tomj@oakhill.UUCP (Tom Johnson) (03/18/89)
In article <2646@garth.UUCP> curry@garth.UUCP (Ray Curry) writes: >In article <2258@ndsuvax.UUCP> nulakema@ndsuvax.UUCP (Brian Lakeman) writes: >> >>Could this be MacWorlds idea of an April fools joke? The shipment date of >>April 1st make me wonder. >> >It is a joke, admitted in our local paper already, and MacWorld has >indicated they have had to put their phone on a recorder to answer the >number of calls they have been getting. Seems like a lot of people have >bitten hook, line, and sinker and are claiming major problems in >purchase order flow, etc. > >As my own editorial comment, ... >It was far too long without any humorous exaggerations and the April 1 >delivery date was all that indicated it wasn't a true story. A lot of years ago, back in the dark ages of computing (about 1968 or 1969), a magazine (I think it was ``Radio Electronics'') ran an article in their April isseue describing in detail a new process for making ``Amorphous Silicon Solar Cells''. The process required a specific chemical, and A LOT of people (myself included) called all of the major chemical supply houses to find out how to get it. Of course, no one had ever HEARD of the chemical in question. I then called the publisher to talk to the editor and find out how to obtain it...he informed me of the "joke", and indicated that the magazine had received "thousands" of calls requesting the same information. I guess that this is what makes a good April Fool's Techo-joke...a story that borders on the believable, with little or no indication that the story IS a joke, and on a topic that is of high interest to a good proportion of the readership. Of course, _I_ didn't get taken in by the MacWorld story :>) :>) :>) Tom Johnson --- :<Insert Standard Disclaimer Here> ---