TechCrunch lists dozens of April Fool's jokes created by tech companies, but none was as well-crafted as Deelip Menezes' — until the Germans got wind of it.
Siemens PLM offers CAD on the Cloud – Part 1 described the approach late-comer Siemens PLM Systems plans to take for providing CAD on the cloud. It explained in detail how subscribers would receive a 12x12x12 space in which they could build up solid models after winning commands at online games.
It read much like Siemen's uninteresting Second Life world. The cloud space even had a link to Twitter, and users could add to their model using tweets like:
D CADVilleModeler Dc65g67 Box 0,0,0 20,10,5
From what I can tell, Siemens employee @burhop started it off early on 31 March by asking for CAD bloggers to DT [direct tweet] him for help on a project. He then worked with Deelip on the concept, and created #cadville on Twitter.
(Since Deelip is located in India, the item got posted while it was still March 31 in western part of the globe. I fell for the clever joke until I reviewed the krazy nature of the #cadville tweets, and then its true nature dawned on me.)
When I awoke on the morning of April 1 here on the Pacific coast of Canada, however, the joke had gone sour. More than sour, it had been banished:
Even Google's all-encompassing cache does not contain a copy. My Twitter feed filled in the details of what happened while I was asleep:
DeelipMenezes Apparently there are people at Siemens who do [not] get humour. @burhop is being canned.
alistardean @DeelipMenezes do or do not?
DeelipMenezes @alistardean DO NOT. Oops
To save him some grief I have taken down that post. This is the first time I have ever done that and I don't like it one bit.
alistardean @DeelipMenezes caned or canned? I thought you 'blogger' types were all about integrity and independence?
DeelipMenezes @alistardean If it was not for @burhop you think I would give a s**t?
Good to know that Kubotek has some humour left in them http://bit.ly/9LqMJI [Monkey Trained to Create 3D Designs Using KeyCreator 3D Direct CAD]
I guess you dont love @burhop enough. He! He!
alistardean @DeelipMenezes oh, I've got love for @burhop alright, but I'm loving the fact you caved – what happened to Mr. "Piss all over an embargo"?
Or was it the thought of a 15 billion dollar company breathing down your neck?
ps: Pansy
DeelipMenezes @alistardean Do you want to take the post and put it on your blog?
alistardean @DeelipMenezes and no, I don't want to repost it…. the images were crap 😉
DeelipMenezes @alistardean images? is that the only excuse you found? Hahahaha
alistardean @DeelipMenezes that… And that it was c**p… 😉
DeelipMenezes @alistardean Careful. You are implying that @ralphg cannot sniff out c**p. He fell for it face first. ;-)
alistardean @DeelipMenezes it wasn't about autocad so @ralphg isn't interested. Boo ya!
@burhop @alistardean @DeelipMenezes thanks for the support guys 🙂
– – –
Late Friday evening, @SiemensPLM tweeted, "In case u missed @burhop's April Fool's blog post and the interesting discussion around it – it is reposted: http://bit.ly/ckdFyg."
And @DeelipMenezes tweeted: "'Siemens PLM offers CAD on the Cloud – Part 1' http://bit.ly/d0BZpK (For whatever it's worth, this is the post that I took down).
