Comments on: Quick Mention: Pieter Hintjens on Novell, Dell, and Patents

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 13:21:35 +0000

There are many more such examples. Not all of them fit the theme of this Web site, but those which do are probably somewhere in the archives,.

By: SubSonica

SubSonica — Tue, 13 Nov 2007 12:04:47 +0000

Oh, yeah, those handy Iowa documents… no wonder they wanted to settle the case ASAP:
source:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/27/microsoft_execs_jilted/

Microsoft executives – having been unceremoniously dressed down for, among other things, plotting to cut off rival Netscape’s supply of life-giving air – discussed bludgeoning Dell over the true-blue ally’s embrace of Linux.

The online musings came to light this week in the antitrust case being tried in Iowa state court. In an email thread exchanged in November, 2002 – less than a week after Microsoft promised a federal judge it would mend its ways – top executives brainstormed on ways to get Dell to come to its senses and end its torrid affair with Linux.

“We should whack them, we should make sure they understand our value, we should do all of the things you and Brian suggest,” Paul Flessner, Microsoft’s senior VP of server apps, wrote to Bill Veghte, a corporate VP.

By: Roy Schestowitz

Roy Schestowitz — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:23:10 +0000

Lenovo has certified some of its laptops for Ubuntu and Fedora, so this type of choice (you mention Ubuntu and Red Hat) is not surprising. Learn how Microsoft brutally sabotaged Dell's attempts to sell GNU/Linux in the past.

By: SubSonica

SubSonica — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 21:05:06 +0000

Fortunately, Dell seems to be promoting as well Ubuntu and RedHat as well (maybe they are trying “not to put all the eggs in the same basket”) , lets see how much time they resist Microsoft pressure… (remember Comes vs MSFT’s documents on this matter when Dell first started distributing servers with RedHat preinstalled)
The advantage here is that Gnu/Linux distros are beginning to allow the big OEMs to break Microsoft stranglehold on their business. There is a mutual dependency between Microsoft and the OEM (and they combine their efforts to lock customers into the “forced obsolescence” cycle) but now OEMs have an alternative, whereas if Microsoft loses their leonine exclusive contracts with the OEMs they will lose their main (and, for some products, as Vista, only one) means of distribution and market penetration.