Microsoft CEO Egg Thrower Should Spend Night in Jail (Then Apologize)

One of the most popular videos on the web these days (among business types) is the one of Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer being forced to dive behind the podium to avoid thrown eggs while speaking at a university in Budapest. The video also follows the triumphant moron who threw the eggs as he was escorted out of the auditorium.

Two points:

First, all credit to Steve Ballmer, who somehow managed to turn the episode into a laugh line. Ballmer is not only a fearsome competitor. He is also a marvelously entertaining speaker, and he handled the egg-thrower perfectly.

Second, in what universe is this not criminal behavior? If you've been fortunate enough not to have been beaned with an egg of late, it's not a risk-free experience. Microsoft is so hated for its 1990s era competitive tactics (and, some would say, crappy software) that the Hungarian moron is no doubt being applauded in some circles as having given Ballmer his just desserts. The people against the powerful, freedom of expression, and all that.

Please. The egg-thrower is a criminal. He should, at the very least, spend the night in jail. Then he should be forced to apologize for his grotesquely inappropriate behavior. There's a place for protests against corporate policies, but this isn't it.

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Comments

[sf94127]

Maybe he bought at $32 (it is now $28 and pointing nowhere)

[cylindar]

I agree. I do think MSoft makes software that is barely passable, but I don't think throwing an egg is excusable or will improve their software or trade practices.

[CJGibson]

I always find the concept of being "forced to apologize" a curious one.

What does it actually say when someone is forced to apologize?

[naugiedoggie]

Hmm, well the author is implying that he himself has been "beaned by an egg" of late, which naturally begs the question of why anyone would be throwing eggs at him.

Perhaps, it is his sympathy for the CEO rather than for the users of Micro$oft software. Or the targets of Micro$oft lawsuits.

Sorry, but of all the events in the corporate world that might rouse my ire, Steve Ballmer getting egged is really, really down the list. I don't think there is any legal act that Ballmer would find immoral, if its commission would drive up his stock value even by a single point. We are, after all, talking about the company that is trying to scuttle the One Laptop program; and that refused to allow third world countries to use its DOS for old computers without paying royalties to M$, even though DOS had been off the market for a decade.

Nope, I'd give the man an egg, myself.

Thanks.

mp

[drblack]

The same Universe where the US under republican rule can torture people and have it not be a crime. I could go on with all the disgusting things done by our current President, but you get the idea.
Killing someone is bad...throwing an egg is rude.
People in powerful positions are far to often shielded from the anger that there unethical decisions create.

[KillTheMessenger]

If we demanded that our president and vice president went through an hour of public discourse every week where eggs and rotten vegetables are allowed to be thrown, this country would not be at war. Trust me on this one.

[burnt]

now, if you balance your diatribe with some convincing commentary about how corporate criminal should start paying for their crimes (and in facilities that do not resemble country clubs), perhaps I might agree... otherwise... duck Steve! is the best you'll get from me.

[Bobotheclown]

I agree. Eggs should be limited to shareholder meetings. Vegetables and fruit are appropriate in university settings, and ostrazation is normally used at the country club. The important thing is to always be ready to put down the "man" while never being part of a political change that could impose meaningful regulations on the "man".

[CornellRedneck]

"There's a place for protests against corporate policies, but this isn't it. "

And why, precisely, is a podium *not* an ideal target to register one's alternate point of view?

Would you be more agreeable to the Hungarian's disobedience if he threw tomatoes rather than eggs?

Throwing spoiled veggies or rotten eggs is a time honored way to express political grievances.

[chromodynamics]

Actually, rotten eggs and vegetables are reserved for bad actors, comics, and singers. Politicians, on the other hand, traditionally got the ‘tar and feather’ treatment and then were ‘run out of town on a rail’. Corporate fat cats, such as Ballmer, are supposed to get a cream pie thrown in the face.