[622] in Humor
HUMOR Fallout: Microsoft forced to deny wild rumor on Internet
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Andrew Bennett)
Sat Dec 17 21:45:40 1994
From: Andrew Bennett <abennett@MIT.EDU>
Date: Sat, 17 Dec 94 21:43:31 -2400
To: humor@MIT.EDU
It made AP and CNN, too...
-Drew
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> Microsoft forced to deny wild rumor on Internet
>
> From: C-reuters@clarinet.com (Reuters)
> Date: Fri, 16 Dec 94 16:40:09 PST
> Newsgroups: clari.tw.new_media, clari.local.washington,
> clari.tw.computers, clari.news.religion, clari.living.bizarre,
> clari.biz.top
> References: 1
>
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> SEATTLE, Dec 16 (Reuter) - In one of the oddest items yet
> to come spinning out of cyberspace, software giant Microsoft
> Corp. issued a statement Friday denying it was seeking to
> acquire the Roman Catholic Church.
> Such is life on the information superhighway.
> Microsoft, the largest software company in the world, fell
> victim to an electronic hoax that showed the much-ballyhooed
> superhighway can just as easily carry nonsense as well as
> useful data.
> The company was forced to deny the report circulating on
> the Internet that it planned to acquire the Roman Catholic
> Church. The Internet is the global web of computer networks,
> reaching 20 million users.
> ``The story has no truth and was not generated by the
> company,'' the Microsoft statement said. ``The company is not
> aware how the electronic message originated but maintains
> strict policies internally concerning the proper use of
> electronic communications.''
> A Microsoft spokeswoman said the false report, written in
> the guise of a news article supposedly issued by a major news
> organisation, was first noticed a little more than a week ago.
> Since then, it has has bounced around on the Internet,
> generating a flood of angry telephone calls and electronic
> mail messages to the company.
> The item was even picked up and mentioned on the air by
> nationally syndicated radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, the
> spokeswoman said.
> The Internet is envisioned by Microsoft Chairman Bill
> Gates as a foundation for the information superhighway. It is
> also an important selling point of Microsoft's upcoming
> Windows 95 operating system and of the company's planned
> on-line network.
> But some Internet users have recently come under fire for
> turning it into an electronic free-for-all of unregulated
> communications, where the unwelcome are ``flamed'' with profane
> e-mail and pornography has sometimes been disseminated.
>
>
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