For Microsoft, Market Dominance Isn't Enough

chemstar writes "Last summer Orlando Ayala, then the top sales executive at Microsoft Corp., sent an e-mail titled 'Microsoft Confidential' to senior managers laying out a strategy to dissuade governments across the globe from choosing cheaper alternatives to the ubiquitous Windows operating system. Ayala's e-mail told executives that if a deal involving governments or large institutions looked doomed, they were authorized to draw from a special internal fund to offer software at a steep discount, or free, if necessary. Steve Ballmer, the Microsoft chief executive, was sent a copy of the e-mail. The memo, which focused on system software for desktop computers, specifically targeted Linux, a still small but emerging competitor. "Under NO circumstances lose against Linux," Ayala said." Perhaps that's because, as roomisigloomis writes, "Seems that MS' licensing practices are working against the company," pointing out this article which "suggests that open source, Linux and other software is actively being sought."

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In other news

[Lugor]

Washington, DC: Bush announces plan to take over the world
Ottawa, Ont: Jean Cretien announces Canada's plan to bring peace on earth
Melbourne, Aus: Australian Prime Minister announces plan to give free beer to the world.
Pyong Yong: North Korean leader announces the plan to arm the every 3rd world dictactor with Nuclear Weapons. ...

How about this?

[raffe]

SCO Suspends Distribution of Linux Pending Intellectual Property Clarification;

Read it
here

Re:Microsoft can't dominate the BSD Babe!

[ewhac]

You don't want to go there. Really.

Micros~1 can afford to buy Patrick Stewart's smiling face to promote their products. What difficulty do you imagine they would have procuring any bombshell celebrity to populate their booths? "Hey, babe, do you really want that grimy Linux stuff? Here, have a look at Microsoft's new Windows-XXXP..."

This is a form of escalation we can't possibly win. Really. Don't go there...

Schwab

Re:Let me count the ways..

[gillbates]

Well, I think it's obvious that Access isn't enterprise ready. But that's not the point. Only a world-class idiot, or at least someone profoundly naive, would write an update algorithm which deletes both records when one gets corrupted. I don't think that this was a simple programmer oversight - I think some idiot at Microsoft made a conscious decision to include this behavior in Access, blissfully unaware of the negative consequences it would have on those people who depend on their software to make a living.

I mean, come on. Microsoft mentions words like "enterprise class computing" and "corporate datacenter" in their promotional materials. Corporate execs think that Microsoft knows their business. But when I see mistakes like this time and time again, I have a hard time believing that anyone at Microsoft has ever worked in "mission critical" production environment. At best, Microsoft is naive and stupid, at worst, negligent.