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Microserfs ordered back to the office, given 10 days to appeal
- blakesterz 1y agoThe headline writer is a Coupland fan? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microserfs https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microserfs I haven't read that since it came out, I wonder if it still holds up. I read Generation X recently and I didn't like it as much as my first read when that came out.
- Computer0 1y agoSounds like an interesting book - from someone way too young to have been there.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y agoi read a lot of Coupland in high school and just before i entered the IT space. i credit him, along with Office Space and Dilbert (BEFORE Scott Adams went full weirdo), for helping me set and maintain realistic expectations :)
- jmcphers 1y agoI don't have a source for this, but I believe the term Microserfs was not minted by Coupland and predates his work. (I worked at Microsoft from 2004 - 2013)
- JohnFen 1y agoMy colleagues and I were using the term years before that book. I always assumed he used the title because it was already recognizable slang. It was just one example of a long tradition of collective nicknames for employees of computer and software companies. For instance, Digital Equipment Corporation employees were "digits", Wang employees were "wankers", and so on.
- Mountain_Skies 1y agoMight be ok for nostalgia but the software development world and the Bay Area/Seattle in general have changed so much that Microserfs would be alien to anyone living there today. His spiritual sequel, jPod, is quite a bit more fantastical. The CBC made it into a one season tv show that ends on a cliffhanger. It's about time for Coupland to write a third novel on the industry but I'm not sure he's really interested anymore.
- bityard 1y agoEl Reg has always had nicknames for companies and employees. "Microserfs" goes back at least a decade or two. Google == Chocolate Factory, Intel == Chipzilla, Cisco == Borg Collective (pretty sure Broadcom deserves that title these days)
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- jp57 1y agoThe Register's writing style really makes it hard to take them seriously. Maybe that's what they want?
- bdcravens 1y agoIt has always had a snarky tone. I think for the target audience, they have more credibility, since it's obvious they are taking the side of the users/practitioners. It's why they "bite the hand that feeds I.T.".
- Terr_ 1y agoThe phrasing of the motto also harkens back to the days when it was (more) common for anything remotely computer-related to be lumped into "IT".
- klodolph 1y agoIt’s one of the few “old internet” (1990s) sites around. It’s somehow managed to hold on to the culture it had from back then. IMO, snark is more and more relevant now that ChatGPT is polishing everybody’s writing into a milquetoast mush.
- bityard 1y agoPerhaps their target audience is readers who don't take themselves too seriously. ;)
- antisthenes 1y agoIf you want to level up as a person, you should pay more attention to the substance than style. Otherwise it's hard to take you seriously.
- debo_ 1y agoIt's hard to take anyone seriously when they unironically use the term 'level up'.
- unglaublich 1y ago
- ChrisArchitect 1y ago[dupe] Discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45184432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45184432
- dang 1y agoComments moved thither. Thanks!