GNU/Linux

This index deals with Comes vs Microsoft court exhibits which offer a glance at the history of Microsoft abuse. For a concise summary of some of the exhibits, see "Petition text - overview".


 * Comes Antitrust: Microsoft's Attack Plan on GNU/Linux: A new antitrust exhibit ties together documents that show how Microsoft planned to attack GNU/Linux.
 * See the list below.

Comparing Windows XP and Office to Linux and StarOffice
From: Pat Fox Sent: Friday, November 08, 2002 4:16 PM To: Bill Veghte; Brian Valentine; Peter Houston; Michele Freed Cc: Rogers Weed Subject: a little concerned - Research Board desktop content


 * My concern, on the desktop side, we've been operating at about DefCon 2 (to use the politically incorrect, national defense analogy) because we don't think customers or partners and the overall business situation yet calls for a more public proactive comparison on the desktop ..

Exhibit (original): http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px08604.pdf

This exhibit is covered (with text) in: Leaked 2002 Document: Microsoft Compares Windows XP and Office to GNU/Linux and StarOffice

winning against Linux in FY 03
FY 03 IMPERATIVES


 * win Against Linux ..


 * Winning against Linux: government, education, enterprise, embedded


 * SRPJF: OEMs hiding our innovations; Work to deliver, & comply


 * Emerging markets plan - Linux, other OSs, and piracy: ideas welcome


 * Piracy: How to make progress (and yet balance with Linux)

Full exhibit

Analysis and exhibit as text: Leaked Microsoft Slides (2003): How to Win Against GNU/Linux

Strategic threat of Linux in enterprise space
Strategic Threat

From: Gary Schare Sent: Fridasy, January 18, 2002 5:45 PM To: Bob Muglia; Chris Phillips Cc: Bret O'Rourke; Joe Powell; Troy Batterberry; Rob Green Subject: eCDNs and storage

If Microsoft does not address the enterprise needs for content delivery networks, it will:

servers that will also pull through or attach to Linux/Solaris-based content management, storage and Oracle database solutions.
 * See large scale deployment of Linux-based caching appliances and

MPEG-4 CDN product vendors who now pay a royalty to Microsoft to license the Windows Media protocol on non-Windows platforms (our only revenue in the value chain.)
 * Risk losing our 69% Windows Media usage share in the enterprise to

vendors. Even if all eCDN vendors move to Windows today, it is the management/distribution application layer that commands the premium in the overall cost solution. Microsoft is not on a path to participate in the portion of the value chain ..
 * Leave a significant portion of the eCDN value chain to other software

---

http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px07062.pdf

Full document text covered with annotation here

LDS Church considering Mandrake
From: Brad Beadles Sent: Tuesday, June 24, 2003 4:31 PM To: Dale Watanabe Co: Bret Arsenault; Scott Johnson (DENVER); Tim ~hmidt (DENVER); David Brandt (DENVER); Ann Nicholson Subject: LDS Church - Hewlett Packard Importance: High

Hi Dale,


 * Bret asked me to ping you with a competitive situation we are having with The LDS Church here in SLC .. They are considering Mandrake, Debian, Red Hat and Open Office .. the The Open Source alternatives are $8.50 for the OS of choice which is currently Madrake (Open Office is $0.00 ..

http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px08618.pdf

Full document text covered with annotation here

Clearly the format is dragging the OS in ..
From: Alex Limberis

I want to paint a clear picture for us. If we really do add value by holding on for MS OS's then we shouldn't sell ourselves short.

..


 * Customer visit evidence that 50% plus is linux

..

From: Amir Majidimehr Sent: Saturday, October 27, 2001 3:34 PM To: Alex Limberis; Will Poole; Kurt Buecheler Subject: RE: STB ms data

In Korea, clearly the format is dragging the OS in. But elsewhere we are having nothing close to 90% (or even 50%) marketshare, the OS is selected first.

..

.. Wen we asked for permission to take our format everywhere 2.5 years ago, no one blinked. Jimall himself said it was just fine to go on embedded Linux. Of course this was at a time when people thought we brought no compelling value.

Now contrast this with the situation in Korea where WTM has a 90% share .. You better not say anything about supporting Linux or the ESG guys escort you out to the airport.

So the story at both extremes is very clear. When we have no value, we could be everywhere. And where we have ultimate value, then we must be on our own platform. The question is, when do you make the switch?

..

[Alex Limbaris] In the case of audio we were not facing a "thick" os. The CE team never felt threatened by the OS as it were running on a RO. They are threatened by the OS running on a Moto, Replay TV, TiVo etc. that could support our format. This is our internal challenge.

..

