The Boss Key

by Aggro Me on August 4, 2008

The other day at work, I was watching some silly YouTube video when another employee came into the room.  Well, I minimized the web browser but I didn’t actually close it so the audio was still coming over the speakers.  At that point, I could have switched the speakers off but I chose instead to pretend nothing was amiss.  We both went on with our conversation, ignoring the minute or so of goofy audio coming out of the computer.

I’m sure this has happened to everyone at one point or another.  And it got me thinking about the history of the “Boss Key,” a key you were supposed to press if your boss came in to hide the offending application.  I remembered this was a feature in several Sierra-Online adventures and Wikipedia confirmed that Space Quest III and Leisure Suit Larry II had a “Boss Key” of a humorous nature.   Apparently, a set of Basic programs called Friendlyware had one of the earlier implementations of the “Boss Key.”

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Goodbye Gleemax

by Aggro Me on August 4, 2008

Part of our salute to Gary Gygax:

Ah, Gleemax, I hardly knew you.  Hey, I know I made fun of your name in this blog post on MMO influences on Fourth Edition D&D.  But I didn’t think you would vanish so quickly into the internet graveyard.

Gleemax was (or is, since it’s still up) a social network for gamers run by Wizards of the Coast.  Wizards announced on July 28 that Gleemax was going goodbye.  Since it was started on October 10, 2007 (according to Wikipedia) that means it lasted less than a year.

However, Wizards is not abandoning it’s entire internet initiative for D&D.  The farewell post states that, by taking Gleemax out back behind the woodshed, Wizards can allocate more resources to getting D&D Insider up and running.   D&D Insider is an online, subscription based service meant to complement Dungeons & Dragons.

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