hakspek /hak'speek/ n.
A shorthand method of spelling found on many British academic
bulletin boards and talker
systems. Syllables and whole words in a sentence are
replaced by single ASCII characters the names of which are
phonetically similar or equivalent, while multiple letters are
usually dropped. Hence, `for' becomes `4'; `two', `too', and `to'
become `2'; `ck' becomes `k'. "Before I see you tomorrow" becomes
"b4 i c u 2moro". First appeared in London about 1986, and was
probably caused by the slowness of available talker systems,
which operated on archaic machines with outdated operating
systems and no standard methods of communication. Has become
rarer since. See also talk
mode.
Node:Halloween Documents,
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Halloween Documents n.
A pair of Microsoft internal strategy memoranda leaked to ESR
in late 1998 that confirmed everybody's paranoia about the
current Evil Empire. These documents
praised the technical excellence of Linux and outlined a counterstrategy of
attempting to lock in customers by "de-commoditizing" Internet
protocols and services. They were extensively cited on the
Internet and in the press and proved so embarrassing that
Microsoft PR barely said a word in public for six months
afterwards.