The Wackiest Technology Tales of 2008 97
coondoggie writes "Despite the daily drumbeat of new and improved hardware or software, the tech industry isn't all bits and bytes. Some interesting things happen along the way too. Like floating data centers, space geekonauts, shape shifting robots and weird bedfellows (like Microsoft and Jerry Seinfeld). What we include here is an example of what we thought were the best,
slightly off-center stories of 2008."
Re:Floating Google Data Center? (Score:2, Interesting)
Really, do they need so much capacity that they have to resort to the ocean?
Water has an incredible Specific Heat Capacity [wikipedia.org]. Just as a quick guess, the idea would be to use the water as a giant heatsink.
Re:Wow.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I agree, it was a boring slideshow...but what did you expect?
IT and science aren't known for their amazing comic value (well unless perhaps you consider quantum mechanics - I'd call that stuff wacky). The wackiest things I see in IT are management decisions, particularly when they ask for something without a clue what it will take to build, then set a ridiculous time line. It's even wackier when a senior manager has a revelation and you realize that he's missed something big and lost the plot altogether. What isn't so much fun is explaining why a particular project won't work as intended, or trying to talk someone out of shooting themselves in the foot before losing their attention.
The Gates/Seinfeld thing. . . (Score:4, Interesting)
While discussing the Bill Gates/Jerry Seinfeld ad spots Microsoft ran a few months back, we chanced upon perhaps the real thinking behind it. . .
Universally hailed as a magnificent failure, we wondered exactly how with Microsoft using all the expertise of the P.R. giant, Waggener Edstrom, and the quarter-billion dollars spent on the project, such a thing could be possible. How could, with those kinds of resources, anybody achieve such a catastrophic P.R. failure?
Then we realized, "No. It wasn't a failure at all. It was a brilliant success!"
Here's the logic:
After the self-destruction of Vista, Microsoft was in free fall. Investors were mightily distressed at Balmer's ineptitude. And so, as happens when huge corporations are desperate, they went to Waggener Edstrom for a rescue plan.
The P.R. firm sat down and worked out the psychology and set up the following three act show: Act I involved subtle media manipulation presenting Balmer as the idiot he is, the weak link responsible for Vista's failure. This has been accomplished.
Act II involved running a bunch of ads which were designed to do two things:
1. Make sure that people knew that Gates was still involved with Microsoft; that he'd gone walkabout, but was still there in the wings.
2. Show Gates being a hopeless geek. --He was portrayed as an awkward fool who couldn't act and had no screen presence. The whole series left you feeling painfully embarrassed and despite yourself, kind of sorry for him. --Think about that! When EVER has the world felt sorry for Bill Gates? But investors don't want him to be a charismatic actor. They want him to be a hopeless geek/genius who will rescue their share values.
Now, act III involves the placement of the upcoming Windows 7 in the public conscious, which, surprise, surprise, is getting lots of positive response and sympathy, general good-will and a collective hope that it won't suck. (At least from the general population; Slashdotters are a breed apart.)
Not a bad bit of P.R. work. Sneaky and manipulative, playing on those hidden aspects of the human mind to achieve its objectives. That's why Microsoft pays Waggener Edstrom 250 million dollars a year. The most powerful advertising happens when you think it isn't working.
-FL