* Roy Schestowitz peremptorily fired off this memo:
> http://www.pbs.org/cringely/pulpit/2008/pulpit_20080215_004309.html
Redmond's real goal may be simply to poach people from Yahoo, and
this deal could help them do just that.
There is plenty of historical precedent for such behavior. Back in
the 1990s, for example, Microsoft made many approaches to Borland, a
company that was giving it fits in the programming languages business
at the time. Borland's products were simply better (and a lot
cheaper) than Microsoft's.
(Sounds familiar.)
Bill Gates had also been stung by the defection of an important
Microsoft executive, Rob Dickerson, to Borland. Failing to buy
Borland at a good price, Microsoft took to recruiting Borland
employees, sending limousines during lunch hour with Microsoft signs
in their windows to Borland's Scotts Valley, California headquarters
to pick up techies for job interviews.
(You couldn't /make/ this stuff up!)
. . .
Unlike Borland, where Microsoft paid a PR penalty (and later scored a
lawsuit) for sending limos to the parking lot and interviewing
anybody who would get in, by entering a formal due diligence period
with Intuit, Microsoft got access to many details, including
Intuit's product plans and employee records. By the time they
bailed on the deal, Microsoft had a very good idea exactly which
Intuit employees to recruit to both improve Microsoft Money and to
hurt Quicken, QuickBooks, and TurboTax.
(Wonder what tack they took to get to Miquel?)
--
Tardiness often robs us opportunity, and the dispatch of our forces.
-- Niccolo Machiavelli
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