We're seeing a sort of Wal-Martisation of this world - Pundit on BBC Radio 4
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AMD forced to scrap Congo codename
IT WOULD APPEAR THAT a blather of bloggers have successfully bullied AMD into scrapping the code name "Congo" for its soon to be released ultra thin dual-core chip, decrying it as anti-humanitarian to name hardware after a warzone.
"AMD ‘Congo' Chip Glorifies Rape" shrieked the Daily Kos, whilst melodramatically asking "What's next, the ‘Holocaust' chip?" [Er, the Congo is both a river and a geographical region; the Holocaust is an historical event, relevance?].
AMD has long had a habit of codenaming its chips after place names and rivers which, albeit silly, is hardly "heartless and ill-informed" as daily Kos' writer Dave Donelson accused littler chipper's CEO, Dirk Meyer of in his letter.
Because, if one wanted to be picky, one could easily point to Barcelona being the stage for some pretty grotesque inquisitorial proceedings, and don't even get us started on Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, famous for the horrifically bloody crusades.
Another hypocrite, David Sullivan, wrote in his Enough blog that the Congo was a "place where trade in minerals vital to technology like ultra-thin laptops is fueling the deadliest conflict in the world." Right... so did you typewrite your blog then, Dave? Do you shun all gadgets containing gold, tungsten, coltan, copper and casserite because they in some twisted way justify rape? No, we didn't think so.
But super sensitive, politically correct AMD was absolutely MORTIFIED when it discovered its cold, heartless, disgraceful, shameful mistake at internally codenaming a product after a river, which was also a country, which happens to be one of many to have suffered a war. Spokespeople immediately came to the rescue, proclaiming deep regret and pleading for mercy on this horrific "oversight".
To avoid any further heartache, the firm declared it would henceforth be referring to the offensive chip as "2nd Generation Ultrathin Platform" instead. Catchy, innit?
We feel a bit sorry for AMD actually. The firm's marketing team probably thought to themselves: "hmmm... Congo that's a nice word. Kind of like ‘conga', or ‘salsa'."
We are not entirely convinced the firm was trying to make a point about a war torn african nation.
Lets imagine AMD had called its chip ‘conga', some blowhard would be typing out his "How dare they" piece in his "Comments Nil, trackback nil" blog as we speak, drawing parallels between AMD and the drunken 80's dance of death.
For crying out loud people, what on earth is the world coming to if you can't name a chip after a war torn region anymore? Now Intel won't be able to call its new architecture Beirut, or Bosnia [to ethnically cleanse the chip market] and Microsoft won't be able to compete with its search engine nemesis by calling its offering Gooooebles? Sheesh!
In conclusion, the bogosphere should really lighten up, nothing was meant by it...all Heil AMD's new offerings, whatever they be codenamed. µ
*Disclaimer: The INQ in no way supports the current violence in Congo, nor rape, racism, violence or genocide anywhere in the world. We simply don't see what naming a chip "congo" has to do with any of the aforementioned. And yes, we do realise we'll get flamed anyway.* µ
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i lol'd at "Gooooebles!"
It's a bit overly PC, but there is the connection between the congo and raw materials for the hardware industry that is a bit disconcerting.
AMD to sell more chips to Iran, who then go on a glorious jihad to the Congo with AMD built superweapons.
While doing the Conga.
hmm... "The Holocaust Chip" has a ring to it.
Shoot tech bloggers with stupid opinions. (Yes, this means shoot all of them.) Give them something worth whining about for a change.
Thanks for the laugh, Sylvie; that's the funniest thing I've read in days. :D
I agree with S. I think most ignorants in this world thinks that places like Brasil only exist for providing coffee as Colombia, which also provides the white magical powder, and in Bolivia people live in trees like the eewoks in star wars. Yeah, Antartida, lot of ice there too.
Come on, Brasil, Colombia, and many other countries in the world have beautiful cities. Even Congo, that despite their problems, may be someday a great place for a living or visiting. Problems are meant to be solved and anyway they don't last forever.
