“Microsoft executives pondered whether to remove the company’s
name from a 2002 report done by research firm IDC that touted
Windows total cost of ownership over Linux, according to e-mail
messages entered into evidence in an Iowa antitrust case.“The report, which IDC released in December 2002 and was plugged
by Microsoft in its then-new ‘Get the Facts’ publicity campaign
against Linux, compared total cost of ownership of Windows 2000 and
Linux server software. The IDC study, which was identified as
Microsoft sponsored when it debuted, claimed that Windows 2000
offered a lower TCO in four of five enterprise scenarios…”