Microsoft Responds to Leaked Memo

Phantasm66 · Nov 11, 2002

Microsoft Responds to Leaked Memo

Posted by CmdrTaco on Monday November 11, @03:19PM
from the well-sort-of-anyway dept.
AbbeyRoad writes "CNN, has a story on Microsoft's response the internal memo previous leaked: "Microsoft believes many of its efforts to market its products against Linux and open source are backfiring, according to a memo posted on the Internet. ... Microsoft declined to comment on the authenticity of the memo, and did not answer when asked if it believes its marketing against Linux and open source has been effective. ... Microsoft spokesman Jon Murchinson said: ''The document in question seems to suggest that the basis for evaluating products has been long-term customer value, and that's something we agree with. I think our marketing is geared toward that issue, toward long-term customer value.'' ""

source: http://slashdot.org/articles/02/11/11/1819239.shtml?tid=109

see also: http://www.cnn.com/2002/TECH/biztech/11/08/microsoft.memo/index.html

and....

"Linux is *the* threat," Says Microsoft

Posted by Hemos on Monday November 12, @09:14AM
from the halloween-part-two dept.
Ami Ganguli writes "Anybody who works selling Linux into large accounts should read this leaked MS memo on The Register. Show it to your clients as well. The good news is that Microsoft is scared. The bad news is that these guys play tough. On the other hand, I've worked with IBM sales before, and they're no push-overs either." And it appears that they want to go after the the City of Largo as well.

source: http://slashdot.org/articles/01/11/12/136243.shtml?tid=109

and...

MS promotes Linux from threat to 'the' threat - Memo

By Thomas C Greene in Washington
Posted: 12/11/2001 at 07:25 GMT

"Linux is the long-term threat against our core business. Never forget that!" Microsoft Windows Division Veep Brian Valentine exclaims in a confidential memo to his Sales Brownshirts obtained by The Register. (our emphasis)

The core outrage from Valentine's perspective is all these Sun and IBM shops migrating in droves to the cheaper Intel platform, and observing along the way that Linux is a good deal easier to deal with if you're already acquainted with UNIX. Funny that. Kinda the key idea behind Linux, but we digress.

"I need you to make sure that as many of these customers as possible continue to migrate off of UNIX, but on to Windows 2000 on Intel," Valentine says. "You should be smothering your accounts from every angle, and if you see Linux and/or IBM in there with it, then get all over it. Don't lose a single win to Linux."

Valentine's hard-sell hall monitors will be marching through a data center near you, we gather, searching for open-source contaminants and anything else that breathes in the marketplace and consumes their air.

"If you haven't done it at your customer sites -- then do a walk-thru of their datacenters and take inventory of where you see Sun machines, IBM, etc and ask them what they running on those machines. Learn about what they do with those systems, keep that inventory in your back pocket -- hell -- tattoo it on your butt if you have to -- and go after them. Knock them out one machine, one application, one department at a time. I cannot stress how important this is!"

It's no secret that MS has long regarded Linux as a threat, at least not since Eric Raymond broke the news two years ago with the infamous Halloween Documents. But it's lovely to see it becoming the threat, apparently because it empowers people to operate computers and networks without buying into the nebulous Microsoft .NET vision, which, as you'll see below, the company thinks of as something to be 'positioned' by its products.

We just love the way salesmen talk. Especially frightened ones.

source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/22770.html

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Microsoft Responds to Leaked Memo

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