Dec 30 2007 1:06AM GMT
Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Technology, apology
Overheard: Technically speaking, I apologize
Posted by: Margaret Rouse
Technology, apology
 |
The nice thing about the New Year is getting to start over again. This will be the year when I stay on top of my inbox, am able to recover lost data in a snap, experience smooth upgrades and data migrations, think green and make smart hardware purchases. Sure, I may have screwed up in 2007 — but I’ve got a clean slate ahead in 2008.
On that note, here’s to all this year’s screwups — and the people who stepped up to the plate, accepted responsibility and apologized. Happy New Year! |
| 1. Comcast Comcast apologized for providing a Washington D.C. customer with an “unsatisfactory customer experience” when one of the company’s technicians fell asleep on the customer’s couch. |
| 2. Michael Callahan Yahoo executive VP and general counsel apologized for failing to inform the House Foreign Affairs Committee about the full circumstances under which Yahoo gave the Chinese government information about a specific user. The user happened to be a reporter. |
| 3. The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce The Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce issues several apologies this year, including one for repeatedly sending confidential faxes to a U.S. junkyard. |
| 4. Sun Microsystems Sun apologized for dissing its resellers after it promised massive discounts to customers using Sun’s own direct-sales site. |
| 5. Sony I don’t recall reading about any other company having to apologize for topless women at a party, slain goats or defiling a cathedral. |
| 6. David Maynor Hacker David Maynor apologized for not disclosing vulnerabilities to Apple before his public demonstration at last summer’s Black Hat conference. |
| 7. Steve Jobs When the price of an iPhone was slashed $200 in September, Steve Jobs apologized to all those people who camped out in June waiting for the initial (more expense) release. |
| 8. Microsoft Barry Goffe, Director Windows Vista Ultimate, apologized for not delivering the remaining Vista Ultimate Extras. |
| 9. Verizon Verizon apologized for violating free speech by blocking a pro-choice group from using one of it’s text messaging programs. |
| 10. Mark Zuckerberg Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg apologized for mistakes in the design and deployment of Beacon, an application that was supposed to let a Web site’s customers share purchases with their Facebook friends. |
| 11. TJX The CEO for Marshalls and TJ Maxx apologized for allowing credit data to be stolen from 45 million customers. |
| 12. Prime Minister Gordon Brown British PM Gordon Brown apologized for his government losing disks that contained sensitive data about 25 million British adults and children. |
| 13. Steve Rubel Blogger Stevel Rubel apologized to everyone at Ziff Davis Media for announcing on Twitter that he gets a free subscription to PC Magazine but throws it in the trash. |
| 14. Facebook Facebook apologized to a British member of Parliament for not believing a politician could have a lot of friends. |
| 15. Intel Intel apologized for a print ad featuring six male sprinters of color and a white guy wearing chinos. The ad was deemed racist but not sexist. Go figure. |
| 16. RIM, 365 Main, Skype and Rackspace RIM and Skype were among the many providers that apologized for outages this year. |
| 17. Apple Apple apologized to a third-grader and her mom for sending a less-than-gracious reply to the child’s first business letter. |
| 18. Stephen Heller Temp worker Stephen Heller apologized to Diebold for stealing 500 confidential memos and turning them over to the Oakland Press. |
| 19. AMD AMD apologized to investors for the company’s poor financial performance. |
| 20. Yahoo Yahoo apologized to bloggers in India for stealing recipes. |
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