Cleanup on Stage 1 (1.5 MB MPEG)

August 21, 2001 10:33 PM

Cleanup on Stage 1 (1.5 MB MPEG) Somebody get Steve Ballmer a towell. Has all the legal pressure pushed him to the edge? Scary.
posted by brian (28 comments total)

and to think people like this help manage the companies that create products we use everyday . . .
posted by jif at 10:47 PM on August 21, 2001

it's creepy, i will say. you know the urban legend that microsoft had young geniuses educated at the company, so that they would already be employed -- stuff like the link in this thread makes me think microsoft could do something like that myth.
posted by moz at 10:57 PM on August 21, 2001

what is scarier? this mpeg of ballmer sweating profusely and saying developers over and over until he sounds like he's about to break down or the mpeg that was going around of him running out on stage acting like a monkey on crack for 3 minutes? i'd have to go w/him jumping around like a monkey b/c it looked sooo contrived i felt bad for him.
posted by suprfli at 11:20 PM on August 21, 2001

Very very creepy. I feel brainwashed now.....
posted by ericdano at 11:23 PM on August 21, 2001

For extra fun, pause it on the last frame.
posted by gleemax at 11:40 PM on August 21, 2001

moz, it's not an urban legend, it's a hoax!

posted by Fofer at 11:46 PM on August 21, 2001

Yeah on that last frame all he is missing is the knife...well and the glove.
posted by brian at 11:54 PM on August 21, 2001

I first saw this on filepile. Anybody know where it came from / who shot it / what the heck is going on in it?
posted by fraying at 11:59 PM on August 21, 2001

HE'S ALIVE!!!!!!
posted by Optamystic at 12:01 AM on August 22, 2001

A better one....
posted by Optamystic at 12:10 AM on August 22, 2001

this one (huge mpeg) is very good too and is probably the beginning of Balmer's speech. Hilarious.
posted by nims at 1:40 AM on August 22, 2001

During MeFi's break I logged some of my bemusement on my personal blog, including some screen captures of my favorite Ballmer facial expressions and ballet moves.

Even if I worked there I would still be sickened by this. Looking across the brief images of the audience, I think we can now safely define what it is for one to be a "tool".

Which all reminds me of an email I got from a MSFT employed friend of mine (truebeliever), during last month's O'Reilly conference. It was an "interdepartment forward" or something like that, and he was wondering what I thought of it (the debate). It reads:

From: *********
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2001 5:10 PM
To: Competitive Platform Developer Advocacy; Linux Competitive Discussion
Subject: Redhat's guy debating Mundie today


The video of Red Hat’s guy trying to debate Mundie is pretty wacky; in my opinion he makes the mistake of arguing based on emotion and comes across looking extremist rather than rational.

http://technetcast.ddj.com/tnc_stream.html?stream_id=589

--
Swear to god, the above is real. . .
posted by crasspastor at 2:51 AM on August 22, 2001

Derek, DisInfo has some ideas.

[link snatched from hotanimach on the FiPi thread]
posted by perplexed at 3:09 AM on August 22, 2001

that's some third wave type shit

check out this article at disinformation which claims microsoft purposefully leaked the video!
posted by roboto at 3:16 AM on August 22, 2001

oops
FilePile rules!
posted by roboto at 3:19 AM on August 22, 2001

Okay, now that you've all seen the video, I'd like to try a little experiment. Clear your mind, now....as soon as you read this....Imagine Steve's "Orgasm Face"....

Muhuhuhahaha.....Enjoy your cornflakes.
posted by Optamystic at 3:22 AM on August 22, 2001

developers?
posted by lotsofno at 4:30 AM on August 22, 2001

I see Mormons!
posted by crasspastor at 4:33 AM on August 22, 2001

Here's a slightly edited version of the dancemonkeyboy video in various formats.

Godwin's Law Remix

(yes that's my own site, sorry)
posted by briggsb at 4:55 AM on August 22, 2001

Can there be no escape from this clip? Is there anybody on the web who hasn't linked to this yet?

This is sooooo July....I thought MeFi was supposed to be on the cutting edge of meme genesis.
posted by briank at 5:55 AM on August 22, 2001

Cutting edge? MeFi has been having people make snarky remarks forever and that sure as hell ain't cutting edge.
posted by Dagobert at 6:52 AM on August 22, 2001

Balmer is just on a new fitness program... keeping that heart rate up as long as possibe....

I can see him looking at these videos with bill in his offce, "oh geeze bill, i look pretty goofy" both laguh, bill "yeah, but look at ... [insert whitty comment here, I can't think of one]"
posted by tomplus2 at 7:22 AM on August 22, 2001

too bad chris farley isn'y around anymore
posted by jasonspaceman at 8:33 AM on August 22, 2001

Judging by my server logs, the Net seemed to like this picture of Ballmer demonstrating Microsoft's "Embrace and Extend policy".
posted by fooljay at 11:17 AM on August 22, 2001

I see Mormons!

Heh...I was gonna say Scientologists.
posted by PeteyStock at 3:32 PM on August 22, 2001

too bad chris farley isn'y around anymore

Oh, but he is!
posted by Dirjy at 4:37 PM on August 22, 2001

I'll be mumbling developers, developers, all night long now.
Funniest stuff I've seen in quite awhile. Reminds me of some of the bozos I used to work with at a major financial institution.
posted by {savg*pncl} at 9:43 PM on August 22, 2001

Apparently the sweat is a non-stop thing with Ballmer these days. Something to do with the DOJ...
posted by fooljay at 11:10 AM on August 23, 2001