The Microsoft memos revealed

Posted by tadelste on Nov 9, 2005 8:55 AM EDT
Financial Times; By By Kate Mackenzie
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Two themes are dominant in the lengthy emails from Bill Gates, Microsoft chairman, and Ray Ozzie, chief technology officer. One is the advertising-supported business model for software distribution - for example, Google’s search and email products, which are free to use but earn money for Google by providing contextial advertising links alongside search results or emails.

The second is “grassroots”, a word which appears numerous times throughout the emails. It’s used to refer to the way in which many of the new web technologies - such as blogging, RSS feeds and tagging - are rapidly taken up by internet users with little or no marketing. It also touches on the kind of credibility afforded to open source technologies - software that is developed as a community effort for free use and distribution - which Microsoft has long seen as its nemesis.

[Ed. People have started making these memos "an event". Earlier memo, I can see that. But Gates seems like he's trying to create something that would leak out and get Microsoft attention. So, he did it. But, today's Microsoft is as buggy as their code. You might say, nothing here, move on. But, we'll point to the anyway. - tadelste]

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msft stories bdumm 13 1,355 Nov 10, 2005 7:28 PM

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