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Have I missed something?
MSN Delivers Another Brick in "the Wall"
My gosh, this of course an April fools joke, but man is there some venom in it. I see this as major propaganda in AOL's war with MS.
Once this goal is achieved Microsoft will be the single clearinghouse for all intellectual property, in effect streamlining the current legal bureaucracy surrounding patent and copyright suits by eliminating the need for costly lawsuits.
I am sure the legal force at MS is foaming at the mouth.
LAWSUITS! THERE WILL BE LAWSUITS!!!
Hey if Gates picks up ODP, I will submit my resignation as an editor.
Whoever is behind this marvelous joke, congratulations on a job very well done.
:)
But wow, ODP did a heck of a job getting a heck of a lot of shorts in a bunch over this one... I'm actually really surprised at the reactions I'm seeing!
Thank God someone else thinks normal. The only problem is you used the word "sense" in the same sentence as "legal team". Lawyers historically convert the word "sense" to "cents" and it has a strange overpowering effect on their thought patterns. If there's enough "cents" to split between them they'll usually find a way to take your "cents" away by making "sense" to a jury of sheeple.
Not. Just the "@" trick... :)
The press release is on the MSN site...
No, it's on dmoz.org. The navigation goes to MSN, but it sits on a NS server.
[Added]That's what I get for answering the phone with the "reply" window open. :)
Check the URL !
Its not on the MS site at all it is on dmoz
dazz
I'd be willing to bet that there is a small department within the ODP that is getting ready to either retire or move on to greener pastures. This was an opportunity for them to say good-bye and make their mark! This is internet history in the making!
OK, so rather than consider that it is the 1st of April, when people in Western Cultures traditionally play outrageous pranks on each other, and write it off as a very amusing joke...
You think it's MORE likely that someone went in, ripped all of DMOZ's pages, ran a humongous find-and-replace on every instance of their copyright notice, the phrase "Open Directory Project" and "ODP", replaced all their page headers, and uploaded the ENTIRE site, along with that gawdawful little Clippy script, for the entire thing to go UNNOTICED by EVERYONE at ODP headquarters ALL DAY?
If it's a hack job, why do one of the ODP's OWN editors make an appearance earlier in this very thread, spouting the "company line" about the "buyout" instead of going "OMG! We've been HACKED," and running off to tell someone in charge that they must re-upload the entire site using yesterday's backups?
Lawyers historically convert the word "sense" to "cents" and it has a strange overpowering effect on their thought patterns. If there's enough "cents" to split between them they'll usually find a way to take your "cents" away by making "sense" to a jury of sheeple.
ROFL... True. Let me rephrase: I think even M$'s legal team can make the analytical realization that there is virtually no cents in pursuing this as a legal issue, and indeed such pursuit may actually COST them cents in terms of exceptionally poor publicity and lost customer goodwill, as well as a potential counter-suit for nuisance legal action and being handed AOL's legal bill for the whole escapade.
If you wave a small peice of fresh meat in front of a starving bear, I bet he eats it, and then eats you.
Dmoz is waving fresh meat.
Its a hack job and a poor joke!
Where is DMOZ based ? what time zone ?
It is 23:19 here GMT what time is it at DMOZ (MDP) headquarters ? :)
Dazz
Makes them a perfect match ;)
If it was a "hack job" ODP would have fixed it LONG before noon... I doubt any "hackers" could have locked ODP out of their own servers or prevented them from fixing it, unless an armed group of guerilla website defacers is currently involved in a standoff at the ODP network center.
"Don't anybody move, or the server gets it! If you want to see your racks get out of here alive, here are our demands..."
And that definitely would have made the news.
The very fact that it is still up should be all the "April Fools" notice anyone needs. It's a great joke.
The forums are being rebuilt; the threads may appear to be missing for several hours. Do not panic.
!!!
What time is it in the "Twilight Zone"?
What an opportunity this could be for us. While M$ and AOL and Oracle and Sun and HP and Dell and everyone else is sueing everyone else...we can all gain ground in the ecommerce field while they are distracted fighting each other....kinda like drafting in NASCAR racing.
When they all get done there won't be anyone left to run the companies except the lawyers and they won't ever accomplish a thing because they're too worried about "liability" and being sued over stupid things to have the "___" to make a decision.
Just think....the resurgence of the entrepreneur and it all started because of a joke. :)
So its about 2:40pm there, I will start to worry if it isn't back to normal after midnight :)
In the editor section we have this message:
" The forums are being rebuilt; the threads may appear to be missing for several hours. Do not panic. "
HHHMMMMM.....
I wonder how long it will last ??
Regards
Dazz
