Microsoft: Apple Computer Does Not Exist

Thanks to the Register on this one. Apparently, the new Microsoft Maps has removed the Apple Computer Campus from their satellite photos.

Not one but two Register readers emailed us to tell us that MSN's Virtual Earth is promoting a world free of the menace of Apple Computers.
If you've got time on your hands - stand up Jens and Stefan - have a look at Apple's Cupertino headquarters from Google and MSN's rival map sites. Both sites offer aerial photos alongside maps. MSN's version is here and Google's is here.
See the difference? Google shows the Apple Cupertino HQ - a lovely, shiny building probably full of iPods. MSN on the other hand shows an apparently empty field. Not as much as a black turtle-necked jumper remains of Apple's headquarters. This could be no more than an old picture taken before Cupertino was built or a glimpse of an imagined future.

I can't help wondering if this is some lower-level manager's idea of a joke, or an Easter Egg that missed the final cut. Still, it feeds the megolomania theory of Bill Gates!