Comments on: Comments on 8270

Post number 8270

chrisege — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 07:17:59 -0800

Unisys Confesses UNIVAC Sins - The company that invented the first commercial computer apologized on the eve of its 50th anniversary for any "unintended consequences" of its use. - Among other things, they apologized for bad joke emails, the dot com bubble, and destroying the concept of normal working hours. It's a pretty funny article.

By: dong_resin

dong_resin — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:07:38 -0800

Free hot and cold bukake style porn 24hrs a day and even on Christmas makes up for a lot. God bless you, Univac!

By: skallas

skallas — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:14:10 -0800

Its all fun and games until the machines silently take over and turn us all into tech support slaves.

By: davidchess

davidchess — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:15:45 -0800

Is there a URL for the actual "apology" from the actual Unisys? I didn't see a hint of such a thing on Unisys.com, which is pretty much the non-humorous unrelentingly positive-spin corporate Website that you'd expect it to be. This couldn't be a hoax or anything, eh?

By: muppetboy

muppetboy — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:24:34 -0800

cute.

By: muppetboy

muppetboy — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:25:40 -0800

reminds me of the mythical DEC bug report about some time field that would wrap around in the year 9999. the comment on the bug was "Will fix on or before 9999".

By: briank

briank — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 08:39:47 -0800

This couldn't be a hoax or anything, eh? And where would be the value in that, pray tell? "UNISYS firmly denies being sorry for anything and also disclaims any knowledge of issuing humor press releases" sure.

By: mecran01

mecran01 — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:11:03 -0800

"Its all fun and games until the machines silently take over and turn us all into tech support slaves" Uh, this isn't already happening?

By: dhartung

dhartung — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:14:20 -0800

Hoax? Well, Guy Esnouf, despite making the piece sound like Wired Onion News, seems to get around the corporate communications world a lot. Perhaps it was remarks at a conference, rather than a press release? Oh: the "eve of the 50th anniversary" seems to have been back in March. Here's the interview with Unisys historian George Gray on "the eve", March 29th.

By: jimw

jimw — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:26:37 -0800

now if only they'd apologize for their enforcement of the lzw patent and all the strangeness that has caused around the gif format.

By: rschram

rschram — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 09:33:45 -0800

The company that invented the first commercial computer apologized on the eve of its 50th anniversary for any "unintended consequences" of its use. Did they mention what the intended consequences for computers were?

By: donkeysuck

donkeysuck — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 10:33:07 -0800

"Every cycle on that machine takes about .6 nanoseconds -- about the time it takes light to travel seven seconds." ummm, seven seconds?

By: kindall

kindall — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 11:14:54 -0800

Did they mention what the intended consequences for computers were? Flying cars for everyone, domed cities, robot maids, meals in a pill. You know. The Future.

By: rschram

rschram — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 12:25:09 -0800

Did they mention what the intended consequences for computers were? Flying cars for everyone, domed cities, robot maids, meals in a pill. You know. The Future. Whoa, then they have a LOT to apologize for. They were way off.

By: mutagen

mutagen — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 13:30:39 -0800

jimw, you hit the nail on the head...

By: Mo Nickels

Mo Nickels — Wed, 13 Jun 2001 14:44:15 -0800

Reminds me of Bruce McCulloch, who said, "I'm sorry for causing all that cancer."