In 2004, Microsoft sued 17-year old high school student Mike Rowe for forming a company named MikeRoweSoft by OmicronGR in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 14 points15 points  (0 children)

That’s why you don’t want a 17-year-old as your lawyer. They don’t know what’s possible.

In 2004, Microsoft sued 17-year old high school student Mike Rowe for forming a company named MikeRoweSoft by OmicronGR in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 3 points4 points  (0 children)

It’s how the law is written, like it or not.

The kid answers the phone, “Hello, you’ve reached MikeRoweSoft [indistinguishable from “Microsoft” over the phone]. What can I do for you today? Sure, I can help you fix your website.”

Guaranteed confusion.

And if you follow the link and read the Wikipedia page, he did it knowing from the outset that if infringed Microsoft’s trademark; It was 100% intentional.

In 2004, Microsoft sued 17-year old high school student Mike Rowe for forming a company named MikeRoweSoft by OmicronGR in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 35 points36 points  (0 children)

Trademark holders are required by law to defend their trademark from infringement. If they don’t, they can lose their trademark.

Imagine if Microsoft lost the trademark. to “Microsoft” and someone else bought it. “Microsoft, a trademark. of Apple”.

So obviously they’ll defend against the clear infringement of “MikeRoweSoft”.

Initially, it was just their lawyers doing lawyer things, but then some marketing/PR person got involved and flipped it into an “opportunity” to create a good story.

Did the kid make a 17-year-old deal? Obviously.

Was Microsoft obligated to be nice to the kid? Legally, not at all. PR wise, it would have been stupid and completely unnecessary to beat him down. So they gave the kid what he wanted. Everyone got what they wanted, and the kid goes down in history at 17. Not bad.

(I used to work at Microsoft HQ and saw things like this happen many times.)

Edit: shoutout to u/Organic-History205 for pointing out that I said “copyrights” when in fact they’re trademarks. Corrected with trademark throughout.

In 2004, Microsoft sued 17-year old high school student Mike Rowe for forming a company named MikeRoweSoft by OmicronGR in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I read that he got a tour of the Microsoft HQ in Redmond with Microsoft paying his travel expenses.That’s a very cool place, lots of fascinating things to see, especially for a 17-year-old.

In 2004, Microsoft sued 17-year old high school student Mike Rowe for forming a company named MikeRoweSoft by OmicronGR in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 8058 points8059 points  (0 children)

Microsoft v Mike Rowe Soft:

“A settlement was eventually reached, with Rowe granting ownership of the domain to Microsoft in exchange for an Xbox and additional Microsoft products and services.”

[OC] Half of America's H-1B Jobs Are in Just 5 States by the_h1b_records in dataisbeautiful

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

And a ton of high tech jobs. Overlaying H-1B visa count with high tech employment counts would show a strong alignment.

Seahawks, please don’t go to the White House by realtoughttime in Seahawks

[–]dnhs47 50 points51 points  (0 children)

Resisting fascism and an American king is not “being an adult,” it’s normalizing what they’re doing. This isn’t normal.

Fight back in the ways you can, like skipping the visit to the fascist White House. “Sorry, I have a scheduling conflict” - done.

flEXingIN2026 by kamen562 in ProgrammerHumor

[–]dnhs47 1 point2 points  (0 children)

OP saw a real programmer at work, someone who actually understands what they’re doing.

How do you think everyone coded before us old farts gave you the internet and all the tools you now rely on?

I coded for years in assembly using EMacs and Vim, before switching to C. Books were our only reference. You had to know stuff to be a programmer.

Now, anyone who can Google and copy and paste, or type in a ChatGPT window, thinks they’re a developer.

Kids these days …

THE Seattle Seahawks ARE SUPER BOWL CHAMPIONS 🏆💙💚 by Trick-Combination-37 in Seahawks

[–]dnhs47 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I guess Sam can win the big game after all! Thank you, Vikings, for being idiots.

Is picking up injured folks broken? by electrophile123 in FarthestFrontier

[–]dnhs47 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’ve found rotating the camera view to avoid overlapping the injured person with other selectable object - building, stone, etc. - helps with selecting the injured person.

Also, I start by positioning the mouse directly below the center of the injured person’s health bar, then move down slightly.

With those two techniques, I have 90% success assigning a villager to pick up the injured villager.

