Litigious instruments to ban the competition

Summary: Another fine example of Microsoft's sociopathic approach to competition; employees are not allowed to buy non-Microsoft products

THE NEWS is abuzz with some non-organic puff pieces about Vista 8 (must hide the truth) and already, Microsoft makes it easier for itself to claim bogus numbers of 'copies'/'sales', based on this commentary.

Microsoft knows that almost nobody buys Windows. OEMs license it in bulk, but end users don't buy Windows. Had people had the choice, they would have gone for something else. Even Microsoft employees (including heads of Windows) often choose non-Microsoft products, given the choice. According to this (linking here), Microsoft is now preventing not just the general public from getting computers with non-Microsoft software preinstalled. Microsoft staff too is swindled this way:

Microsoft barring certain staff from buying Macs, iPads?

[...]

Microsoft has yet to officially confirm the authenticity of the e-mail, however the company offered "no comment" rather than an outright denial.

Microsoft's unofficial mouthpiece helps verify this:

Microsoft’s Sales, Marketing, Services, IT, & Operations Group (SMSG) may be putting in place a policy to prevent employees from using corporate funds to buy Macs and iPads.

Based on an alleged internal e-mail passed on to me by one of my contacts, this edict just came down last week. SMSG encompasses 46,000 Microsoft employees worldwide, according to a Microsoft Careers page about the group, and includes Microsoft’s front-line consumer and business sales, service and support people.

Here’s that supposed e-mail, from Alain Crozier, the chief financial officer of SMSG...

So there we have it. ⬆