Apple lawyers
My workmate Mark just pointed out how these calls have reminded him of a time when he really wished he’d got a lawyer first before something. So guys, if this Melissa Something calls you, don’t speak to her and ask her to send whatever she wants to say in writing. Probably the best way to get a good lawyer for these GNOME-related issues is to contact the GNOME Foundation.
Some people have suggested this could be an April fools joke. I sincerely hope it is, though if that is the case it is in very bad taste.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:05 pm
Agreed. If this is an April fools joke i’ll send Steve Ballmer over to Fucking Kill (TM) Daniel Siegel personally.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:23 pm
Of course it’s a joke. Consider taking April 1st off and doing something outside so you don’t have to deal with all of these lame attempts to shock (entertain?) us.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I think it was a funny one. Apparently credible enough to actually fool some people as well.
April 1st, 2008 at 6:27 pm
The patent number he cites on http://home.cs.tum.edu/~siegel/news/2008_04_01-bye_bye_cheese is something else entirelly: http://chandlerproject.org/Projects/TrademarkScope#MS%20Outlook
”
MS Outlook
IC 009. US 021 023 026 036 038. G & S: computer programs for providing enhanced electronic mail and scheduling capabilitie …
”
(could not find it on google patent search)
Looks like another sick joke…
April 1st, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Lawyers typically send letters or e-mail messages in this sort of situation, do they not?
April 1st, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Probably just a poor joke yes, and yet another proof that people clinically without humor should not be allowed to post on April 1st. It has all the signs of a person making jokes that make people ill at easy and angry and still never gets that they do…
April 1st, 2008 at 9:46 pm
The "patent number" doesn’t just apply to Outlook though. It’s actually not a patent number, but covers a whole class of trademark applications, which could, conceivably, include Photo Booth:
The fact that Daniel *did* call it a patent number makes me think "spoof", because it obviously isn’t. But is it really a good idea to alert Apple’s lawyers to the fact that we *do* ship an almost exact copy of Photo Booth, just for a joke…?
April 1st, 2008 at 10:04 pm
They missed the joking tone by about a football field. Just making something up is not making an april fool’s “joke”.