The New York Times' John Markoff reports the sad failure of a Sun plot to unleash a pest extermination company on Microsoft to coincide with the big Windows 2000 launch on 17 February. Bizarrely, it all seems to have miscarried because the company hired, Western Exterminator, was worried Bill Gates might buy it and close it in retaliation.

Until the Western Exterminator manager pulled the plugs, the plan went something like this. A fleet of 20 bright yellow trucks with Western Exterminator emblazoned on their sides had been retained, and detailed to cruise around the San Francisco Moscone Convention Center on the big day, while Microsoft unwrapped Win2k, including its 63,000, er, issues, inside.

The fleet got to within a few blocks of the Center, but then Western Exterminator discovered the true nature of the mission, and aborted. Curiously, it appears the company had been under the impression that it was being hired by Microsoft rather than Sun. To do what? Work on service pack one, presumably. ®