More juicy details are emerging from the Microsoft versus Google legal battles over the defection to Google of Kai-Fu Lee. Lee reports being frustrated about Microsoft's dealings with China, and that he was "deeply disappointed at our incompetence in China - that we have wasted so many years in China with little to show for it." Lee's work for Microsoft in China had been extensive, since he established an academic research lab in the nation.
In his testimony, Mr. Lee recalled writing in an e-mail message while at Microsoft that he was embarrassed by the company's business practices and that people in the Chinese government joked about Microsoft's internal politics.
He testified that one of his lowest points at Microsoft was a conversation in which Mr. Gates yelled at him and said in graphic language that the company had been done in by the Chinese people and its government. Mr. Lee did not clarify the context of the comments.