Great Moments in Egging, hungary, linux, microsoft, steve ballmer

Steve Ballmer gets egged in Hungary

Speaking at the Hungarian University of Economy today, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer got egg on his face and not in the figurative sense. Hungary's government spends millions on licenses to use Microsoft software at its universities and this market lockdown is apparently so upsetting to some Hungarians — how will they ever learn to use Linux? — that during today's speech, one attendee stood-up, yelled at Ballmer: "Give back the money of the taxpayers!" and then started chucking eggs. We disapprove, but only because we know Ballmer prefers bananas. A nice banana-cream pie-ing would have made a European matched-pair with the earlier prank on Bill Gates. Watch the egging in the clip embedded above.

8:00 AM on Mon May 19 2008
By Nicholas Carlson
8,267 views
14 comments

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sample032 at 08:18 AM on 05/19/08
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So you ask a friend to throw a party. For some reason, he got cheap beer. Pissed at the situation, you egg the store clerk.
Blackjack at 08:52 AM on 05/19/08
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You ask a friend to throw a party, and give him money for beer. He overspends on cheap beer and keeps coming back to you for more money. You egg the store clerk.
BobDope at 09:00 AM on 05/19/08
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Yeah yo if the Hungarian Government buys some magic software beans with the money you gave it to buy a cow, you gonna get eaten by a giant, son!
macbeach at 10:27 AM on 05/19/08
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While I don't approve of this sort of confrontation (thrown objects) I hardly think of Ballmer as an innocent store clerk. He and Gates pretty much set the direction for the company and now, probably, more Ballmer than Gates.

In my experience, governments don't do a very good job of negotiating on software price, but cover that up by paying a "low" price several times for the same software. Universities especially would be very well served by a mix of operating systems that would include the major commercial OSs as well as open ones. No better way to learn coding principles than by working on actual large systems rather than just tinkering with some simulator.
seanpercival at 10:30 AM on 05/19/08
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ha, duh monkey boy wants da bananers!
michaellamb at 10:33 AM on 05/19/08
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guy kinda looks like mike arrington's brother
matto at 11:21 AM on 05/19/08
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worst video embed ever. wake me up when it loads.
sample032 at 11:31 AM on 05/19/08
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@macbeach: Granted, Ballmer both sold and brewed the crap beer.
valleypro at 12:13 PM on 05/19/08
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I don't think Americans should have to pay for imported Hungarian products either. They should be free!
Aldaron at 12:32 PM on 05/19/08
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Of course, the thing that's striking about this is that the guy wasn't Tasered, or maced, or killed or piled onto by a bunch of overweight Gestapo thugs, any (and perhaps all) of which would have happened if he'd tried his stunt here in the US.
DomZ at 03:02 PM on 05/19/08
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@Aldaron: And rightfully so if he were to try it in the US. Its actually quite embarrassing for Hungary to literally do nothing to the guy who tried to egg the CEO of one of the largest companies in the world regardless of what your stance on MS is.
Peteski at 05:10 PM on 05/19/08
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@DomZ: The embarrassing part is that he missed.
sample032 at 05:47 PM on 05/19/08
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@DomZ: Yup. There's a difference between free speech and mild assault.
ZakariyyaLadybug at 09:01 AM on 05/21/08
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It's more like you ask a friend to throw a party and the store clerk bribes your friend into buying toxic beer with your money. You egg the store clerk because slashing him with a samurai sword is against the law.