February 1, 2007 2:54 PM PST
Similar to Microsoft's butterfly snafu, IBM was chastised by officials in Chicago and San Francisco for spray painting sidewalks as part of a Linux promotion that backfired in 2001.
IBM's "Peace, Love and Linux" push involved spray-painting symbols on sidewalks, a move that didn't sit well with city officials in San Francisco and Chicago. The symbols--a peace sign, a heart and the Linux penguin mascot--were supposed to have been written in an impermanent medium, an IBM spokesman said. But as is indicated in this picture, the paint wasn't so easy to remove.
Sun Microsystems helped IBM, one of its fiercest rivals in the server market, clean up the paint.
Photo by CNET News.com
