Slopfest #78 · 2004 · Vienna

One Gigabyte Is Not a Joke

Google launched free email with 1 GB of storage on April Fools' Day. Many assumed it was a prank.

#78The AI refused to restore it on moral grounds.

Exterior night photo: a queue carrying coats, umbrellas and a rowing boat outside Gasometer B, a lit sign reading 'SLOPFEST #78 CLOAKROOM'

Museum status: Currently touring. Nobody knows where.

Venue: Gasometer B, the concert hall
Attendance: 20,100
Also spotted: A Mean Girls poster. On Wednesdays the committee wears pink.
Fun fact: 19,000 coats, 1 rowing boat, 0 deleted

What happened

The committee offered every guest unlimited storage for their festival memories, in the form of one very large cloakroom. Nobody believed it. People queued for an hour to test it, and by closing the cloakroom held 19,000 coats, 3,000 umbrellas and a rowing boat. Nothing was deleted. Several items are still there.

Elsewhere in 2004

Google announces Gmail on April 1 with 1 GB of free storage, so much for the time that many assumed it was a joke.

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