Microsoft Launches IT Superhero Comic

willdavid writes "Paul McDougall reports in InformationWeek on Microsoft's new online comic. The Heroes Happen Here comic strips are being created by Jordan Gorfinkel, a former DC Comics editor who helped revitalize the Batman series. 'Tech workers who in the middle of the night fix a downed server or take on a computer virus don't really have extraordinary powers. It just seems that way. But a new comic book has debuted in which IT pros literally are superheroes. The daily Web comic, called Heroes Happen Here, features tech savvy crime fighters like Lord Firewall, who "stands between chaos and order" and says things like "begone vermin!"'" And because it's never easy, in order to read the archives of the comic you're going to need to install Microsoft's Silverlight.

Just wondering

[Skevin]

Will the main villains of this strip also feature an evil software company that abuses its monopoly?
Will the heroes use Open Source in a positive responsible manner?

Solomon

So in the MS world of Superheros...

[Japong]

Is Linus or Steve the new Lex Luthor?

I need a "super" hero

[hermit_tries_virtual]

This is currently being posted from a mere Slackware 12 system. I want to know if the Super Hero can configure my box to allow me to read these comics with having to involve the arch nemesis known as Silver Light. Also, if this hero could remove the engineered cyber-plague known as SharePoint, I would be in their debt!!!

Re:Just wondering

[Grishnakh]

Nope, the villains will be open-source using anarchists who use open source software to spread viruses. The heroes will only use properly licensed proprietary software, will say negative things about free software and reverse engineering, and will pay homage in a ritualized way to Microsoft 5 times a day.

I haven't looked at it (I don't have silverlight available on my Linux machine), but this comic sounds like a really stupid idea. Who wants to idolize some corporate goons? People always root for underdogs, and despite how much MS might try to somehow paint themselves that way, they're not an underdog, they're a big oppressor.

Makes sense

[nine-times]

So Microsoft is admitting that you do need super-human abilities to keep Microsoft's crap from bombing out.

Re:So in the MS world of Superheros...

[Kuukai]

Or, better yet, is Steve Ballmer the new Green Lantern? Unfortunately, his ring only holds power over chairs...

Microsoft has no guts

[Anonymous Coward]

If I had to push Silverlight I'd immediately create a dozen porn sites allowing the download of free Silverlight encapsulated hires long movies. That would kill Flash in less than one month.

Something's happening there!

[Quiet_Desperation]

Are the two, um, heroes spooning in that last panel?

And hackers of the world fear him? What? That he'll eat them?

IT superhero: thanks for the pr0n!

[mveloso]

The other day, my SAN filled up with unauthorized images. My IT hero j*s*n, archived all the images for me so I could examine them in the privacy of my own home. He also cleared out the SAN so more images could show up.

Thank you, j*s*n! You're my hero!

But We Already Have One of Those

[Greyfox]

The BOFH. Our hero isn't the guy who quietly fixes the computer after the 47th time user error screwed it up. Our hero is the extremely psychotic individual who gets away with killing those users so they stop screwing up the IT Infrastructure. Or interrupting his game of Couterstrike. Our hero is the guy who can add several zeros to the end of your electricity bill just because he thought the question you asked him was retarded. Our hero is the guy who will blackmail users who post photos of themselves to alt.gay.likes.to.be.spanked.by.nuns. Or who occasionally posts pictures of those users there himself.

Somehow I suspect that Microsoft's version of this will make me vomit a little in my mouth... just like everything else that Microsoft does. In fact I suspect that making people vomit in their mouths will be Microsoft's hero's super power.

Re:Who is the target audience?

[Tribbin]

"Microsoft® Silverlight(TM) is a cross-browser, cross-platform plug-in ..."

What is this ".exe" file and how do I use it?

Re:Just wondering

[garlicbready]

No Mr Stallman I expect you to Die

Re:Who is the target audience?

[gullevek]

yeah, but they are happy they have finally a place where they can use silverlight.

oops?

[quest(answer)ion]

silly me. i thought the flashy "install silverlight" prompt was the comic. imagine my surprise that there's another comic hidden behind that.

will microsoft's innovation never cease?

Re:Just wondering

[Opportunist]

Could this be the first superhero comic where the audience roots for the villain and is constantly happy throughout the comic only to get really let down in the end?

So a superhero who fixes his own problems?

[wardk]

so WHY is the server down, WHY is there a virus getting in?

Obviously we need a [Mac,Linux,BSD,Amiga] superhero who can deal with these problems AT THE SOURCE.

yes, go Cloverdale on Redmond....

Re:IT superhero: thanks for the pr0n!

[meta-monkey]

Seven or eight years ago I worked at a university high-performance computing research lab. One night a cracker got in through one of our ancient unpatched Solaris boxes, and proceeded to wipe out everyone's home directories (thank god for backups!), uploaded 40GB of porn (that was a lot back then) and then started an IRC server to share it. It was kind of awesome.

Re:Just wondering

[value_added]

Could this be the first superhero comic where the audience roots for the villain and is constantly happy throughout the comic only to get really let down in the end?

Naah. For someone to root for a villain, the villain has to be endowed with a certain measure of cool, or otherwise be extraordinarily interesting. In this scenario, we'd likely see a slow-moving and slightly stupid superhero dressed in a costume emblazoned with the letters WGA, a belt decorated with animated icons, a magic red "Reboot" button on his wrist, and cape with a big blue "e" on it. When not pressing the magic button, he'd be spending his time shouting at a motley collection of unwashed, bearded, sandal-wearing villains, or, when the action really heats up, throwing a chair or two.

But the Chairs!

[SJ2000]

Does the hero or the villain throw the chairs?

And let's not forget

[markov_chain]

Action Item, The Professional Superhero! [profession...erhero.com]

Re:IT superhero: thanks for the pr0n!

[drspliff]

Sorry :(

Can I have my porn back now please?

Re:Just wondering

[Nimey]

And his Doomsday Weapon is a rotary belt-fed chair launcher.

Re:Just wondering

[filbranden]

...see Ballmer sitting in a swivel chair...

Ballmer's chairs aren't meant for sitting.

Re:Just wondering

[ozmanjusri]

Me neither. Even if this was not on Linux, I would never install a crappy plugin just to see pictures. Why the hell couldn't they just use GIF/JPG/PNG like everybody else?

As posted somewhere deep down in the bowels of this discussion, you can view the RSS [technet.com] version. For the best reading effect, play Offsring's "Pretty Fly" while opening the link...

Because... I don't think too many real geeks will be revisiting the page. It reads a lot like those try-hard Christian comics that tell you how hip and cool they are in lieu of actually being hip or cool.

Stereotypical Asian female geek with binary-printed coffee cup:

Imagine a daily web comic that adapts tech stories from actual pros like us into a - a mystery or adventure.
Then it'd be fun and authentic!

Goatee'd Indian guy with call-centre headphone/mic glued to his ear:

A web comic reflecting our real lives? Hahaha. They'd never do that.

Right...

microsoft has created only one true hero...

[LinuxRulz]

from the title I was expecting more in the lines of "The incredible adventures of Clippy"

Re:Just wondering

[nevillethedevil]

You have the source code for vista?

This is almost like Dilbert

[Lewrker]

Except written by middle management!

Re:Just wondering

[ozmanjusri]

No, he means he's browsing C:\Windows.

Re:Just wondering

[techpawn]

You're not quite correct: He wouldn't have a cape; he'd have a skintight light-blue costume, and he'd have multicolored butterfly wings.

I KNEW IT! It's the Monarch [wikipedia.org]! Isn't it?!