Every confession you make goes directly into Microsoft database
and will used against you in a court of law.

Only internal Microsoft confessions will we written to null
but, since null is a Unix invention they will come out
if Microsoft will NOT buy the USA.

Yechiel Adar
Mehish
----- Original Message -----
To: Multiple recipients of list ORACLE-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Wednesday, July 31, 2002 6:03 PM



SO, will Bill be coming out with "Stained Glass Windows" next?  What added
functionalist will you get with the "Confessional" version?



                    "Gogala,
                    Mladen"              To:     Multiple recipients of list
ORACLE-L <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
                    <MGogala             cc:
                    @oxhp.com>           Subject:     There are even more
plots to go around.
                    Sent by: root


                    07/30/2002
                    06:29 PM
                    Please
                    respond to

                    ORACLE-L











Microsoft Bids to Acquire Catholic Church

VATICAN CITY (AP) -- In a joint press conference in St. Peter's Square this
morning, MICROSOFT Corp. and the Vatican announced that the Redmond
software  giant will acquire the Roman Catholic Church in exchange for an
unspecified  number of shares of MICROSOFT common stock. If the deal goes
through, it will be  the first time a computer software company has
acquired a major world religion.

With the acquisition, Pope John Paul II will become the senior
vice-president  of the combined company's new Religious Software Division,
while MICROSOFT  senior vice-presidents Michael Maples and Steven Ballmer
will be invested in the  College of Cardinals, said MICROSOFT Chairman Bill
Gates.

"We expect a lot of growth in the religious market in the next five to ten
years," said Gates. "The combined resources of MICROSOFT and the Catholic
Church  will allow us to make religion easier and more fun for a broader
range of  people."

Through the MICROSOFT Network, the company's new on-line service, "we will
make the sacraments available on-line for the first time" and revive the
popular  pre-Counter-Reformation practice of selling indulgences, said
Gates. "You can  get Communion, confess your sins, receive absolution -
even reduce your time in  Purgatory - all without leaving your home."

A new software application, MICROSOFT Church, will include a macro language
which you can program to download heavenly graces automatically while you
are  away from your computer.

An estimated 17,000 people attended the announcement in St Peter's Square,
watching on a 60-foot screen as comedian Don Novello - in character as
Father  Guido Sarducci - hosted the event, which was broadcast by satellite
to 700 sites  worldwide.

Pope John Paul II said little during the announcement. When Novello chided
Gates, "Now I guess you get to wear one of these pointy hats," the crowd
roared,  but the pontiff's smile seemed strained.

The deal grants MICROSOFT exclusive electronic rights to the Bible and the
Vatican's prized art collection, which includes works by such masters as
Michelangelo and Da Vinci. But critics say MICROSOFT will face stiff
challenges  if it attempts to limit competitors' access to these key
intellectual  properties.

"The Jewish people invented the look and feel of the holy scriptures," said
Rabbi David Gottschalk of Philadelphia. "You take the parting of the Red
Sea -  we had that thousands of years before the Catholics came on the
scene."

But others argue that the Catholic and Jewish faiths both draw on a common
Abrahamic heritage. "The Catholic Church has just been more successful in
marketing it to a larger audience," notes Notre Dame theologian Father
Kenneth  Madigan. Over the last 2,000 years, the Catholic Church's market
share has  increased dramatically, while Judaism, which was the first to
offer many of the  concepts now touted by Christianity, lags behind.

Historically, the Church has a reputation as an aggressive competitor,
leading crusades to pressure people to upgrade to Catholicism, and entering
into  exclusive licensing arrangements in various kingdoms whereby all
subjects were  instilled with Catholicism, whether or not they planned to
use it. Today  Christianity is available from several denominations, but
the Catholic version  is still the most widely used. The Church's mission
is to reach "the four  corners of the earth," echoing MICROSOFT's vision of
"a computer on every  desktop and in every home".

Gates described MICROSOFT's long-term strategy to develop a scalable
religious architecture that will support all religions through emulation. A
single core religion will be offered with a choice of interfaces according
to  the religion desired - "One religion, a couple of different
implementations,"  said Gates.

The MICROSOFT move could spark a wave of mergers and acquisitions,
according  to Herb Peters, a spokesman for the U.S. Southern Baptist
Conference, as other  churches scramble to strengthen their position in the
increasingly competitive  religious market.



      Autor:                               Hank Vorjes, Knight-Ridder /
                                           Tribune Business News, 1994


      Quelle:                              "
                                           http://www.mal.com/~jreid/stori
                                           es/gates.pope"
                                           (ursprünglich: via  NewsEDGE
                                           from Desktop Data, Inc.:
                                           03/07/94 19:20)


      toHTML:                              1995-07-24 - Gunnar Anzinger
                                           <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>






letzte Änderung: 1997-06-11 -- Gunnar Anzinger <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>




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