01.18.09
Microsoft Sued Over Unified Communications and Loses Key Partner Due to Bankruptcy
Microsoft disconnected (reset by peer)
IF ANYONE NEEDED a reminder of why Microsoft is a bad partner, this is it from Friday.
Microsoft Sued Over Unified Communications Deal
Microsoft has been sued by a small Wisconsin business for allegedly misrepresenting the capabilities of its Live Communications Server product, selling the company more licenses than it needed and not providing a refund or other products to solve its original problem.
Imagineering International filed its lawsuit in December in the Fond de Lac County circuit court in Wisconsin, accusing Microsoft of breach of contract and breach of warranties, among other offenses.
Imagineering claims Microsoft failed to resolve problems the company had with deploying an enterprise version of Live Communications Server, then did not replace the product with a revamped version, Office Communications Server (OCS), as Microsoft had promised.
As if that’s not bad enough, one must wonder what Nortel’s big shocker will mean to Microsoft.
Nortel’s bankruptcy filing could force it into restructuring that could influence many of its noted partnerships such as a unified communications deal with Microsoft.
Microsoft too is going through difficult times (including layoffs), so this jeopardises a new business area which Microsoft calls “unified communications” — whatever that practically means.
Nortel’s bankruptcy filing on January 14 may put the breaks on its high-profile unified communications relationship with Microsoft.
The ‘Microsoft press’ too acknowledges the problem. █
