Author Wendy Goldman Rohm spent 10 years interviewing people and reviewing internal Microsoft documents and e-mail messages submitted in court cases -- including many documents still under seal. They paint an unflattering picture of Microsoft officials saying one thing in public and saying something quite different among themselves in private.
For example, while Gates was saying publicly the DR DOS operating system was no threat, he railed about destroying it in internal e-mail. Another example is Microsoft's official line that it wins by producing superior products. Senior vice president Jim Allchin wrote an e-mail that read in part, "If you're going to kill someone ... You just pull the trigger. ... We need to smile with Novell while we pull the trigger."
Microsoft has responded to The Microsoft File by suggesting "bookstores should file this in the fiction section." It has also launched a full-scale public relations assault against the book, contacting a number of computer industry and daily newspaper journalists to "warn them away from the book," according to Rohm.
Rohm spoke recently with Paul Schindler. She discussed her conclusion that Microsoft's public deeds don't match its private words, and she defended her research and writing techniques in the book.
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InformationWeek, Wired, Upside, Chicago Tribune, The Boston Globe, The Financial Times, and Red Herring.
"Microsoft Witness Admits To Destruction Of Evidence," Red Herring, Wed., Sept. 2, 1998Click here to purchase The Microsoft File: The Secret Case Against Bill Gates
The U.S. Department of Justice will attempt to stop Microsoft's illegal practices, and foster even greater innovation and product choice in the marketplace.Click here to purchase The Microsoft File: The Secret Case Against Bill Gates