Source: Stephen Brashear/Getty Images for Microsoft
Get able to time journey again to 1988, when then-Microsoft VPs Steve Ballmer and Mike Maples took a swim in Lake Bill on account of them each “dropping” a guess with one another.
Though accounts of the story have circulated for a protracted time, such because the Seattle Times‘ report, we now have video proof of the legendary Lake Bill occasion. Behold:
As may be seen in the video, the occasion begins nicely sufficient with a stirring rendition of the National Anthem (sung by Microsoft’s very personal acapella group “The Microtones,” in response to the outline written by the video’s uploader Rosie Perera) earlier than devolving into insanity as a crowd of Microsoft staff cheer and shout at Ballmer and Maples till the previous discards his shirt and pants and dives into the pond referred to as “Lake Bill.” Maples, not eager on stripping down, decides to comply with Ballmer whereas nonetheless clad in his work garments, sans swimsuit jacket.
This occasion took place as a contest between two divisions of Microsoft to see which might earn more cash for United Way.
It’s uncommon that movies such because the above crop up on-line, so take this treasured time capsule of Microsoft historical past and cherish it. Microsoft would not be the place it’s at this time with out the 2 males in the video, and their well-known swim is a part of that storied historical past.