I like AMD naming each chip picking cities in the world, no matter in which situation they are, as its not relevant. There are people living in these places and every city deserves a mention. Perfect, keep on keeping on AMD, you are doing just fine.
come on the first thing that came to my mind when i heard congo was the old angry apes movie. lol ppl and their none sense
What about the old school beverage, um-bongo?
Hilarious article. Too many webtards have gained the ability to blog, somebody needs to be the voice of reason!
Renaming it Congo can be a good thing, look at all the free publicity, they conflict is getting, this might lead to more awarness and a solution.
Donnelson is either:
1.an idiot, who is making outrageous analogies, and leaps of logic, because he fails to understand how irrational they are
OR
2.He is using this to get free publicity for his new book about the Congo. Ironically, HE IS THE ONE taking advantage of the attrocities in the Congo FOR HIS OWN BENEFIT. THAT IS SICK.
I loved this article and how it shows the stupidity of the media. Keep up the great work.
Oh, you guys...
Also, I didn't know anyone read the Daily Kos. I mean, anyone of import.
I never cease to be amazed by people's ability to get offended by the most trivial things.
I guess they must get really, really bored, or desperate for attention.
Some of these non-descrepit bloggers have their heads so far up their a$$ that they need to make holes in their t!tt!es to look at the world outside.
Chip names and political motivations ... ahem! connect the dots fellas
Is Sylvie the only decent writer left at the INQ nowadays? Articles like this are the only reason I even bother coming back. Well done Sylvie and please please don't leave the INQ
"Aspergers of marketing execs"
This is too funny and too true.. AMD would do a better job marketing if they fired their marketing team and allowed the engineers to talk directly to the people.. AMD's marketing team could take a great chip and call it "Athlon"..
I really love AMD.. I'm a shareholder.. But geez.. their marketing is ass.
Get a backbone, AMD.. You're using a city for a codename.. If someone gets mad about that, then tell them to go be offended at something else.
with Sylvie's spice weasel.
Sigh ... she seems the only funny one left there now.
and a babe ...
Maybe the caffe latte sipping arseholes think it's horrible there, but Bongo, Bongo Bongo, doesn't wanna leave the Kongo, cos (bingle bangle bungle) he's so happy in the jungle!
Signed,
the Nothing-Better-To-Do Committee for the Betterment of Humankind
Two quick thoughts:
1. We were not forced by anyone, we agreed that if it brings people to know more about what is happening in the Congo then its worth it. All please checkout vday.org and get educated.
2. As a member of my extended family has Autism, people might want to know they can find more at http://www.autism-society.org/site/PageServer
Thanks
Nigel
That dailykos guy is a fool of beyond comprehension magnitude.
By putting such a bad light on the chosen name for this cpu the suffering civilians of CONGO will once more escape many people's attention. Be it as a chipname,there'll allways be someone bringing up the story.
Might it not be he wanted to rename his Novel into Congo to make it sell better ?
Just maybe you know.
OK, does this mean we should rename any thing that actually comes out of that country?
Gee should I rename my Congo Frogs I keep as a pet?
Yeah, let's rename everything to Condor after the Cigar maker!
Just goes to show you what happens when you let a minority voice take control over an issue the majority don't care about.
How else did the BNP get a couple of seats recently? ;-)
Absolutely nothing wrong with the codename IMO.
That blogger, Donelson, is an idiot. Anyone who brings up the Holocaust to validate their argument is an idiot who can't support their point based on facts and reason, so they just try and use the emotional argument and circumvent reason and logic. "Rape!" and "Holocaust!" are not valid means of establishing credibility, they are quite the opposite.
Are there really so few of you left to point the obvious? Too much web 2.something, so few good articles like these, keep up the good work...
greetings from Croatia!
Somebody pointed on in the DK comments that it looked like this individual (non-frontpage) blog poster was just trying to pimp his book.
The comments on the Kos should have ended with DAAMIT replying with "Didn't read past the mention of the Holocaust. Another win for Godwin. This discussion is over."
Obviously, modern manglement aren't aware of how to deal with trolls or the thin-skinned these days. A couple of years of Usenet should be mandatory for anyone making decisions in a tech firm.