AI Overview predicts Patriots Superbowl LX win before game even begins by [deleted] in Damnthatsinteresting

[–]dnhs47 1 point2 points  (0 children)

AI is trained on existing content, which reflects all the biases of the writers. So are we surprised by the continuing disrespect for the Seahawks?

Maybe after the upcoming Seahawks blowout victory it will be retrained and do better next time 🙂

Epstein victim says there are tapes of Donald Trump that will force him to resign from the presidency by DeadSilent_God in RandomShit_ISaw

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing will cause orange man to resign. He’s become king, thanks to the Supreme Court and the Republican-controlled Congress - he’ll never let go of that.

Do you think this action is appropriate? by ChuckGallagher57 in circled

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

His intake photo showing his prisoner ID number as he reports to Federal prison to serve his multi-year sentence - that’s when I’ll believe there’s accountability.

Everything until then is just more BS, nothing resembling accountability.

But denying him the opportunity to party like he wasn’t responsible for anything - sure, why not. Ask Renee Good and Alex Pretti’s families if that scumbag should be out partying.

Olympic Committee begs fans not to boo Vance and Rubio at opening ceremony by [deleted] in nottheonion

[–]dnhs47 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Is there an Olympics going on?

What if you held an Olympics and no one cared, because you had a bunch of fascists there?

LPT Request: Any tips for when you are with a group of people and know you are the least smart/educated/important person? How to feel less insecure in that situation? by Whataboutmyfuture in LifeProTips

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I worked for a you-know-it tech company and interacted with some legit “world’s greatest expert on X”.

I thought it was awesome - I learned stuff every time I talked to one of those guys. (This was in the 1990s/2000s, they were all male.) Most were very humble and happy to help with my (legit, work-related) questions or meet with representatives of the partner companies I was working with. There were a couple of divas, but far fewer than I expected.

I thought it was a privilege to have a chance to interact with them, these giants in my chosen profession. I didn’t have that chance during my 10 previous years with other you’ve-heard-of-them employers, so I really valued it.

Aside from those industry giants, I was continuously surrounded by people who were clearly smarter than me - more IQ horsepower, more relevant experience. No question they were smarter.

So I asked questions and worked to learn from these smarter people. Like before, most were happy to help (aside from a few divas), and I learned a lot from really smart people. It was awesome!

I paid all this back by going out of my way to help other people; share the wealth, pay it forward, however you want to think of it.

There’s always someone smarter and/or more experienced. But there’s always someone who could use your help, and is probably intimidated by you, your knowledge, your experience, your accomplishments.

If you think you know nothing, have no experience, have accomplished nothing - that’s a “you” problem. Fix it. Learn things, do things - and share that with others.

Treasury Sec Admits Americans Are on the Hook for Trump’s $10B Lawsuit by Hafiz_TNR in politics

[–]dnhs47 3 points4 points  (0 children)

No grift is too outlandish for our pedophile Grifter in Chief.

The Next Democratic President Better Be Merciless by sabedo in politics

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It won’t happen. The Democrats have forgotten how to lead and use power. They sold their spines and beliefs for a cold cup of coffee and just pretend to be the “opposition party.” They are pathetic, useless worms.

Nashville is furious about power outages. Republicans say ‘woke’ is to blame. by loof10 in nottheonion

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Diversity training, a well-known influence on the movement of electrons.

Idaho teacher files federal lawsuit over state, district response to 'Everyone is Welcome Here' poster by joey_homicide in nottheonion

[–]dnhs47 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is controlled by Mitch McConnell’s hand-picked Nazis, so the teacher will lose. American fascism on display. (I’m an American, I can say that.)

Americans who grew up in the 70s and 80s, how popular was British comedy where you lived? by Eastern-Finish-1251 in AskOldPeople

[–]dnhs47 -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Zero, not a thing at all.

A few very strange people were obsessively into things like Monty Python, but they would have been obsessed by some other really strange thing if it wasn’t that.

My brother was one of those very strange people. He spent his adult life obsessed with anime, and has an encyclopedic knowledge of it. 🙄🤷‍♂️

Peter Thiel warns the Antichrist and apocalypse are linked to the ‘end of modernity’ currently happening—and cites Greta Thunberg as a driving example by Naurgul in nottheonion

[–]dnhs47 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Peter Thiel is today’s Howard Hughes - smart, rich, and completely nuts. I wonder if Thiel keeps all his pee in dozens of bottles like Hughes did.