That button may look like a joke, an elaborate piece of stock art, or something out of Ghostbusters, but itâs not. Itâs the emergency shutdown button located in a Microsoft server facility in Quincy, Washington.
Thereâs a fascinating article over on the NY Timesâ website about server warehouses, with the author taking a trip to a Microsoft complex in Tukwila, Washington that is âone of the global homes of Microsoftâs Xbox Liveâ. While the above picture is from a different, nearby facility (in Quincy), theyâd surely be the same all over.
One push and a million angry nerds cry out in terror, then are suddenly silenced.
Course, itâd take more than one shutdown to bring the whole network down â after all, thereâs a global network of servers running the thing â but itâd surely make a dent in a lot of peopleâs evenings.
Me, Iâd have to hit it, if only once. Just so I could say âWhen the light is green, the trap is cleanâ.
Data Center Overload [NY Times, via Gizmodo]
