This came in on tidbits-talk, and I felt it was useful!

Date: Thu, 4 Apr 2002 07:42:37 -0500
To: “TidBITS Talk”
From: “Derek K. Miller”
Subject: Re: Other good April Fools jokes

April Fools pranks are easy to miss, even if you’re looking for them. So for those who are interested, a friend and I compiled a number of this year’s into this list.

It’s far from exhaustive, but it’s entertaining nevertheless. Some may only make sense if you’re a gamer or Linux-head, as my friend is. (The TidBITS ones were included too, of course. I noted that we had a “Microsoft settles” April 1 joke in 1999 as well.)

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• Napster buys Microsoft
• Dodo brought back to life using genetic engineering (and named Doris)
• SpamCop releases GramCop, which filters poorly written e-mail
• Surprise Microsoft settlement vows bug-free software
  Of course, the same publication had an April 1 “Microsoft settles” story three years ago.

• Privately held Harrod’s offers to go public
• ATF Takes Responsibility for Federal Software Policy Enforcement
• REVIEW: “Hacking for Dummies”
• Orcs being dropped from Warcraft III, release pushed back from June to 2002 as a result
• The Moon’s cheese expiry date from the Hubble Space Telescope
• A rootkit package was released for Debian
• Will Wheaton has signed on to bring Wesley Crusher the Time Traveler to “Star Trek: Enterprise” in at least 8 episodes
• Will Wheaton’s “WheatoniX” OS, glow-in-the-dark beer, etc.
• AMD has been purchased by Nvidia. New company is named AmVidia
• Linus Torvalds has retired from kernel development
• Jesse Ventura calls press conference on short notice as prank

And from when jokes go wrong….

• Internet Spoof causes real hit to Canadian dollar.

A bunch from About.com
Google powered by pigeons; Netscape Open Directory now Gates Open Directory; Dubya proclaims “Free Lunch Day” and cancels 2004 election; “Puppy Bowling” is England’s latest fad sport; April Fool’s Day parade will include land mines.
A bunch from SiliconValley.com
Non-profit consultant hires ex-Enron chief Ken Lay and Andersen as accountant; run eBay for a day or visit the eBay Ayn Rand store; Red Herring profiles Failure Inc.; Burger King changes name to Chicken King, etc.

—
Derek K. Miller – Writer, Editor, Web Guy, Drummer, Dad
Vancouver, Canada – dkmiller@###.com
Penmachine Media Company | http://www.penmachine.com
The Neurotics Fab Rock | http://www.TheNeurotics.com