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Here Come the Copycats (3/22/98)
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We can't say we're particularly surprised, but we still think it's pretty odd that copycat pie attacks are now being launched against software mogul Bill Gates. You recall, of course, the original incident from early last month, in which Bill was hit with several cream cakes by an anarchist group in Brussels as he entered a building to meet with the Prime Minister of Flanders. Now Wired reports that a group in the Phillipines planned to do the same, as Bill arrived to meet with politicians and "technology conglomerates."
The protesters were members of the Phillippines Greens group, who demanded that Microsoft "submit to genuine compulsory licensing of software wherein local businesses are granted licenses to copy foreign-made software and sell them on the local market at lower prices." Which is equivalent to, say, demanding that Apple let us dupe off our Mac OS 8 CD-ROM and sell the copies for $30 a pop. (Where do people get these ideas?) Alas, the protesters' plans were foiled as Bill managed to avoid them entirely, and so they had to be satisfied with a "pieing in effigy;" they hurled their baked goods at a man wearing a Gates mask, which we've got to imagine isn't quite the same experience.
By the way, we recently mentioned that Bill Gates was the second richest man on the planet, coming in behind the Sultan of Brunei. As it turns out, Bill's wealth surpassed the Sultan's sometime over the last couple of months, and Bill is now indeed the wealthiest human being in existence. We at AtAT would probably feel okay about taking a few pies in the face in exchange for being richer than a Sultan, but that's just our opinion.
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 3/22/98 episode: March 22, 1998: The world gears up for May's Worldwide Developer Conference, which promises a beefier role for Rhapsody, who's been relegated to walk-ons and voiceovers lately. Meanwhile, a highly visible supporter of Rhapsody voices his frustration, and a wacky group in the Phillipines has less luck with the already-hackneyed "hit Bill Gates with a pie" routine...
Other scenes from that episode: 558: Developer Developments (3/22/98) Geez, we blinked for a second and suddenly the Apple Worldwide Developer Conference is almost upon us. And despite our shocked realization that May 11th is a scant seven weeks away (seems like it was six months away only, er, four months ago), for our money it can't arrive soon enough... 559: id Support Slipping (3/22/98) Evidence of developer confusion about just what's up with Rhapsody is perhaps best illustrated by John Carmack's .plan file, which has been posted at StepWise. Carmack, you may know, is the programming guru over at id Software, the company who brought you Doom and Quake...
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