Sarkozy: Microsoft represents all that is great about France
French president Nicholas Sarkozy delivered a profound judgement on Microsoft yesterday, declaring that the company personifies the values of France and Europe. While such a declaration would quicken the heart of US artists and filmmakers, it might not be the sort of endorsement that a nakedly capitalist, (sometimes) bleeding …
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Title
"declaring that the company personifies the values of France"
Making it generally difficult to efficiently communicate with anyone who doesn't use their proprietary language?
Sorry just joking, France
don't forget....
..arrogant and indifferent.
Or is that us Brits?
To be fair...
..."Non, je ne regrette rien" could well be the M$/Ballmer theme tune given their attitude to the multitude of legal assaults on their monopolistic practices.
As for Sarko, to (mis-)paraphrase Dubya: The French have no word for "putain de merde"
p.s. Surely it can be only a matter of time now before Napoleon the Turd honours the gurus of their own home-grown OS, Mandriva! </sarcasm>
Diminuitive dick head!
All the French people I know, (several), think he's a twat!
I'm inclined to agree...
Cue the down votes in 3,2,1....
indeed
As a French you most probably do not know, I would agree too (I am not sure he would distinguish a keyboard from a mouse, nor the Internet from a DRM), but I am too busy vomitting right now...
Remember one minister of his claiming her computer was safe from malware thanks to OpenOffice's firewall?
Upvoted
Well, I'm French, and I sadly couldn't agree more. But there is one good thing to be said about our president: he embodies every single thing that is wrong with "the French", so he's a pretty easy target. Oh well, I suppose the DCRI is already on my case, so I'll just pack up my things and move to Dunedin, I guess.
RE: Sarko
His name - Sárközy, in Hungarian - is 100% Hungarian (fairly common name) but he is not: his Catholic father is a Hungarian aristocrat, left Hungary right after WWII, fearing Commies/Soviet deportation but his Jewish mother is Greek if I remember correctly.
He is not original either
Tony Blair used to do that with Bill before every election.
Demonstrated how much he cared about British Industry and British companies and taxes (with MSFT EU registered in Ireland).
So what?
"Microsoft represents all that is great about France"
I'll get my flak-jacket and some popcorn, this is probably "set if off" around here very soon!
Harsh
I'm no Microsoft fanboi but damn Sarkozy, any poor company that gets your endorsement is losing some serious credibility.
Ballmers only option here is to curse Lil Nic in French and then say it was a mistranslation.
Paris: Cuz she hates little peckers (and it's in France)
He'll be claiming....
... that it's actually Stéphane Bellemere rather than Steve Ballmer.
Insulting....
French president Nicholas Sarkozy delivered a profound judgement on Microsoft yesterday, declaring that the company personifies the values of France and Europe.
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Rather insulting to the French isn't it... Calling them a bunch of bullies and CopyCats.
Or to Microsoft...
calling them a bunch of "Cheese-eating surrender monkeys"
I think the term you're looking for-
Is ' Cheese-Eating Surrender Monkey-Boy'
You are misreading the likelhood
It is not Frenchness per-se, it is "short person" and french together which makes a rather dangerous mix... Something about conquering the whole world...
Yeah but , well yeah your right, but...
It is hard to define short, but for some trivia..
Napoleon's height was 5 ft 2 French inches according to Antommarchi at Napoleon's autopsy
Whats a French Inch?
Well its 1.066 * 1inch so he was 5 ft 6in in imperial measurement, close to Sarkozy's height
Napoleon also achieved quite a bit, Sarkozy, well we will see.
I can't imagine...
That many French would agree with this, or be overly happy with his anointment with the Legion D'honneur. But to be honest I think to most, this would just past them by as another embarrassing stunt by another small and unpopular French "leader".
Arise Sir Bill?
"....meaning he can hang out with Paul McCartney and assorted British MPs."
No he can't. They're the real deal, Bill's only a KBE. Colonials and other shifty foreign types only get honorary titles.
He still gets to look down his nose[1] at Sarko though, as I don't think *he's* got one.
[1] But then, so do most people unless they are sitting down or standing in a hole.
Ahem
KBE is a higher "rank" than MBE (Knight vs Member), Gates cannot call himself "Sir" because he is American and Americans are not allowed titles (everyone is equal or whatever) so while Gates cannot be called Sir William Gates he can be called William Gates KBE which is a higher rank than Sir Paul McCartney MBE, albeit honorary.
