By Rachel Chalmers in Washington
Microsoft marketing executives are worried that maverick operating system Linux is outselling Windows 98 through certain retail channels by a factor of two to one, it emerged during the government’s antitrust trial today (Thursday June 3 1999). Microsoft attorney Michael Lacovara introduced as evidence a May 25 1999 email from Microsoft channel marketer Ed Chase, which ended up in the mailboxes of David Cole, Jim Allchin and other top Microsoft executives.
Recently in CompUSA, MicroCenter and Fry’s, Linux is outselling Windows 98, Chase wrote. Combine this with lower theft rate and inventory that costs less for them to stock on the shelves, [and] we will be faced with the situation where resellers will start to provide more support for Linux than for Windows! As an upcoming example, CompUSA will be running a full-page ad on June 27 for Operating Systems and Utilities – of the full page, 1/3 will be for Windows, 1/3 for Mac and 1/3 for Linux! … Additionally, total Linux is currently outselling Windows 98, 2:1 in MicroCenter and it is also outselling Windows 98 at Fry’s Electronics.
Ironically, lead prosecutor David Boies challenged the introduction of the email on the grounds that Microsoft employees are quite likely to be drafting email these days with more care than formerly. Judge Jackson himself described it as a self- serving, out-of-court statement offered as the truth. Lacovara objected that the email had been forwarded to him by Allchin himself. Can you think of a reason the recipient might have sent it on to you? Judge Jackson inquired gently. Nevertheless, he overruled Boies and let the email stand.
It was Fisher who pointed out the obvious: that most people who get Windows 98 don’t get it through the retail channel, but pre- installed on new machines. Media darling and undeniable server success story that it is, Fisher doesn’t believe Linux represents a serious challenge to Windows on the desktop any time soon. He continued to describe Linux as a niche operating system until Lacovara in frustration said: How many units of Linux will have to be sold before it’s more than a niche? Fisher noted that Linux still has less that 5% of the desktop market, and said he won’t take the operating system seriously until it has more than 20%.
Boies returned to Linux during his redirection of the witness, introducing the Washington Post article in which Red Hat CEO Bob Young chortled: It just tells you how desperate Microsoft are for a competitor…Who are they trying to kid? I didn’t chortle, said Fisher, but like Mr Young, I can see the joke. As for Judge Jackson, he seems to regard this all as something of a sideshow. The judge has repeatedly made it clear that his real interest in Fisher is the light he can shed on the AOL/Netscape merger and any impact it may have on the case. Boies assured Judge Jackson that he’s just getting to that.
