Opera Reads & Responds To Oprah's Mail

from the dealing-with-the-public dept

Wed, May 25th 2011 7:07pm — Mike Masnick

We know a little something about how certain segments of the population seem to get confused in trying to contact the right company or person, leading them to contact someone entirely different. So it comes as little surprise to us to find out that Opera, makers of the semi-popular browser software, has been receiving emails from confused people, who thought they were emailing Oprah Winfrey. And with her final show this week, Opera decided to share some of that mail. Even better, is that it shares the company's responses as well. Here's just one, but hit the link above to read a bunch more:

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Filed Under: mistaken identity, opera, oprah

18 Comments

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Difster, 25 May 2011 @ 7:12pm

Off Topic But Informative
Mike you might be interested in this video. It is for a anti-piracy technology company that very clearly equates theft of physical property with copyright violations and goes so far as to say downloading is an actual crime.

This company is advertising on Craig's List for angel investors. Let loose the dog's of war!
http://vimeo.com/23807339
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Ragaboo (profile), 25 May 2011 @ 8:46pm

Re: Off Topic But Informative
Well, the first two words of your subject are correct, in the very least. Send this sort of thing to "Submit a Story," don't post it in a random story.

http://www.techdirt.com/submitstory.php
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Kevin (profile), 25 May 2011 @ 8:51pm

I don't know
...whether I'm happy or a bit upset with Opera (my browser of choice). Mostly happy, because that's hilarious. But part of me is saying, "Wait! Why are you wasting dev resources answering these ridiculous, clueless emails when you're still experiencing bugs you've had since 9.2 on Linux?!" [Hint for non-Opera users: current version is 11.11]
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Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2011 @ 8:57pm

Re: I don't know
Light-hearted items such as this tend to buoy the spirits of developers, and result in increased productivity.
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Kevin (PaxSkeptica) (profile), 25 May 2011 @ 9:07pm

Re: Re: I don't know
Oh, I'm just venting. Of course I know they still have to take a break. I'm pleased that they answered the emails so pleasantly and hilariously from what they displayed. If anything, I'm more worried that 9-year-old children are trying to send their cell phone number and other contact info to Oprah when they can't distinguish her from a Norwegian software company. I lost count of how many things were wrong with that one!
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worldscolide, 25 May 2011 @ 9:07pm

Re: Off Topic But Informative
they disabled comments aparently they dont want people to put their software down, i know one thing if that ever came into existance id be one of the first to break it. what a bunch of morons.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2011 @ 9:09pm

This kinda sorta shows why limited trademark laws can make sense and why companies are quick to become trademark trolls to get any name that looks like theirs and prevent other uses of it. Not that I support them doing so.
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Mr. Smarta**, 25 May 2011 @ 9:36pm

Re: Off Topic But Informative
Yeah, Mike.

Let this be a lesson to you. DON'T DOWNLOAD HAIR!! It's wrong, and since it grew out of someone else's head, you can't take it. Because shaving it off is stealing, and downloading it is piracy. So there!

...
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Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2011 @ 11:20pm

Re: I don't know
Guess what, Opera employs more than one person. Erlend works in the PR department, you may as well complain about development being slowed when their cleaner has a day off.
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Anonymous Coward, 25 May 2011 @ 11:52pm

Re:
Personally, I doubt any amount of monopolization would help against people who think Oprah's name is spelled with an "e".
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Marcel de Jong (profile), 26 May 2011 @ 12:44am

Re: I don't know
Does Opera support SOCKS-proxies yet? :)
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 26 May 2011 @ 3:01am

I�d Love To Sing On Oprah ...
... I�ve got that kind of voice.
I�d love to sing on Oprah,
if I could have my choice.
Se�or Caruso
Told me I ought to do so ...

Ahem.
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Difster, 26 May 2011 @ 3:02am

Re: Re: Off Topic But Informative
My bad, I didn't know about that link.
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DogBreath, 26 May 2011 @ 6:53am

Re: Re: Re: I don't know
Makes you wonder if the reverse is true, i.e. how many emails have been sent about bug fixes Oprah should be correcting in "her browser".

If she hasn't received any "confused" emails, now is the best time to send them in. Her show is over and she should have plenty of time to get working on those "browser fixes".

I can imagine the laugh people might get out of seeing a few of those emails.
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Anonymous Coward, 26 May 2011 @ 7:03am

Thanks for the laugh.
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Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 26 May 2011 @ 9:27am

Semi-popular
"semi-popular browser software"

What I think you meant was:

-Not very popular browser software
-Browser about as popular as OS/2
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Grey Ferret, 26 May 2011 @ 12:46pm

Re: Re: Re: Off Topic But Informative
Apparently, this isn't really off-topic then. Isn't this article about misdirecting information to the wrong place?
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william kosgei, 15 Jan 2012 @ 2:33am

Thanks for saving girls in education
I am a Kenyan and I read about the school you started in South Africa which touched me deep in my heart. I visited your site and read your life history and said God is great and lifts anyone.
My wife after a ten years stay at home decided to go back to school to complete her high school studies. she will be sitting her form four (high school finals) this year.
I am kindly requesting if it is possible you can give her a scholarship from now upto the university level. We have 3 kids.
Looking forward to your favourable response and encouragement
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