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Bill Gates Admits “Hotmail Was An April Fools Joke"
Broken Newz ^ | 4/2/2004 | Steve Tanner and Sharky

Posted on 04/02/2004 3:33:55 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity

Just a day after Google's announcement that it was planning a free Internet email system caused many Internet users to wonder if it was part of an April Fool's Day joke, Bill Gates revealed that Microsoft had also played a joke on Internet users. The frustrated Gates said in a press conference today that he was disappointed that no one, including Microsoft users, seems to have gotten the joke. "Years ago," confessed the 48 year-old trickster, "I began what I considered to be the greatest practical joke of my life, and no one got it."

"First I purchased a great product, then I immediately turned it to crap."

"DOS?" a reporter asked.

"No," replied Gates.

"Halo?" asked another.

"Alright, alright. Stop guessing," pleaded Gates, presumably concerned that the reporters would name every product Microsoft ever acquired. "It was Hotmail."

Gates says he figured at some point someone would catch on that what he was doing to an award-winning service was a joke. When they didn't he continued the joke by making Hotmail more and more impractical. Even going as far as to charge people for normal operation of the once free program had no one chuckling.

"And just how much spam do I have to pour into your inboxes before you get it?" asked Gates, rhetorically.

Asked if Microsoft had any future pranks planned Gates said they didn't and, "In fact, at the moment we are spending more time trying to convince the public that Windows ME never existed."


TOPICS: Political Humor/Cartoons
KEYWORDS: aprilfoolsday; microsloth; paneintheglass; windoze
Related links:

Bill Gates Is Not Richer Than God, Says God

New Law Puts Keys To Bill Gates' House In Every Computer

FTC Files Anti-Trust Suit Against Microsoft

1 posted on 04/02/2004 3:33:56 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
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2 posted on 04/02/2004 3:35:31 PM PST by Support Free Republic (Your support keeps Free Republic going strong!)
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To: Pan_Yan; Pan_Yans Wife
Ping!!
3 posted on 04/02/2004 3:42:18 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Bad spellers of the world untie!!)
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Comment #4 Removed by Moderator

To: Beren
It's a good idea, I have a junk/registration e-mail account, too.
5 posted on 04/02/2004 4:04:22 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Bad spellers of the world untie!!)
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To: Beren
"In fact, at the moment we are spending more time trying to convince the public that Windows ME never existed."

I've never used Windows ME, but I've heard that it is horrid. I had a college buddy who had it for 4 months and junked it outright because it was so bad.

6 posted on 04/02/2004 4:05:35 PM PST by Excuse_My_Bellicosity (Bad spellers of the world untie!!)
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
That's what I'm using now and I have been for almost three years. I've NEVER had a problem.
7 posted on 04/02/2004 4:07:26 PM PST by ItisaReligionofPeace (I'm from the government and I'm here to help.)
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To: ItisaReligionofPeace
I have MSN for my ISP but refuse to use their software.

I use hotmail instead.

To me, MSN is junk. It malfuntions more than my brothers 1983 Chevy.
8 posted on 04/02/2004 4:34:26 PM PST by 11th Earl of Mar
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To: Excuse_My_Bellicosity
ME absolutely was junk. I bought a new box three years ago that had it and had to reload the OS every two weeks for three months before I junked it and bought Windows 2000. Every two weeks it would simply, gradually grind to a halt. I should have given the whole mess back to HP but couldn't afford to be without a computer at the time. Now I have a Generic P4 with XP and life is good. I haven't reloaded the OS once since I first set it up.
9 posted on 04/02/2004 5:02:55 PM PST by kylaka (The Clintons are the democRATS crack cocaine. They know they're bad for them, they just can't stop.)
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To: 11th Earl of Mar
You don't need MSN software to use MSN for email, just request your email be delivered via their pop servers. The only catch is that it uses their proprietary secure login scheme that (at least until very recently) only worked with Outlook Express.

That said, the service is pretty crappy anyway. The MSN software only enhances that crappiness. A few years back, our telco who has been our ISP started migrating their customers to MSN (albeit at a discounted rate). I had suffered that for a few years. Finally last week Qwest emailed me to tell me the DSL service that I have long awaited was available at my locale (right in town). I signed up that day and got a nifty modem/wireless router combo too. We got set up without too much difficulty and are enjoying it immensely. And the ISP is no longer MSN. The telco's marketing still points customers in that direction, but with some snooping around we see that virtually any ISP is available with the DSL service. We selected the telco's own basic internet service, 7 bucks a month on top of the 28.00 charge for the 1.5 down 1.0 up DSL line. That's ten bucks cheaper than if we had gone with MSN, and the bare operating system provides all the software needed to get online. My wife was happy to uninstall the crappy MSN 9 software from her PC, and I had never installed it on mine.

And oh yeah about Hotmail - I have had an account at Hotmail since before Microsoft had it - back when it was good. I also have a couple Yahoo email accounts and my favorite, Netscape email. There are a bunch of other ones out there, but those two, at least, don't try to put spyware crap on the computer, and at least for me, don't seem to generate popups when used through IE, and I have never gotten spam on them, even the throwaway Yahoo one I use when crawling in the underbelly of the 'net. Can't say the same for Hotmail or MSN email either one. Never got as much spam as I got with my now former MSN email account.

Dave in Eugene
10 posted on 04/02/2004 11:45:15 PM PST by Clinging Bitterly (Going partly violent to the thing since Nov. 25, 2000.)
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