“On the Internet, a hoax can spread just as fast as a genuine news story. That’s the lesson from the bogus story published in an obscure UK business magazine yesterday that claimed Microsoft is about to unleash a new single-play DVD format,” Ed Bott writes. “Paul Thurrott reprinted the story without giving credit to the original source. Bink.nu picked up the story from Paul and reprinted it verbatim. Techdirt commented on the original story, with attribution but without any fact-checking. So did John Walkenbach. The funny part? There’s no truth to the story. None whatsoever.”
Full article here.
[Attribution: Slashdot. Thanks to MDN Readers for emailing us this one.]
MacDailyNews Take: Did we ever tell you about the time we ran an April Fool’s story that claimed Tiger Woods had signed a long-term deal with Apple Computer as Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ spokesperson? The story we ran was by “Siddhartha Finch” and dated April 1, 2005. If you clicked on “Siddhartha Finch” in our April Fool’s article, it linked to a “Museum of Hoaxes” website that explained the whole April Fool’s story: “Siddhartha Finch” was the main player in a famous Sports Illustrated April Fool’s article. That’s right, four days later, none other than Sports Illustrated picked up the story and reported the Tiger Woods deal with Apple as fact.
Related MacDailyNews articles:
Hey, SI, that Tiger Woods story was an April Fool’s Joke! – April 07, 2005
Tiger Woods signs long-term deal with Apple Computer as Mac OS X ‘Tiger’ spokesperson – April 01, 2005
Turdott- biting the hand that feeds him. Tsk…tsk
There’s that one, and the one about M$ being involved in the development of the MacOS! :LOL:
Not in this universe!
A testament to the standards of journalism you can expect in a corporate media controlled world
I suppose it had to have been either Enderle or Thurrott didn’t it!
What a pair…
I remember that. I clicked the Siddhartha link and sussed it but it was amazing how many people didn’t pick up on the fact that it was a Joke. Not quite as bad as “War of the Worlds” but still pretty amazing.
“Paul Thurrott reprinted the story without giving credit to the original source.”
I’m Shocked, Shocked to find there is gambling on the premises!
Paul Thurrott spreading FUD? Is this _really_ news?
I think not…
Hano
If Comical Rob E. had picked it up, he’d still be insisting it was true until Bill Gates told him it wasn’t, then he’d twist the facts to make it look like he was right all along. After that “MS wrote the Mac OS” fiasco, I was in an e-mail debate with him for days. His story started off that Apple contracted MS to write the Mac OS, and by the end of it, it was merely that, as an app developer, MS, along with many other software companies, provided feedback on the Mac OS. The funny part was, when he ran out of arguments, all he had left was to attack me on a personal level. I used to think Thurrott was the biggest moron in town, but this exchange from Comical Rob E. makes Thurrott look like Einstein.
ndelc: you need to publish that exchange online to show the world what a useless sack of crap Enderle is!
nothing to do with Macs OR ipod. Hit Count down MDN?
M/W: greed
That’s one of many reasons why Thurott is not “news reporter” material. Doesn’t even come close. Not much of a tech writer, either. His opinions don’t really matter anyway and have no substance nor credibility.
We should all just ignore him.
ndelc,
Please publish the e-mail exchange. It would make for enlightening reading – or story writing.
Cheers.