We are pleased as punch to mention that we got a nice mention in the New York Times yesterday. Observer Morgan Brown sent us a note alerting us about a story the Times ran on the Steve Ballmer video we lampooned last week. Did we mention that the NY Times is one of the most prestigious newspapers in the world? Well, they are. In any event, the article takes a look at the Internet reaction to the performance Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer gave at a company rally that was somehow leaked, in the form of a digital movie. Originally reported by The Register, we ran an article about it by Rodney O. Lain, and it quickly became one of our most commented on articles ever. It was one of those comments that caught the eye of Andrew Zipern, the Times reporter:
In the video, which appears to have been taped at an internal corporate pep rally, Mr. Ballmer bounds onstage to the song "Get on Your Feet" by Gloria Estefan then stalks around the stage and frantically jumps about for almost a full minute, screaming things like, "Cimon! Give it up for me!" Once he catches his breath, Mr. Ballmer bellows, "I have four words for you: I ? Love ? This ? Company! Yeah!"
"Too many Starbucks (news/quote) lattes cannot account for this mess," wrote one user on Kuro5hin, a community Web site popular with programmers. "I guess they donit randomly screen for drugs," wrote another. Devotees of the Apple-oriented Mac Observer Web site were even less gracious. "Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase 800- pound gorilla," remarked one member.
A quick check shows that it was Observer Pete who made that comment. Thereis more in the article, and we recommend that you read it. Note that the NY Times requires a membership, but the membership is free. It also only takes a few moments to register.
Thanks to Morgan Brown for the heads up on the article!