If WMT is the Holy grail, then I'd hate to take it away from them .. He expressed sentiments seems to be the blocker for us moving forward and not the Linux GPL issue. I don't know what other argument to make other than we must have 100% of the nodes available to us to be a successful format .. ---

http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px07010.pdf (same file)

Full document text covered with annotation here

the Linux desktop playbook
Linux Desktop Update and Brainstorm

Pat FoxAlain Meeus Manish Shama 9/11/02

This playbook outlines the progressive steps the field should take when selling against Linux on the desktop

1 Know the status of Linux in your your accounts


 * Point out that each subsidiary should have a method to track Linux threats and that these should be reported back to Redmond.

..

Processes in Place

- EDGI requests escalations
 * Linux desktop virtual team
 * CompHot escalations weekly review
 * Linux compete squad - billv
 * Internetional desktop OS tracker

..

Linux Desktop Field Escalations

36 Escalations, 18 Active, 14 De-escalated, 1 Loss, 3 Wins

- Active Testra, Bank of Ireland, First Community Bank, Indiana Web Academy, Standard Bank (South Africa)
 * Linux and StarOffice - 5 active, 1 De-escalated

- Active AMB Amro(Workstation), ETB (Columbian Telco) and SBC Communications
 * Linux OS - 3 Active, 2 De-escalated

- Active Chevron Texaco, Carrefour, Hollywood Video, CSJ Auto, Waitrose Supermarkets
 * Linux POS - 5 Active, 2 De-escalated

- Active Accent/FireKing - security for Taco Bell and others - close to winning, Safeway - smart clients in shopping carts - Loss, VOPAK - Linux embedded on PC option - up to biz units to select - Win, Royal Carrabean Cruise Lines - IBM Linux on client and server
 * Linux Embedded - 3 Active, 8 De-escalated, 1 Loss, 1 Win

- Active, Jordan. Wins, Egypt, Tunisia - Mexico and Malaysia EDGI deals were not escalated via CompHot
 * EDGI - 1 Active, 2 Wins

- Dept of Homeland Security - 170,000 seats, McNealy involved.
 * StarOffice on Windows - 1 Active


 * OS/2 Migration to Linux - 1 De-escalated ..

This is covered in full in: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/16/edgi-linux-compete-squad/

Do a tear down of Linux
From: Jim Allchin Sent: Friday, September 27, 2002 10:20 PM To: Brian Valentine, Paul Flessner; Bill Veghte, Bob Kefly; Eric Rudder, Dan Neault Cc: Michele Freed Subject: Linux

I am travelling as you know. I have had many VAP round tables (both partner and not), met with many enterprise customers, had many roundtables with the field - both sales roundtable and technical roundtables. I also met with the US seminar group I have seen a tot of customers this week.

My conclusion: We are not on a path to win against Linux We must change some things and we must do it immediately. The current white papers, etc. are too high level and they are not going to cut it. Here are specific actions that I have concluded that we must take.


 * 1. bill’s team must get a couple more hot resources assigned to it immediately who can do a tear down of Linux. This resources must help do the items I outline below together with other teams. I am not sure who might be best to assign here. Michele and I have been brainstorming and we don’t have a long list. One person that I think we could consider recruiting to help would be vicg. Another person might be brian hall. These guys aren’t super technical, but they are both good at distilling the essence and packaging stuff. Vic would be better than brian, but I wanted to throw both names out. I would only pick one of them. Just as importantly we need a kynl type of person - someone very technical. I insist that we find someone within a week and assign them on this for the next 2 months. I am not sure who to pick on the technical side. Once you read below I would like some suggestions. I think can be done in 2 months.


 * 2. We need a paper which outlines technically how our system (kernel, web service, file server) is better. I think we have Mark R signed up to write this (robs was supposed to engage him on this). This paper needs to cover things like the facts that we have a preemptive kernel, asychronous I/O, etc Facts… that go to the core of why windows is different and Linux is old unix. Facts. I would have the technical person help with this. There was a technical wrlteup a few years ago by Mark in Windows NT Magazine. We need more on this.


 * 3. We need a comparison of the security issues published from some place like CERT for Linux vs Windows 2000 or Windows XP. We need to be sure to count all the component pieces of Linux (e.g., apache, samba, navigator, etc.). This needs to be fact based. It should be short and sweet. A table would be great. I think Mikenash owns this.


 * 4. We need the technical resource / strategy resource to look for fundamental issues about Linux that customers might not know. One that I thought of while on the trip that I used dealt with the fact you need to recompile your apps, etc when a new release of Linux comes out. I don’t think anyone wants to recompile their apps when they are running them in production, etc. I am sure if we put serious IQ to the situation we can think of many issues.


 * 5. We need someone to tear down the indemnification offered from RedHat and IBM to customers. We need to understand exactly the risk a customer is under if a patent lawsuit happens and Linux is challenged. I’d like Dan to own this. There MUST be risks to customers that are being passed on. I want this understood precisely. We need to get the license from IBM given to customers and investigate.


 * 6. We MUST get a TOC study done. Cost is a first thing on everyone’s mind right now given the economy and pressure on cost reduction. I am not sure what the final decision was on the IDC study. We REALLY need some here. I think billv/bob own this. If the IDC report won’t cut it, then we get another one done. Some customers know that Linux isn’t really free, but we need to help the other customers see this.


