Even happier ending for "cleaned" Xbox 360 owner: Gates-signed console arrives
By Ryan Block 
posted Mar 22nd 2008 8:06AM
posted Mar 22nd 2008 8:06AM
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seriously though how much stuff does this guy need it was a mistake okay he doesn't need to get all this stuff which could go elsewhere.
Where would you suppose this stuff would do better good? Hmm? Ethiopia? The Conga? New Guinea?
Anyone who would place worth on this stuff is already well off enough to not have to worry about eating, shelter, and living through the night so giving it to someone who at least had a bad experience is good PR and makes fans happy to read a feel good story.
Face it, you're just upset because you didn't get anything.
marketing ploy by microsoft.. clearly he doesn't 'need' all that free stuff.. its just to get attention.
bill gates' sig will do that.
Not necessarily this xbox but a donation to charity of some sort.
haha of course i would of loved a free xbox 360 (i own one anyway) but i just saying hes gotten allll this stuff how much more does he need is my question
He'll keep getting stuff until the parties involved stop feeling guilty.
You realize that Bill Gates has given more to charity than any other person right? Sure organizations probably give more, but as one guy he has given large sums of money to charity. I believe it is in the 30 billion dollars range.
jealous much
iB3nji,
You're an idiot. Abuzar is right. Bill Gates gives billions of dollars. What the hell is putting this thing in auction going to do $30,000 at most.
Don't talk about the donations of Bill Gates. He gave over 50% of all his cash and is eventually going to give more.
How much did you donate last year?
Abuzar, he has given a lot, but not as much as this man (so far, that is).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chuck_Feeney
your citing wikipedia? really?
@ Jesse S
Well... according to WikiPedia, Bill Gates has give away over $29 Billion since 2000 (7 years). Whereas your boy Chuck Feeney gave away $3.5 Billion between 1982 and 2005 (23 years). Now, I no Mathematician, but it would seem to me that Billy G *has* given way more than Chucky.
Jesse S,
Please read all your sources before you make a statement like that.
"Last year, the foundation Mr. Feeney created, the Atlantic Philanthropies, gave $458 million in grants around the world, more than any United States charity except two, the Ford and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundations."
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/26/nyregion/26about.html
That's a link given as a source in the Wikipedia page. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was created by Bill and Melinda Gates (who knew?!). Both them and the Ford Foundation gave more than Mr. Feeney. I thank God that people like Mr. Feeney exist but I hate wrong information getting passed around.
Ah yes, the old "buying a positive legacy."
If someone came to my home and robbed me blind, but gave away all my stuff instead of keeping it, I wouldn't consider him any sort of hero.
If Microsoft had come to dominance using fair business practices instead of the straight up illegal ways they did, then I'd have no problem with them. Fair competition is always better for the customers than some abusive monopoly.
man that bill gates sounds like a hard ass
@scott
glad to see you worked so hard to start your own software company and tried to make a superior product, oh wait? thats right, the reason microsoft is on top is because they made a product that people wanted to buy. simple economics. there was nothing preventing other companies from entering the market and competing.
btw, enjoy yur aids.
@Dean
It has nothing to do with being a "superior product" or people "wanting to buy it", it's that it comes pre-installed on almost every computer that's sold.
holy****
Yeah, all that money... all that power... and he still writes like a second grader. haha!
Well I guess that's why it's so hard to get his signature, rndmnme.
Not to mention everyone signed with a permanent marker and his ass signed with a highlighter. Yeah, that's going to last. Nat, keep that thing out of the sunlight; make that light in general.
"I didn't get rich by writing a lot of checks!"
thats not a highlighter, its a special gold pen for autographs
@Sokkratez:
Well-placed Simpsons reference = instant +1
That 360 is COVERED in the sigs of "developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers developers" and it makes me wonder if Ballmer wrote on it.
And seeing as how it's Bill Gates, that's probably real gold in his Sharpie. :)
Pretty cool. I've never seen his signature before. Kinda reminds me of Walt Disney's.
lucky bastard lol
PUT IT ON EBAY !!!!
lol at the "wash me"
Speaking of lucky, am I right in understanding that they sent him a SECOND console with Bill G's autograph?!?
Kurian: I believe you are correct.
Lucky? I think it looks quite hideous... My 6th grade Trapper Keeper had better graffiti. This just looks like a bunch of nerd scribbles.
Well...it is a bunch of nerd scribbles...
I always wonder why Ryan gets the cool or very interesting posts. Share the love man with your E crew
JAmerican
@Max
Your a fucking idiot. It's signed by an assload of people and Bill G HIMSELF.
You can love Microsoft, or FUCKING hate them, it still has that signature on it.
It's beautiful.
Engadget put up this article after I called them out on it.
Click on my name and see my previous comments if you don't believe me.
Nice job Engadget, I shall cherish this pro-Microsoft Engadget day.
cant help but notice that the 'bill gates' one is in yellow, we sure this guy didn't fake it?
Is it just me or does Bill Gate's signature bear a resemblence to Kindergarden cursive?
@ auto tom
there is a don't loose this with an arrow pointing the Bill's sig, so i'm pretty sure it's real
Actually, Bill's signature is on the front of the 360 and the "Don't loose this ->" is pointing towards the hard drive for some reason. And the reason Bill's signature is yellow is because it's written in pure gold.
Lol @ "Sharpie ink = fail"
3..............2...........1...........Go Ebay!!
PS Lmao at the "Wash me" speech bubble in the lower left corner. Nice to see that Ballmer's humor and enthusiasm runs in the family=)
Xbox and Zune FTW!!
I'd love to see who's on Xbox live with my Zune when I have a WiFi signal. Send messages to them or get invited to come play when I am listening to music.
