MS did 'break' rival OS: Win 3.1 rogue error message exists zdnet.com
I got to leave this one to you, Andy. Not having ever used Windows 3x, I've found your explanations a bit cryptic.
Microsoft repeatedly has denied such claims. On an
NPR radio talk show aired on January 16, 1998, Microsoft vice president Brad Chase, who was in charge of DOS development during the late 1980's, dismissed the Windows message as an "urban legend."
Urban legend excuse refuted
Over time numerous authors have refuted Microsoft's dismissal. In the September 1993 issue of Doctor Dobbs' Journal, and also in his book Undocumented DOS, software guru Andrew Schulman explains how British DOS expert Geoff Chappell helped him to analyze the intentionally encrypted code that created the Windows error message.
Two more ominous Microsoft messages, generated during the same time period, suggest that such tactics may have been business as usual for the software giant. According to Schulman's book, Microsoft's QuickC compiler, released in April 1990, produced the following error message when run under DR-DOS:
WARNING: This Microsoft product has been tested and
certified for use only with the MS-DOS and PC-DOS
operating systems. Your use of this product with another
operating system may void valuable warranty protection
provided by Microsoft on this product.
Oh no! People would lose that valuable warranty protection of getting a disk replaced if they couldn't read it. That's the standard shrinkwrap warranty isn't it? Soon to be encoded in law under UCC article 2B.
Business as usual? Standard Microsoft Business practice? Innocent accident? "Honesty" under the Microsoftese definition? Perhaps it'll be decided at trial soon in a courtroom near you.
Cheers, Dan.
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