Re: Ahem
Apart from presidents, of course. To the extent that ex-presidents are also titled President.
"All men are created equal" except for the ones who are better - pretty much sums up the US mentality.
@TeeCee
Phew. For a moment I thought WTF, "Lord Gates"?
Thanks for the clarification.
The French defeated by the mighty Microsoft?
Sarkozy appeases Microsoft. Ref:
http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/text/victories.html
One more honour to decline then
Not that anyone's going to offer me any such. Which is nice. Saves having to make tripe-y acceptance speeches. On the downside, I won't get to decline with a big fat NON. Oh well. Can't have everything.
Can't help but wonder, though. Why now? Did Sarko just sign a hundred years contract locking them into ooxml at inflated prices or something?
Microsoft represents all that is great about France
So, Microsoft are a bunch of arrogant, smelly, queue-jumping, onion-selling, hooped-jumper-and-beret-wearing, bicycle-riding, wine-swilling, shoulder-hunching sex maniacs?
Based on that I'm upgrading to Windows 7!!
Mine's the one with Clarkson's Guide To Provence in the pocket....
RE: Microsoft represents all that is great about France
Were you expecting that the French ambassador would be asleep when you said that?
Legion D'Honneur ?
There is another French Tradition I think they should honour Mr Balmer with.
And he would be lying down when it was awarded.
I'll get me knitting.
Are french really that lame?
This is worst insult nation leader can do to his country. French people should revolt and sack the dictator. Unless they are really that lame.
Non
the French aren't that lame, don't judge the population by the actions of a few misguided fools
LdH
Some British historian quoted an Italian jingle on the Legion d'Honneur, written about the time the order was started. As I recall, the translation ran
In olden days they balanced losses
By hanging thieves upon the crosses,
But our humaner age believes
In hanging crosses on the thieves.
And I don't really care that they honored Jerry Lewis. I just resent the fact that they did at about the time that the culture minister, Jack Lang, convened a conference to discuss just how awful American culture was.
I'm sure these Legion D'Honneur....
...are up for sale. How else to explain it. Ballmer le merde.
Sacrebleu!
While I tend to like a lot of things about the French people, especially French girls who if you soak them in soapy water long enough often clean up very nicely, their government unfortunately leaves a lot to be desired.
This is just another example of that.
Big disgusting loud and obnoxious fat man who is disliked by just about everyone in the world other than the people he pays to like him is now synonymous with the country of France.
Yes, now when you think of Steve Ballmer and his buffoonery and his duplicitous and Machiavellian way of doing business you can associate that with the so called "Values of France".
What an embarrassment!
But we shouldn't blame the French people just because the politicians who run their government are a bunch of schmoozing boot licking fools.
Disappointed
I read through all of those comments and not one made a joke about port blocking. I expected more.
and in other news....
most of France's politicians jumped ship and work for the British government now... and now I see the resemblance.
Is this why ...
The French government and public services have been instructed to use free, open software in preference over Microsoft and other commercial offerings?
They've been doing it successfully for years.
Sarko is no more representative of France or the French than fly in the air.
The Order vs The Knight Commander
the KBE is not an OBE, and Bill Gates is not a knight of the realm.
I suppose
Nicholas Sarkozy has lost faith in France and Europe then.
On the other hand at a "cat's christening" you have to say something, in this case Microsoft and France, of course. So why not simply add an Equals sign in between and be done with it.
Perhaps the think tank from Microsoft took part in the great adventure of words.
Microsoft has been infiltrating European Governments, successfully, for years.
Google translate sometimes sucks
Like this time. Microsoft does not *include* the values of France. It *understands* them. Which means something altogether different, ie that it knows how to sell stuff to the French without bothering with said values.
Legion of Honour to, out of all - BALLMER? How low can you go, France?
Seriously: what else?
I was born and raised in Hungary so naturally I was hoping Sarko turns out good at the end but I have to admit Sarko is now literally destroying France...
...so that's a payback for Trianon, smelly Frogs. :P
FAIL because it's an epic one.
Sarcasm?
Shit, for a moment i thought sarkozy was being sarkostic....
@Ram Sambamrthy
Surly you know.
Sarkosm is the lowest form of wit
Coat already on.
23456
Awarding Ballmer the Legion d'Honneur is a bit like the Vatican giving a Papal Knighthood to the head of News Corp, Rupert Mudroach.
It's a money thing!
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