There's a few others on there too:
"Microsoft: please do not wash"
"It goes in here"
"Sharpie Ink = Fail"
"Don't lose this"
I'm pretty sure that's an attempt at sarcasm by Frankie (the wash me thing).
Awesome, Just awesome...
It's not just stuff iB3Nji, Microsoft is trying to use this as a message that they take responsibility and will do their best to make things right when they made them wrong. They are saying this is how will continue our on going support. It shows thy aren't the evil money bastards as they could be.
Corporate responsibility is a good thing and always will be in a world where some corporations are more powerful than entire countries. I totally agree.
Impressive, simply impressive.
[Wonders to himself if examples such as the or the discussion between Kawasaki and Ballmer at MIX08 might alter the perceptions of M$-haters... probably not]
PS - I hate when people write M$, it's even worse than asking if it will blend!
will it play crysis?
j/k
I heard they have a oirt of it running that does 60fph.
*port, another post ruined by engadget's lack of an edit button.
But then how do you indicate you're dealing with Martian Dollars?
@Craig
Ahh yes, Martian dollars are written as Mﬗ, at least that is what the Spirit rover sent back
and all these years i thought the crazy kid in my human resource management class at the univ of oklahoma was the only one who said "no dice"!!
Good job MS. Now just make sure your Mexican repair center workers stop washing consoles that clearly don't need to be.
Now, where in the world is my racing wheel after 5 months?
It's in mexico? Makes me wonder if his note to not clean it was written in the correct language.
No joel, the repair center is in texas, which means most of the workers are probably immigrants (Illegal or otherwise).
Actually, the repair center is in Reynosa,TA, Mexico.
Actually, the repair center is in Reynosa,TA, Mexico.
Lol - Mexico. Hmmm...let me send my one-of-a-kind, autographed Xbox 360 off to Mexico to get fixed. Oh wait, I better write a note on it asking them to take extra care and not wash it first.
Where else would you have had him send it? Geek Squad or Firedog?
If it's so unique how about buying another one? Or buying one for parts and swapping out the case? Would you have sent yours?
out of curiosity... bill gates doesn't sign his name as "William Gates?"
He also doesn't call himself William Gates. Go figure.
I was thinking the same thing...
Engadget, send out your crack investigaters to find out.
As much as I hate Microsoft, I have to admit that "William H. Gates III" would look pretty cool on the front of an xbox. If he didn't write it like a 2nd grader, that is.
For those questioning it's authenticity, there are other samples of Gates' autograph on line such as this one: http://www.historyforsale.com/html/prodetails.asp?documentid=261525&start=1 They match.
I know (obviously) that he doesn't call himself Willia, but a lot of people sign using their full name
He barely writes. He types everything or he has assistants for work related stuff.
Love to see the post when this one RRODs...
Well too bad for you then... That won't happen.
Are you kidding me? For all the flack MS got about the original problem, this system probably has Xbox 720 alpha hardware inside.
Uh, what? I HIGHLY doubt that the current console (360) has or will have much of anything in common with their next other than being made by Microsoft.
He can just detatch the faceplate...
Hopefully they used industrial strength sharpies this time
So instead of releasing critical Vista patches, Microsoft is busy signing a console like it's a cast on the guy's arm.
But seriously, that is an extremely nice thing of Microsoft to do.
In before "Vista is not the Xbox divisions responsibility"
I'm sorry, SP1 was released a few days ago, it fixes all of MY problems (and I have had many), don't know why you're complaining.
It doesn't fix the ugly.
Don't blame Microsoft for that Ed. There's nothing anyone can do to fix your face.
@telepheedian:
I meant patches for SP1 :)
I love how MS made fun of themselves : "Microsoft: Please do not wash" And the "Wash Me" bubble.
But can he has recon?
They did the right thing!
TOP NOTCH MICROSOFT...
Hey look at that... it almost rhymed!
Of course it WOULD have rhymed if you had said, "TOP NOTCH MICROCROTCH."
(Not an anti-MS comment just an observation).
:D
I said ALMOST...
Yeah..... That may explain why he doesn't do autograph's too often
Happy ending? Like a massage?
Where do they have his address from? :p
Now thats what I call after-sales service!
He still doesn't have the extremely cool signature Master Chief drawing that made his first box so nice.
I bet Bill signed it first to make sure his signature was front and center. That way every time you put a game in the box you have to read Bill Gates. Subliminal message.
Seriously though, billions of dollars and that is your signature. Take a handwriting class man.
I don't think it's the same image, but if you check out the read link it does have some artwork on the other side.
http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a124/boysofsheahem/blog%20graphics%202/Microsoft-Care-Package-013.jpg
While we took handwriting lessons, Bill gates went and made billions.
Yeah wtv, my handwriting's still better.
I wonder whether the tablet PC edition of Vista can recognize his handwriting ;-)
Um, Bill Gates is autistic. I wouldn't comment on the quality of his writing due to that, its kinda creul.
imagine that it was actually signed by 1 guy 8 different pens.... "the cleaner"...hahah
conspiracy...
Maybe the whole thing was planned by BG... Maybe "Nathaniel" is really Balmer in a skinny suite, on a hefty does of methylphenidate (riddalin) and a ball cap... All a ploy to endear the frustrated masses who have been force fed a broken OS and economy busting sticker shock into liking MS for their humanitarianism! I cry conspiracy... CONSPIRACY I TELL YO... Oh no... men in white coats are here... wait! Is that Steve Jobs holding that big net?!!!
Ebay? Nathaniel would be better off with a college education than a signed XBOX 360.
Hi mom, I see you've figured out how to use the internet! Welcome to Engadget!
Yeah, about that.
I AM the Nathaniel in question.
I'm 22 years old and a Registered Nurse. So, about that college education... need I say more?
For the richest man in the nation, he sure has a lame ass autograph