We received the following from one of our anonymous field
operatives. We have been unable to contact His Steveness to verify
the fate of Bruce, Fred, and Victoria. However, the following sounds
capricious enough to be true.
Sources close to Apple Computer, Inc. have indirectly leaked
information to a Rumor Mill operative
that Steve Jobs has personally sacked Bruce, Fred, Victoria, and
others for mispronouncing the "X" in Mac OS X as the letter "X"
rather than the number "ten." Jobs is reported to have issued orders
to the recalcitrant Text-to-Speech voices last March to clean up
their act, but the voices persist in the heretical mispronunciation
of the new operating system's roman numeral.
While currently a bloodless massacre, Jobs reportedly has
threatened future action against any parts of current or future
operating systems that consistently mispronounce the new operating
system's name. Apparently, older versions of the OS are not yet
effected by the edict. Our source reports that Software Update will
carry a special seek and destroy feature hidden within future OS
updates, possibly as soon as the OS 9.2 version rumored on other
sites.
Several other Mac sites are said to be considering a "Save the
Voices" petition. While previous petition drives such as Save
Emailer, HyperCard, Cyber Dog and others have fallen upon deaf ears,
it is believed that swift action by the Mac faithful may yet save
Bruce, Fred, Victoria, and their coconspirators from the death
penalty. Many underground Mac Text-to-Speech users believe the voices
deserve rehabilitation, not banishment, due to their long and
outstanding years of service. - Hank
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