I’m laughing so hard that I’m crying. I got an unsolicited package in the mail yesterday. Inside was an illustrated children’s book. The title? Mommy, Why is There a Server in the House? Seriously, I thought this was a book about domestic servants (or maybe about my role in our house). Then I read the subtitle: Helping Your Child Understand the Stay-at-Home Server. I was convinced the book was some sort of salvo in the Mommy Wars.

Imagine my surprise when I read on to find out this is a book to help you cope when you’re the only kid on the block with a computer server in your house! I swear, one of the pages reads, “When a mommy and daddy love each other very much, the daddy wants to give the mommy a special gift.” (Yes, it turns out the gift is a stay-at-home server.)

It gets better. The kid with the home server is bullied and made fun of because he has a home server. “Some people think servers should only be in offices,” the book reads. “They might make fun of your home server.”

I searched the package for more clues and found a letter from Microsoft about its new home server. By now I’m thinking that Microsoft has finally had a collective mid-life meltdown. The book is written by Tom O’Connor, Ph.D. According to the bio, his therapy practice helps “families grow and change as the world changes ever so swiftly around them.”

Still confused, I notice a tiny statement claiming the book and its author are both fictional. Maybe the book is made up, but you can’t make this stuff up; it’s all part of Microsoft’s PR campaign for home servers. Gizmodo is taking it seriously, and at Amazon the book is selling (temporarily out of stock) for $5.95.

The only thing that’s missing is that they didn’t wait until April 1st to do this! Read an excerpt of the book to find out whether the home server lives happily ever after or not.

By the way, I reviewed the server when it was first announced.