The creator behind the laptop Burka, a protective sheet that could cover you and your laptop to protect you from unwanted glare, has “pulled the plug” on his invention after receiving numerous bad reviews online.
“We pulled the plug on the Laptop Burka. The web site is down. There was murder in the press! Maybe some day, we will all get a tool that won’t be laughed at,” Mark apparently wrote in his email to abs-cbn news.
Ok I can understand that some people might find it ridiculous and poke fun at what Johnson has also called the “Geek Sheet” but don’t we always do that when something completely different or particularly novel comes out?
We only have to look at the famous quote by Ken Olsen, Founder of Digital Equipment Corp who in 1977 said “there is no reason why anyone would want a computer in their home”. What? Now that’s funny.
The Laptop Burka may not appeal to the majority of folk but hats off to Mark Johnson who certainly managed to get the product “out there”.
People all over the world have now heard about it and are talking about it even if what they are saying is less than complimentary.
Charlie Sorrell from Wired wrote “not only is the name in very questionable taste, but the product itself seems useless to anyone with access to a laundry closet”.
Ray Basile of iphonesaviour commented “the highly functional laptop Burka is as real as a heart attack, offering fashionable humiliation to MacBook zombies of all ages”. Ok now that’s maybe a bit harsh.
Johnson apparently started the laptop business as a joke.
“We never really intended to sell the computer shade, but as other computer users asked to have one, we posted a silly Seattle Craigslist ad as a joke and people started asking for them. That was the problem, it meant we had to make them,” he said.
The problem is it turned into one of the biggest jokes on the internet. Think of this then. Imagine what he could do if he started a business seriously?
“No money in the world could buy a large corporation the press we have received! Our website traffic is amazing! We are actually considering selling ad space on our website,” he said.
I don’t think we’ve heard the last of Mark Johnson yet.
