The patent #'s in question(45,487,338,209 and 46,773,228,287) looked a little suspect to me so I checked them out at the patent office [164.195.100.11]. Nope, no patents.

    #4. It gets better. PR Newswire" [63.196.208.222](whoever they are, their website only has an IP address, not a qualified domain name) refers to a different patent, #5,876,324 [ibm.com]. I won't spoil this part for you. Just follow the link.

    Happy april fools day! Good one, slashdot & advogato. I for one am glad there's a day where you can take things not so seriously.

  • duck and cover (Score:5)

    by br4dh4x0r ( 137273 ) on Saturday April 01, 2000 @08:39AM (#1157442)
    Okay, don't take this the wrong way, Slashdot crew...

    I'm sure you're all very intelligent and quite accomplished... but...

    You might want to look into using some of the Andover money to buy a sense of humor. :)

    love,
    br4dh4x0r

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