 * 7. We need a paper (which we may already have) on the productively gains possible on with .NET development over php and j2ee. This must have examples of how productive development is, performance, and operational capability. Eric owns getting this down if it isn’t already.


 * 8. We need a paper explaining how we do scale up. Linux is getting in some places based on the fact that customers are trying to scale up and they can’t run applications independently/safely on Windows. I will be writing mail about this separately. The paper would explain how to do it on Windows. Customers are very smart about the problems (eg., registry issues, lack of support from 3rd parties if more than a single app is running on the system (even though it works), etc.). We need a story here. I think this has to be someone as smart as davidds, I am not sure who should own this. It is possible that someone like blaing should do this. Maybe someone in Paulfle’s team can do it. We must address MSFT server products in this (e.g, sql, exchange, etc.). Customers are very disappointed (outright angry!) in how our apps interfere with each other.


 * 9. I think we need a paper on SFU and interop. Customers believe that unix systems are more compatible with each other and more interoperable, I was stunned at the number of customers who had no idea about what SFU could do, We must promote this much more. Billv owns ensuring this is done.


 * 10 .. We need to put together a single short paper (just a couple of pages - maybe a single sheet) for a leave behind for customers of the 10 questions that they should consider before adopting Linux This should be based on the learnings we get from some of the items above and well as others that we find. These should be as hard hitting as we can be, BUT they need to be factual based, We should be thinking about howto put things like Red Hat’s server price In it to show where it’s going, etc, The paper we have today as I said was laughed at in one place. (I am not sure what one they had seen,) I think Billy needs to figure out who should own this I think someone like vlcg would be great.


 * I know there is a lot in this email, I am sorry. It is serious guys, The field does not feel supported by us. We are not giving them what they need to win


 * Bill/Paul: I need to ask you to take ownership of driving this ahead What I want to see is a package including ALL of these items that we can provide to the field within 2 months (MAX). I am scared. Again.. I want the two people assigned within a week. I want to know who the people are. Eric please help thinking about who the right people are. Please remember NO marketing. Facts. No anger toward Linux. Just facts. Please understand this isn’t up for discussion. I want some solid people assigned ASAP.

I would like a review in 1 month on the progress on this.

thanks,

jim

5/6/2005

PDF: http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px07168.pdf

This is covered in full in: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/18/allchin-scared-of-gnu-linux/

A greater Linux project
From: Rajiv Kaul Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 12;15 PM To: Sherri Bealkowski Cc: Karishma Kiri; Vidur Luthra; Anne Pression; Maltica Sarkar Subject: Meeting to discuss India Education plan
 * Hi Shern,


 * .. You might be aware of the work Bric team is doing on the proactive EDGI like proposal. Given the impact of Education market in India globally for us and the threats from Linux and piracy, I want to make this a big bet plan in India (post Novell - Sco and Trishul) ..

From: Sherri Bealkowski So.t: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 1:17 PM To: Rajiv Kaul; David Dri~nier Cc: Karishma Kiri; Vidur Luthra; Anne Pression; Mallica Sarkar Subject: RE: Meeting to discuss India Education plan


 * Unfortunately the BRIC Windows team was in India while we were working this as part of a greater Linux project and we just were able to fill in Vidur this week. Our concept is broader than Windows as well. I don’t want to do something cool for Windows and create a bunch of sockets for Staroffice! The work that Vidur and team did with you in India however is extremely valuable as foundation for the country license concept ..

http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px08593.pdf

http://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/bric.asp

This was covered here: http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/15/ms-edgi-in-india-vs-staroffice-linux/

Microsoft: Linux is good for business
From: Peter Houston Sent: Thursday, November 07, 2002 10:09 AM To: Kevin Johnson Subject: RE: Please review RE Linux Compete

I can have the MSFT name removed from the report. I remain concerned that it will get out that we sponsered so I don't know how much advantage we wil lget out of removing the name.

..

IS there an equivalent report from Gartner on TCO of win vs Linux?

[Peter Houston] No, We have been unable to get any major firm (then IDC) to do a study ..

..

Linux is good for business, you know. IDC, In contrast seems to relish the thought of defending their study publically.

---

http://boycottnovell.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/01/px09695.pdf

Already mentioned in:

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/10/28/idc-linux-fud/

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/01/28/iowa-memos-microsoft-against-the-truth/

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/12/08/idc-gartner-microsoft-connection/

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/01/01/analysts-bought-opinion/

http://boycottnovell.com/2008/04/10/foundation-buys-idc-bs/

http://boycottnovell.com/2009/01/03/idc-and-microsoft-negotiation/

http://boycottnovell.com/2007/08/28/opendocument-ooxml-fud/

More posts/exhibits

 * Microsoft’s Nathan Myhrvold in 1998: GNU/Linux is a “Serious Competitor”