The Register: Microsoft 'killed Dell Linux' - States | Linux Today

The Register: Microsoft ‘killed Dell Linux’ – States

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Mar 19, 2002

[ Thanks to
Wol
for this link. ]

“The States’ remedy hearing opened in DC yesterday, and States
attorney Steven Kuney produced a devastating memo from [Joachim]
Kempin, then in charge of Microsoft’s OEM business, written after
Judge Jackson had ordered his break-up of the company. Kempin
raises the possibility of threatening Dell and other PC builders
which promote Linux.

“‘I’m thinking of hitting the OEMs harder than in the past with
anti-Linux. … they should do a delicate dance,’ Kempin wrote to
Ballmer, in what is sure to be a memorable addition to the phrases
(‘knife the baby’, ‘cut off the air supply’) with which Microsoft
enriched the English language in the first trial. Unlike those two,
this is not contested.

“The bullets aimed Spaghetti Western-style at the feet of the
dancing OEMs translate to Microsoft withholding source code,
according to the memo…”

Complete
Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

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