What a day
My decision to come work for Microsoft a little over a year ago has led to some interesting times, and today takes the cake so far. It’s a long story which I don’t have time to tell right now, but there has been some “controversy” around something I did last week. I’ve covered it briefly on the work blog, and here’s a little more detail …
The story starts with some stuff IBM said, and then I reacted a time or two on the work blog, then I also enlisted the help of a guy in Australia, which caused all hell to break loose:
Computerworld: Microsoft said to offer payment for Wikipedia edits
Infoworld: Microsoft pays for Wikipedia edits
IT Business Canada: This Wikipedia entry brought to you by …
Microsoft Seeks Experts to Corrupt Wikipedia Information on Open XML
“Microsoft PR Paying to “Correct” Wikipedia” on Slashdot
On that last one, I posted a comment to confess my role in things.
And so it stands.
I’m not going to say anything about the details here, because the last thing I want is to debate work-related stuff on the personal blog, but I thought some friends and family might find this interesting so there it is. Welcome to my new life as Mr. Evil Microsoft. Hey, it’s a great way to see the world and meet lots of interesting people!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 23rd, 2007 at 3:38 pm. You can subscribe to comments on this post through its RSS feed.
on January 23, 2007 at 4:10 pm orcmid wrote:
Hang in there pal. Rick seems amused by the whole thing. It might be difficult to hold onto your sense of humor where you are, so just letting it run its course is probably the sane thing to do.
on January 23, 2007 at 4:30 pm Megan wrote:
I’d think all these people on slashdot would be embarrassed to contribute so much to the stereotypes that technology people have no lives.
on January 23, 2007 at 6:41 pm Tom wrote:
Yeah, kick back, crack a beer, and relax with the State of the Union. You deserve a break from BS!
No, wait …
on January 23, 2007 at 11:44 pm Doug wrote:
Yeah Dennis, Rick’s sense of humor is fun to watch. Some of those threads between him and his antagonists are classics.
Tom, it’s nearly midnight here and I may succeed in going to bed without knowing what the President said in the SOTU. Be strong, Doug, just step away from the computer …
on January 24, 2007 at 5:11 am Tom wrote:
You didn’t miss much. Very subdued, relatively boring. Just about the least zazzy SOTU I’ve seen, honestly.
on January 24, 2007 at 7:43 am George Siede wrote:
Ironically, Before I checked your blog this morning I read an article titled “Should Microsoft Pay for Wikipedia Edits?” on PC World which I peruse every morning via AvantGo.com on my Palm Pilot as I watch CNN with my first cup of coffee (yea, I’m a geek).
Now, I consider myself to be a platform independent observer since I have both a Mac AND a PC and I get really bored with all this cross-platform bashing I see going on in the computer world. I find it a lot like arguing over which is better for eating; a fork or a spoon?.
Still, the title was intriguing in an “Uh-Oh, what is Big Evil Microsoft up to this time?” sort of way. But then when I read it I found that it was not that big of a deal after all since Microsoft was not trying to influence what this guy wrote but rather just trying to get a fair and balanced entry.
So how funny was it when I then went to your blog, only to find this entry and learn that you were the secret black-ops agent trying to influence Wiki-Wiki.
I hope you don’t become the center of a
firestorm out there!
PS:
Bill Gates = Wolf
Steve Jobs = Wolf in sheep’s clothing
Public = Sheep
Baa…
George
on January 24, 2007 at 8:45 am Doug wrote:
Hey, speaking of analogies, here’s another good one. This situation is downright Biblical!
And now there’s an article on the home page of CNN about Microsoft being in trouble. Time to go hand in my badge and gun, I guess.
on January 24, 2007 at 9:43 am Scott wrote:
…you gotta’ keep the Wikipedias at bay.
on January 24, 2007 at 10:18 am Doug wrote:
Man, I’m trying! I just got off a 10-minute phone call on this issue, and during it I received 9 emails and a voice mail, all on this same topic.
Just dropped in here to hide for a minute, now I gotta go.
on January 24, 2007 at 4:23 pm George Siede wrote:
They moved the CNN article here:
http://www.statesman.com/business/content/shared-gen/ap/High_Tech/Microsoft_Wikipedia.html
George