iLoo a hoax

[vniow]

Microsoft Corp. said a company news release that it was developing a portable toilet with Internet access, called an "iLoo," was a hoax perpetrated by its British division.

The April 30 release, issued by the company's MSN Internet division in the United Kingdom, said Microsoft was developing a portable toilet with a wireless keyboard and an extending height-adjustable plasma screen in front of the seat. The iLoo was to debut at festivals this summer in Britain.

"This iLoo release came out of the UK office and was not a Microsoft sanctioned communication and we apologize for any confusion or offense it may have caused," Microsoft spokeswoman Bridgitt Arnold said late Monday.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/12/financial0014EDT0002.DTL

 

[MrMacMan]

Crap, so suddenly microsoft has no control over what its oversees offices do?

what the hell...

 

[Sun Baked]

Looks like the iLoo has been diagnosed as another case of MS vaporware.

 

[Billicus]

Re: iLoo a hoax

Originally posted by vniow
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/12/financial0014EDT0002.DTL

I heard that on Your Mac Life! I just about fell out of my seat laughing when I heard it. Come on... do you really need to use the internet when you're on the john? I mean come on... It does make me wonder whose big idea it was though...

 

[Mr. Anderson]

This has already been discussed in the old iLoo thread.....heads are going to roll....

D

 

[GeeYouEye]

Okay so I was half-right.

I said it was almost certainly fake, but I would have thought it was a hack job rather than an inside job.

OTOH, saying it was their UK division does spare MS from admitting their security is so bad that people can hack a main website.

 

[melchior]

how is saying 'it was our british people' any better than saying it came straight out of redmond? i mean do people really think "oh, ok, it was british. that makes sense"

 

[maradong]

Re: iLoo a hoax

Originally posted by vniow
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/news/archive/2003/05/12/financial0014EDT0002.DTL

it s definetly bs. it has been repeated so many times.... it is BS!

 

[pseudobrit]

Originally posted by melchior
how is saying 'it was our british people' any better than saying it came straight out of redmond? i mean do people really think "oh, ok, it was british. that makes sense"

Maybe because when people think of the "British division" of MS playing a nasty prank, they think of a group of Monty Pythonesqe chaps sitting around and yucking it up.

"Ack, it wasn't us; we're professionals! It was those wild and craaaazy Brits with their weird sense of humor!"

 

[iWantAMac]

Why has it taken them 10 days to release a press release?

 

[Knox]

Originally posted by Mr. Anderson
This has already been discussed in the old iLoo thread.....heads are going to roll....

D

Possibly, but not neccessarily in the UK division, since it seems it was not a hoax after all.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30686.html

Or maybe they're just wanting publicity...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/30685.html

 

[Kid Red]

Originally posted by Knox
Possibly, but not neccessarily in the UK division, since it seems it was not a hoax after all.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/6/30686.html

Or maybe they're just wanting publicity...

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/28/30685.html

I'm glad someone posted this. It's not a hoax, it's just that Bill didn't want the leak out.

The Associated Press received confirmation of the project from both Microsoft Corp.'s Waggener Edstrom public relations firm and London-based Red Consultancy, which handles such work for the software giant in England.

In an e-mail sent last week to The Associated Press, Red Consultancy's Ben Philipson wrote "MSN is really working on building a prototype for the Summer festivals, perhaps Glastonbury ... This is very much a 'toe in the water' experiment to gauge interest so we'll have to see how it goes, although judging from response so far it's really captured people's imagination!"

Malina Bragg, who helps with MSN's account for Waggener Edstrom, also verified last week that the project was true.

 

[Foucault]

It's nice to know our friends over at Microsoft have a sense of humor....

 

[zed]

have you guys never been in a port-o-let before? Just the thought of touching anything in there turns my stomach

 

[britboy]

Originally posted by zed
have you guys never been in a port-o-let before? Just the thought of touching anything in there turns my stomach

The Jackass stunt in a port-a-loo comes to mind.....

It's so nice to see that, as ever, microsofts' left hand knows exactly what the right hand is doing. Perhaps this is indicative of their software too.

 

[jelloshotsrule]

Originally posted by Foucault
It's nice to know our friends over at Microsoft have a sense of humor....

don't you mean humoUr?!

 

[tazo]

so i suppose if they made the iLoo it would add *more* viruses you could get from using windows

 

[wdlove]

Originally posted by tazo
so i suppose if they made the iLoo it would add *more* viruses you could get from using windows

That is where steam cleaning would help to control the living viruses! Would also help with the fear of touching that zed spoke about!

 

[jacobj]

we Brits are a crazy bunch... we take April Fools very seriously over here. No reputable company would fail to play a prank on the day..

seriously, this was mild compared to some, but you have to take any slightly bizarre news on the day with a pinch of salt. I liked the one by the BBC that stated that because the congestion charge in London for traffic had been so successful that the mayor was thinking of introducing a pedestrain charge enforcing people to pay for the privelage of walking around the city. They were interviewing people on the streets. They were outraged....

You have to love it... anyway.