IBM and Microsoft you say? That’s interesting.

We were at the Apple store purchasing more stuff… go figure.

During checkout we were asked, “Student?”

“No.”

“Government employee?”

“No.”

“IBM?”

“No.”

“Microsoft?”

“No. What’s with the questions?”

“Well, if you had answered yes,” (and could prove it), “you’d get a discount.”

“Wait… IBM and Microsoft? Using Apple?”

“Oh yes. Microsoft is one of our biggest purchasers. They don’t make it that public, but they are avid Apple users. Honestly, we don’t get it either.” She smiled. “You’d think we’d charge more for them.” We all laughed.

I guess this is expected. Her comments brought back memories of when I placed a MSDN support call and their crypto guys explained to me that they used Linux and SSLeay behind the scenes (they gave me a copy their Linux script); apparently they love Linux, but aren’t allowed to publically admit it, he explained — they had hundreds of Linux systems. Apparently it’s standard practice to use other systems and open source in order to development Microsoft products. Very interesting.

FYI, if you are a Home School Student / Teacher, the Apple Store says they honor those credentials for discounts.