What did Microsoft know about SCO's plan to attack Linux, and when did it know it? And was it a force behind it? We've long wondered. Certainly there have been indications that it was. Michael Anderer's
leaked memo in 2003 certainly claimed Microsoft had been funneling money to SCO, but SCO said he was mistaken. Was he? He later also said that Microsoft had a patent plan to destroy Linux or force them to pay for licenses, but that's another chapter. Was he wrong about that? And when BayStar funded SCO in 2004, it was reported that Microsoft had asked BayStar in 2003 to do it, which Lawrence Goldfarb later confirmed in a Declaration submitted by IBM in the SCO v. IBM litigation, despite Microsoft's denial. But it was still a little bit he said, she said, although all the available evidence was strong that Microsoft's carefully worded denial was not, shall we say, the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
But now, thanks to a volunteer working on doing the exhibits in the Comes v. Microsoft antitrust litigation as text, we find an email thread in Exhibit 8953 [PDF] where Microsoft employees, including the managing director of Microsoft in India at the time, mention SCO in a discussion about heading off the Linux threat in India. The emails are dated September 11, 2002. Given the date, I believe this opens up the question of Microsoft's involvement once again. At a minimum, it needs clarification. If it doesn't demonstrate Microsoft knowing about SCO's plans before they unfurled, what does it mean? I'd like Microsoft to tell us. Because I have a lot of questions about the email thread.
First, the date. Let's put it in a timeline context, in reverse chronological order, because this email thread is before any public mention of SCOsource and long before SCO sued IBM.
-
Microsoft announced it had paid for a SCO license in May of 2003.
-
SCO sued IBM in March of 2003.
- SCOsource was
announced in January of 2003.
-
David Boies was announced as representing SCO in January of 2003.
-
Darl McBride said in August of 2003 that when the company filed its stock sales plan in January of 2003, it was "months before legal action was contemplated" in the context of trying to claim there was no connection between the two. I think we can put that in the hardy har bucket.
- The Microsoft email thread mentioning SCO is dated September of 2002.
- Darl McBride joined SCO as CEO in June of 2002, according to this SEC filing, and he is described as "responsible for the Company's strategic direction and planning".
Does it not strike you as strange, given the timeline, that here in September of 2002, Microsoft seems to have known something was pending that would be helpful to Microsoft in its Linux competition that related to SCO? It does me.
Some Microsoft employees are discussing an EDGI-like education plan for India, and Rajiv Kaul, then managing director of Microsoft in India, says this:Am in Redmond this week. Wanted to catch up with you. You might be aware of the work Bric team is doing on the proactive EDGI like proposal. Given the impact of Education market in India globally for us and the threats from Linux and piracy, I want to make this a big bet plan in India (post Novell - Sco and Trishul).
If you recall,
EDGI was about pushing Microsoft in India so as to head off Linux and StarOffice use there in government and education. This email says Bill Gates thought they should just give away their software in India and wherever necessary to head off the threat, and that is part of what is being discussed, because some disagreed about giving it away for free. But EDGI was not restricted to India; it could be implemented wherever needed. I believe this exhibit may be a smoking gun. At a minimum, it calls for clarification, and if and when SCO v. IBM starts up again, I believe it could provide a basis for limited discovery on this very topic or if Michael Anderer is put on the stand, it opens up a fruitful thread. Regulatory bodies are also completely free to investigate whether it was indeed Microsoft using SCO as an anti-competitive weapon against Linux in violation of antitrust law.
The email mentions Novell, SCO and Trishul, and I thought it might be referring to an inside name for the strategy, since that is the name of a Trident air defense missile ("The Trishul air-defense missile is intended to counter a low level attack with a very quick reaction time and has an all weather capability."), but it is also possible it's referring to a Microsoft employee who heads up the Runtime Analysis & Design research group, so I've written to him asking him which it might be or if he can clarify the email. Meanwhile, take a look. The reference to Novell is more puzzling, but it is certainly possible, given the evidence that SCO thought Novell would join them, that Microsoft back then thought so too.
Update: Here's the link to Microsoft project, or "plan", named Trishul, on a speakers page, where it says this about Microsoft's Arumugam Saravanan:
Contributed to conceiving and developing “Trishul” plan as a core member with Sanjay Mirchandani, Rajiv Kaul and Tarun Gulati
*************************
Plaintiff's
Exhibit
8593
Comes V. Microsoft
From: Vidur Luthra
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 2:59
PM
To: Vinay Kumar
Subject: FW: Meeting to discuss India Education
plan
Importance: Low
-----Original Message-----
From: Sherri Bealkowski
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 1:17 PM
To: Rajiv Kaul; David Driftmier
Cc: Karishma Kiri; Vidur Luthra; Anne Pression;
Mallica Sarkar
Subject: RE: Meeting to discuss India Education
plan
Importance: Low
Hi, Rajiv. Actually we are proceeding on another path for
developing countries called a Country
License, which is a concept that has been approved by
Allchin, the board, the BLT etc, for more
thinking and development with India as the first potential
test case. Unfortunately the BRIC Windows
team was in India while we were working this as part of a
greater Linux project and we just were able to
fill in Vidur this week. Our concept is broader than
Windows as well. I don't want to do something cool
for Windows and create a bunch of sockets for Staroffice!
The work that Vidur and team did with you in
India however is extremely valuable as foundation for the
country license concept.
We are aware of Billg's plan to visit India and want to
give him something smart and innovative to
announce as part of a larger global education initiative.
(Bill likes the free idea but he's the only one I
know of who does! :)
Let's catch up, and I will include David Driftmier, who
owns the project on my team. David, can you get
this scheduled please?
Sherri
-----Original Message-----
From: Rajiv Kaul
Sent: Wednesday, September 11, 2002 12:15 PM
To: Sherri Bealkowski
Cc: Karishma Kiri; Vidur Luthra; Anne Pression;
Mallica Sarkar
Subject: Meeting to discuss India Education plan
Hi Sherri,
Am in Redmond this week. Wanted to catch up with you. You
might be aware of the work Bric team is doing on
the proactive EDGI like proposal. Given the impact of
Education market in India globally for us and the threats
from Linux and piracy, I want to make this a big bet plan
in India (post Novell - Sco and Trishul). Have discussed
with MichaelR too on this You must also be aware of
Bill's views on what we should do from a market
perspective
in this space in India. I feel we need a different
startegy and plan, where we dont give s/w away free but
build a
end to end program which offers value to the
segment.
Wanted to sync up on our thinking and get your inputs. We
are working on an announcement with Bills trip to
India in mid Nov.
If we can spent 30- 45 mins tomorrow first half, it would
be great. Else Fri - let me know what time slots work for
you.
Thanks,
Rajiv Kaul
General Manager
Microsoft India
|
