Microsoft: 'iLoo' Internet Project a Hoax

AP ^ | 5/13/03 | AP

[jriemer]

REDMOND, Wash. - 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 (news - web sites) 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.

The fake release generated coverage by The Wall Street Journal, The Associated Press and Reuters.

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.

[jriemer]

If Microsoft's French business division developed new software / hardware would it be called the "iSurrender"?

Inquiring minds want to know...

[TomServo]

Of course, the whole thing was a rip-off of an Onion aticle here.

[CJ Wolf]

lol, "iSurrenderLoo" allows them to avoid the embarassing crapping of the pants.

[Luke Skyfreeper]

The amazing thing was the number of, um, freepers who seemed absolutely taken in by the article announcing the iLoo. Personally, I thought it was all a hoax from the beginning... for two reasons: 1) no effective deterrent to vandalism of in-loo computers; 2) the problems that would be created by long-surfing customers.

I will admit, though, to not having been 100% sure it was a hoax (this is, after all, the same country that gave the world "buy a vaccuum cleaner, get a free airline ticket to America" some years ago).

Come on, now. 'Fess up. Were you taken in?

[Luke Skyfreeper]

Heard on the radio:

Centuries ago, the French and the British had a war. And it happened (quite accidentally) that a British officer was captured.

"Ha!" sneered the French officer. "You Briteesh are ze fools. Why do you wear zeze silly red coats? Doan you realize zat only makes your officers ze better targets for us?"

"There's a very important reason why we wear these red coats," the British officer calmly replied. "You see, we wear these coats so that if an officer gets shot, and his blood is spilled, the men do not see it and panic."

"I see..." said the French officer, thoughtfully.

And that is why, to this very day now, the French soldiers -- both officers and non-officers...

...wear brown pants.

[jriemer]

Come on, now. 'Fess up. Were you taken in?

I honestly didn't care one way or the other. If it was true, I was surprised that Microsoft made a R+D / Marketing disaster on par with Apple. If wasn't, the Marketing / PR people did a lousy job of shooting down the hoax and making Microsoft look like a band of fools for as long as the story ran.

In Microsoft's quest to continue growing despite their massive size, they have stretched into all sorts of non-core businesses. There's a push to bring MSN support into kitchen appliances so the iLoo is not so far off base. I believe that this hoax was just the latest symptom of that underlying growth and core business problem.

[Elsie]

The fake release generated coverage by The Wall Street Journal Urinal, The Associated Press and Reuters.

[Elsie]

Bring Back Illbay!!!

WHAT!?

Has he gotten himself banned AGAIN???

[dark_lord]

Considering that there really were (and still are) some companies that place plasma display screens fed wirelessly with news and commercials in toilet stalls in certain "high end" establishments -- it was not beyond the realm of possibility that some bonehead would think up a plan like this one.

[SMEDLEYBUTLER]

Microsoft

[freebilly]

Of course Microsoft wouldn't develop anything called an "iLoo". That would be Mac....

[Paul Atreides]

I know this is a hoax, but I can picture a lot of people going for the idea. Do people really spend so much time in the bathroom? I hear of people keeping a magazine rack in the john so they can sit and read. I just want to do my business and go on to something else. If I want to read, I'll do it on the sofa in the den.

[Paul Atreides]

That would be Mac....

------------------

What colors would it come in?

[Chad Fairbanks]

However, the folks at MIT HAVE developed the world's first Urine-Powered Game COntroller...

Video Demonstration is available here...

http://web.media.mit.edu/~hayes/mas863/urine-qtbig.html

[CJ Wolf]

I learn something new everyday!

[Arthur McGowan]

I heard a Brit interviewed on the CBC's "As It Happens" the other night. He said some very improbably things that had me wondering, such as: There are going to be big security guards to make sure the computers are not stolen. And the mouse and keyboard would be sanitized regularly. Of course, they'd have to be sanitized after every client!

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

It really didn't sound too realistic. I had visions of huge lines forming outside porta-potties as Freepers monopolized the facilities.

[freebilly]

What colors would it come in?

The iLoo comes in two colors-- urinal cake pink, and port-a-potty green....