Partners toe Microsoft line news.com
Partners is another one of those slippery words here. Anyway, here we go again.
"The direct effect on the U.S. economy of a delay to Windows 98 would be considerable. More than 2 million Americans, for instance, develop software that runs on Windows, while a similar number work in the computer services industry," the letter states. "Interfering with the release of Windows 98 would drag down the entire industry's efforts to deliver value to customers and returns to shareholders."
And how is that? Since there's not supposed to be much of anything new, except for a tv tuner, what's hanging in the lurch here? Business isn't supposed to care about Windows98, according to Microsoft, and that's where all the money is. What's supposed to run on Windows98 that won't on Win95? Who's zooming who here?
In a separate campaign, the Microsoft Executive Reseller Counsel--made up of about 30 companies worldwide--is encouraging companies to contact their respective attorneys general and governors to halt actions against Microsoft.
Hey Guv! Lay off my buddy Bill! Again, the legal mechanism for this cease and desist order is unclear.
Jay Amato, president and chief operating officer of Vanstar, is spearheading the effort on behalf of the Reseller Council--which he said generates revenues of more than $100 billion and employs more than 150,000 workers. He warned that hindering the release of Windows 98 could be disastrous.
Once more, the world in flames if standard Microsoft business practice is hindered! After all, everybody wants an OS that sucks less.
"While you can debate a lot of things about Microsoft, their role is extremely important in this industry," he added. "This issue is much bigger than whether or not you slap Microsoft."
The connection between the first sentence and the second sentence is far from clear. Anyway, after a bunch more stuff about where the motivation for this particular little grass roots campaign is coming from, we conclude with one of these little NYT-style irony without comment things.
Amato also is apparently a friend of Steve Ballmer, the executive vice president of Microsoft.
Cheers, Dan. |
