Bogus Windows NT CD-Roms
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Bogus Windows NT CD-ROMs Recalled
InfoPlanet, July 31, 1998
REDMOND, WA -- Microsoft has issued a recall of over 500,000 Windows NT 4.0
CD-ROMs shipped three weeks ago. "The CDs were altered by a disgruntled
Microsoft employee. Right before the CDs were burned, the employee
replaced Windows NT with Linux," a spokesman said, adding under his
breath, "...that annoying OS made by that Finnish guy who doesn't
understand Capitalism."
Apparently the 'disgruntled' employee hacked Linux to fool most users
into thinking they were actually using Windows NT. The install program
was made to look identical to NT's, including code to make it crash
a couple times. The system was designed to automatically boot into
X Windows running a modified fvwm95 window manager.
One Microsoft tech support worker said, "Two days ago I received this weird
call from a manager who had just installed Windows NT on his computer. He
said, 'I think something is wrong here with my computer. I've had it
running for over a week, and it hasn't crashed once. Aren't computers
supposed to crash regularly?' I knew something was fishy -- NT can't
possibly be that stable. Upon further inspection, it was obvious
that this wasn't the real thing."
The 'disgruntled' employee was given the pink slip yesterday. Rumor has
it he was offered a job at Red Hat. If you have one of the hacked
CDs, you can receive a replacement by calling (900) PAY-BILL.