It’s just what I wanted! How did they know?
Seriously, are you guys following the trail of de-cloaked internal Microsoft e-mails that’s coming out of this class-action lawsuit over the whole Vista Capable thing? Slashdot keeps picking up the news stories — for example, here, here, here and here. They just keep on coming. I live in the Mac-verse, mostly, so I don’t actually have strong opinions about Vista, or much of a horse in this race. But oh God the drama!
A lot of the kerfuffle seems to have to do with Microsoft lowering the specs necessary for a PC to get a Vista Capable rating, a move designed to help out their close corporate chums Intel, but which had the effect of screwing certain other partners, and — it could be argued — consumers.
Here for example is Microsoft/s Jim Allchin — at the time Microsoft’s Windows czar — e-mailing Ballmer:
… I was away and I get back to see this mess.
I was told this all started with a call between you and Paul [meaning Intel CEO Paul Otellini]. I will have to get to the bottom of this and understand how we could be so insensitive in handling the situation.
Ballmer comes back with this:
I had nothing to do with this Will [meaning Will Poole, another Windows-related exec] handled everything I received a message that paul was going to call Will said he would handle it Paul called I had not even had a chance to report his issues when Will told me he had solved them (it did not sound like he had) I am not even in the detail of the issues
You better get will under control thanks
Thanks!
It goes on and on like that. I’m not even saying I think it’s funny. I just think it’s amazing that people e-mail each other like this.
It definitely won’t be funny if anybody ever files a class-action lawsuit against Time and people got to read my e-mails. There would be nothing funny about that.