Wires Crossed #54 – September 30
Ballmer Incites Yawnfest
If overseas reports are to be believed, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is having problems keeping some employees engaged as it appears some walked out of a recent speech he was giving. Although the details are a little sketchy (no Microsoft employee has put their hand up to go on record – surprise, surprise), it seems that some of the faithful are less than impressed with the software giant’s upcoming releases, and seem to put the blame at this lack of Wow-factor product at the foot of Ballmer. The soon to be released Windows 8 will give some indication of where Ballmer is at with regards to the faith the Microsoft board have in him.
Journos Go Toe-to-Toe Over Tweets
A couple of Philadelphia-based writers got all het up over a series of tweets about the local NFL team, the Philadelphia Eagles. Jeff McLane of the Philly Inquirer took exception to a tweet by fellow scribe Lew Bowen from the Philly Daily News. McLane opined via a tweet that convicted felon and Eagles quarterback Michael Vick would be starting the next game, to which Bowen apparently referred to in one of his tweets by saying that nobody knew if Vick twas starting or not. This lead to a flurry of tweets between the two, culminating in fisticuffs when the pair met at an Eagles training sessions. The problem with the written word – even on Twitter – is that there is no inflection, so you can’t know how a comment is meant to be taken.
Apology Over Xbox Ban
Microsoft is coughing to a mistake where it accidentally blocked some Live users due to a security stuff-up. They’ve done the usual by handing out free access to Xbox Live for three months and some Microsoft pointso those affected by the gaff. However, going by comments on this blog, some folks are far from happy about the outcome. It appears Microsoft needs to work on its PR.
Vodafone Gets Bovine Intervention
As if Vodafone hasn’t got enough problems with coverage (well, in Australia, even though this little nugget happened in Britain), even cows are causing the company problems. If you were in Cumbria, UK last week you might have had coverage issues for your mobile phone if you were on the Vodafone network. Not due to being out of coverage area, or the tower not pumping out enough signal, but through cows chewing through the cable. It appears the cows broke through a fence and then chewed through the cable, which is surprising in that you expect goats to do such things, but cows? And what were the cables doing being exposed in the first place?
