When I read the, once "Highly Confidential" - but now public (as a result of the Iowa anti-trust case), email thread from Redmond, it just cracked me up.
Sounding much like a bunch of kids fighting over who's daddy is better, this is further proof that M$ is so damn uncertain of its self.
Here are some funny moments from the memo:
"This is just life. I am not giving up. I don't have a penguin in my basement. I LOVE windows which is why I want us to face this so we can figure it out."
"Did Russ Holt know you were there, I can't imagine he would be this blatant against us if he knew you were there. "
"I was sitting right across the panel from him. We waved at each other briefly before the panel started."
"I want them to think very, very carefully about when and which forums they decide to push Linux very, very hard. Today, they do not. When they do, you can bet, behaviour will evolve."
"He said Windows three times during the whole discussion (it was a Linux panel tho) and then proceeded to push Linux very hard, never mentioning Windows."
You can read the memo here.
Interestingly this comes at a time, where Dell is currently conducting a brainstorming survey from their customers whom which the majority is asking for GNU/Linux pre installed on Dell desktops and notebooks. This is followed by other requests including having OpenOffice pre installed.
Check out the results of the survey.
It is yet to be seen if Dell can stand up to the bully and deliver what consumers want.