Benz
Chieftain
You never thought you'd ever see the day, or hear it for that matter, when Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates would be caught off guard one day. That day just happened to be April Fool's Day, when Marc-Antoine Audette and and Sebastien Trudel, Canadian Radio Show personalities from CKMF-FM (the French radio station responsible for the practical joke), fooled the super geek.
It took the pair approximately one month to just get the phone interview set up with Gates, to try to get him to attend a staged economic summit. Gates declined several times, and finally accepted, thinking he was going to be talking to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Radio personality Marc-Antoine Audette did a very convincing imitation of Prime Minister Chretien's heavily accented English, and actually managed to keep Gates on the phone for 14 minutes. Audette stated,
"It was about the Canadian economy and all--it wasn't interesting to us."
The performance was so good, that Gates agreed to meet Chretien during his trip to Canada on August 16th. Audette made it more convincing when he was "checking his agenda" on his computer to meet with Gates, and insulting the Windows operating system by saying,
"Damn computer. Who's the idiot that invented that s***?"
Gates was a good sport about it, and didn't hang up, but, remained silent, until Audette asked him if he knew what day it was. Gates said he did, and Audette revealed he wasn't the Prime Minister, and that it was April Fool's Day. Gates was quoted as saying,
"Yeah, I thought so."
A spokesman for Microsoft confirmed the "pretty elaborate hoax," and stated,
"They were persistent. We're glad they didn't call collect."
The clip of the prank can be heard here. I'm not saying a word! You've got to hear if for yourself! lol =)
By Norma (AKA GemDrgn1) @ 2002-04-04 1:34:22
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-874686.html#
http://www.geekextreme.com/
http://www.radioenergie.com/ckmf/frmid1c.htm
It took the pair approximately one month to just get the phone interview set up with Gates, to try to get him to attend a staged economic summit. Gates declined several times, and finally accepted, thinking he was going to be talking to Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. Radio personality Marc-Antoine Audette did a very convincing imitation of Prime Minister Chretien's heavily accented English, and actually managed to keep Gates on the phone for 14 minutes. Audette stated,
"It was about the Canadian economy and all--it wasn't interesting to us."
The performance was so good, that Gates agreed to meet Chretien during his trip to Canada on August 16th. Audette made it more convincing when he was "checking his agenda" on his computer to meet with Gates, and insulting the Windows operating system by saying,
"Damn computer. Who's the idiot that invented that s***?"
Gates was a good sport about it, and didn't hang up, but, remained silent, until Audette asked him if he knew what day it was. Gates said he did, and Audette revealed he wasn't the Prime Minister, and that it was April Fool's Day. Gates was quoted as saying,
"Yeah, I thought so."
A spokesman for Microsoft confirmed the "pretty elaborate hoax," and stated,
"They were persistent. We're glad they didn't call collect."
The clip of the prank can be heard here. I'm not saying a word! You've got to hear if for yourself! lol =)
By Norma (AKA GemDrgn1) @ 2002-04-04 1:34:22
http://news.com.com/2100-1001-874686.html#
http://www.geekextreme.com/
http://www.radioenergie.com/ckmf/frmid1c.htm
It would be even more interesting if he accepted the offer to meet at a strip club. 