Just about the most right-on and funny thing I've read. You certainly have a way with words. Which probably explains you job. Erm...
Rig: AMD 'Blitzkrieg' 1944X2, Saphire HD4870 'Jihad OC'
Ok then, anybody feel good about going with 'Droitwich' ultra thin dual core CPU with a ULV 'Wolverhampton' mapping out q1 2011
How does that even... I mean... what? What kind of drivel can one person spew? And I mean talk about taking offence for other people! I mean it's an ambiguous name as it is, it could refer to the river, it could be a misspelling of the dance, they might've even named it after a drink or something, or y'know, anything listed on this page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congo
I actually really dislike the author of that article and I don't even know him. What a self-righteous tosser.
The Holocaust Chip was already created by IBM. It was used in Nazi machines which helped them track Jews in Europe.
.
is it twue how dey say you people are... gifted?
.
I think these guys need to go visit their neighborhood's employment office and get themselves a job rather than whining about something as insignificant as a chip's codename. Jeez. How sad for these people.
The correct response to such "politically correct" bloggers is "Get a life. Your attempt to portray *everything* as politics is pathetic, and your assumption that your chosen side has a lock on truth is the deranged illusion of an ant climbing an elephant's leg with intentions of rape."
Dave Donelson is a fucking idiot. People like him need to get bashed in the face.
Just because something bad happened in Congo region doesn't mean it should be a tabooed name.
Some pretty bad shit happens in Shanghai too (remember what it means to get "shanghaied"? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghaiing) but no one cares that it's been used as a codename for a chip.
Holocaust chip would have to have 6,000,000 cores. So, the bloggers are jumping the gun a somewhat.
Holocaust2 would need ~ 12,000,000 cores to account for the Roma, gays, mentally & physically challenged and Soviet cadres *as well as* Jews that the Nazis murdered.
But I think the Hiroshima chip and Nagasaki chips will hit market first - requiring a modest 100,000 cores per.
Ultimately of course we should watch for the North American Indian chip - on the order of 100,000,000 cores required.
Seriously, it serves them right. I'm getting well tired of corporate types snaffling up the names of places I live. Cashing in on the cachet of a place they didn't contribute to in any way.
Snorts... The Daily Kos is for knuckle-dragging libtards who were challenged to even pass high-school English classes and who style themselves erudite, sophisticated people. Those of us who are erudite and sophisticated, i.e., INQ readers, are heartily offended that these drooling, Obama-worshiping degenerates consider themselves to be the same species as us, much less our intellectual equals. Anyone who even admits to visiting the Daily Kos website, except to laugh at their inane scribblings, should immediately turn in their Homo Sapiens membership card.
We can't have a Jason chip, because that might glorify killing horny young people, and we can't have the Goatcher chip because the obvious mnemonic(a goat with Cher) could be considered obscene.
Let's go the other way, how about a Martin Luther King chip? And what would cause more of a backlash, a Jesus chip, a Buddha chip, or an Allah chip. Ooooooh, how about a Mohammad chip, after that little bunny rabbit fiasco.
It's a bit rich coming from someone who has clearly named themselves after noted British pornographer and exploiter of women (allegedly) David Sullivan!
Quote:
"AMD to sell more chips to Iran, who then go on a glorious jihad to the Congo with AMD built superweapons.
While doing the Conga."
Oh My Gah I almost fell off the chair dude, nice. I could just see the jihaders out there cha, cha, cha, cha, cha,boom .... cha, cha, cha, cha, cha,boom .... cha, cha, cha, cha, cha,boom ....
LOOOOL!!!
Daily Kos allows pretty much any user to write these "diaries", and the Kos community was far from rallying behind this idiot. Some of the critical comments have 3 to 4 times as many recommends as the author's "tip jar".
Um Bongo, Um Bongo - apparently they drink it in the Congo. Oh noes!!!111one
THINLY VEILED ARTICLE IN SUPPORT OF GENOCIDE, RAPE, MURDER, AND TAX EVASION. INQ YOUR TIME WILL COME!