Gnomeregan Decoded!

[Bolty]

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/thread.aspx...t=32#post129600

Heh...

-Bolty

[DeeBye]

:lol: Blizzard humour :lol:

[Crusader]

brilliant. Absolutely Brilliant. :D

[Ajax]

I'm pretty sure that the "help" message (From the Red punch card) is based on some easter egg from Classic MacOS.
*****
And after a few hours of searching, here's the original! (exerpted from Macworld Mac & PowerMac Secrets, 3rd ed. by Davis Pogue and Joseph Schorr):

TRUE FACT
The secret message in the System file

Nobody doubts that Apple's renowned system-software programmers have a sense of humor.  But here's how you can prove it to yourself.

Launch Microsoft Word.  While pressing the Shift key, choose Open from the File menu.  Navigate to your System Folder and open the System file itself. 

If you're using System 6, there's a copyright notice  and only one other intelligible sentence:  "Help!  Help!  We're being held prisoner in a system software factory!"

The joke was good enough to live on.  If you open the System file for System 7.0 through 7.1 in this manner, the sentence says, "Help!  Help!  We're still being held prisoner in a system software factory!"

In all the System 7 versions, you get the names of the 13 Blue Meanies -- the guys who formed Apple's System 7 bug-shooting and quality-control SWAT team. 

Interestingly, if you try this trick in System 7.5, you can scroll down into the document for an extremely interesting set of additional credits.  [We'd give almost anything to know precisely what services were provided by Domestic Partner Amy, the Underpaid Process Dude, or The Flake.] 

(All punctuation and text styles are the authors' not my own)

Just kinda nifty to see the antecedents of this WoW easter egg; someone must be an old-school MacOS user. To put this in perspective, the book I quoted is published in 1996. Macs haven't used System 7 software for...almost a decade now? (Been too long.) This trick won't work in OSX or System 9 (which is today's Classic)--the System file is unreadable.

And to the average PC guy out there, this is an example of the unique sort of "personality" the Macs of old had. Sadly, today their "character" or "personality" seems to be derrived from designs akin to desk lamps.

--Edit: fixed spelling mistakes.

--Ajax

[NuurAbSaal]

While I don't consider my shiny G5 to be a desktop lamp, it can't compete with a Mac Plus for style.

Thanks for researching this, to know that there is at least one Mac devotee in Blizz gives me hope for all their edeavours :)

Greetings

Nuur

[Ruvanal]

Just kinda nifty to see the antecedents of this WoW easter egg; someone must be an old-school MacOS user.  To put this in perspective, the book I quoted is published in 1996.  Macs haven't used System 7 software for...almost a decade now?  (Been too long.)  This trick won't work in OSX or System 9 (which is today's Classic)--the System file is unreadable. 

Actually I have seen variations on this message before there were home computers much less apple computers and the later Macs. So this is a rather old style of a joke that well predates what you are referring to.

[NuurAbSaal]

:(
oh well...

:)

Greetings


Nuur

[unless]

Actually I have seen variations on this message before there were home computers much less apple computers and the later Macs.  So this is a rather old style of a joke that well predates what you are referring to.

Indeed. "Help! Help! I'm trapped in a fortune cookie factory!"

[LavCat]

Not exactly a joke, but the Commodore 64 had/has "Link arms, don't make them."