Everybody remember the Gandhi quote?
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight
you, then you win.
Gentlemen and ladies, this newest leaked memo from Microsoft confirms
that we are advancing through GandhiCon Three. As usual, highlights are
in red and comments are in
.
Also as usual, the memo is otherwise unedited and exactly as I received
it, with one exception: in the text version I was sent, the last bullet
item was inexplicably positioned after the sender sig
"Orlando".
Some analysis follows the memo.
From: Orlando Ayala
Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 5:22 AM
To: GMs of Subsidiaries
Cc: Mich Mathews; Mike Nash; Craig Mundie; Brad Smith (LCA); Pamela
Passman (LCA); Vivek Varma; Orlando Ayala's Direct Reports
Subject: OSS and Goverment
{Probably LCA = "Law and Corporate Affairs". Passman's bio
suggests this interpretation.
We need to more effectively respond to press reports regarding
Governments and other major institutions considering OSS alternatives to
our products. We must be prepared to respond to
announcements, such as this one by the Japan Government (or prior
announcements in Peru, Germany etc) quickly and with facts to counter
the perception that large institutions are deploying OSS or Linux, when
they are only considering or just piloting the technology. Announcements
by governments are reported quickly around the world and require more
coordination. In several instances,
our ability to communicate effectively has been hindered by a lack
of integration across groups in Redmond and the subsidiaries.
What to Escalate: Any instance of government organizations and
significant corporate customers who are planning to study, support or
deploy OSS including Linux and Star Office
that is likely to generate media attention (as differentiated from the
COMPHOT alias). Any media coverage detailing the
real or expected announcement of a government organization of
corporate customer to study, support or deploy OSS.
How to Escalate: Send an email immediately (same day) to the
OSSI alias. This group includes members from the Security Business Unit,
Server Marketing, LCA and Corporate PR who can quickly pull in
additional stakeholders, influence business decisions, create and
communicate PR guidance. Your mail should include the following
information:
Designate the subsidiary owner (s) and their 24 hour
contact informationExplain the overall validity of claim, what is being
reported, what is true/falseExplain how and where the organization fits within govt
structure (is it a small/medium/large department, how much influence
does it have on other IT decisions, are their political influences
at play, is there a commitment to deploy, what are the specific
details of the announcement, what are the next steps)Explain likely influences, bottom line reasoning on why
this is happening (i.e. security, cost, politics)Explain Microsoft's presence in the accountName the key contacts within the gov'tName available third parties/potential defendersProvide detail on the writer and their media who are
writing the story, i.e. are they technical, political, sensational
The Commitment From Corporate:
Deliver, at minimum, guidance and messaging regarding any
new instance within the same business day of your mail being
received, including WW communication to prepare all subsFollow up with additional guidance, messaging and content
within a second business day, including customer and government
communication toolsecome much better in giving messaging and content
proactively on OSS and Linux related issues. Todd and MarkM to coordinate with SueB on Mike Nash
participation in Linux business press tour
Orlando
Orlando Ayala is the Group Vice President of Microsoft's Worldwide
Sales, Marketing and Services Group. For a good indication of the
sterling quality of human being we are dealing with here, read this
buzzword-suffused speech. There are bios of Ayala and the recipients
on the Microsoft site.
This is an unusual Halloween memorandum in that it's not particularly
redolent of evil. It's a reactionary memo about trying to become less
reactionary, the sort of thing that gets churned out daily by clueless
corporate droids everywhere. They're tired of constantly being caught by
surprise and want to do something about it.
Out here in open-source land, we genuinely enjoy helping our fellow
sophonts out of plights like this one. Might we suggest that daily
monitoring of the Linux User Group of Davis's
Reasons to Avoid Microsoft
page would be helpful?
In public, Microsoft is now focusing on the cost argument, having
lost last February's argument about security when the Gartner Group told
its customers to
stay
the hell away from IIS because it has insoluble security problems.
This memorandum reveals that they're fully aware not merely of the
security and cost
problems, but also of the problem of revolt by sovereign governments
against Microsoft hegemony. It makes especially interesting reading in
combination with
Halloween
VII.
Which leaves us with one burning question: whatever happened to
Ed Muth? He was fun to play with! He appears to have become
a non-person on the Microsoft website, and there is some evidence they
may have demoted him and exiled him to
Australia.
(Rob Landley assisted with the preparation of this
article.)
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