Microsoft Leaks Another Glum Valentine

El Gato was amused to see that Microsoft may be having as much trouble stopping internal memos from leaking to the press as it is providing a secure operating system.

The latest memo that found its way to the Kittys litter box is a scorcher from Brian Valentine, a vice president of Microsofts Windows division, regarding the threat Linux poses to Redmonds reign. Ironically, the Dec. 26 memo, sent to the companys worldwide sales, marketing and services group, also blasts the leak of an earlier e-mail. Apparently, the previous leak included Microsoft staff and customer names, which were then made public on the Web.

“That made me mad. I want you selling and supporting our products—not having to take random calls, e-mails, etc. from the press and others. … I have no problem with any random Linux person sending me hate mail, junk mail, adding my e-mail address to every list server out there—that comes with the job—but I dont want my friends to have to deal with the same junk,” Valentines memo said.

Valentine warned that “I used to run Exchange—so if you think I am not tracking this message, think again. … I want to give you folks all the information I can in a very open way. If we continue to have bad apples or careless people out there, I will not be able to help you by sending this kind of information.”

The memo then goes on to illustrate just how seriously Redmond views Linux: from developing a community to cooperating in winning business from Linux to establishing a new Linux/Unix escalation campaign and debunking the myths around Linux, such as the perception that its free.

Interestingly enough, Valentine cites an “independent analysis” commissioned by D.H. Brown that will look at the issue of server consolidation, saying that “the D.H. Brown report will be customer-ready and will help them understand just how competitive Microsoft is in this arena.”

“Sounds like this is one analysis thats bound to be independent and objective,” laughed the Lynx.

A friend of the Furball whos one of the 50,000 or so laid off by Nortel claimed theres a rise in used networking gear being traded on eBay and similar outlets.

According to the Katt crony, due to the second-hand market, Nortel started a project division about six months ago to handle the recertification or reconfiguration of used Nortel telecom gear for customers that bought the gear from another source (such as a failed telco or Local Exchange Carrier).

The friend of the Furry One claimed that even Passport switches have been auctioned on eBay recently. “So, dont just assume your staff is looking for only Obi-Wan Kenobi action figures when you catch them tooling around eBay,” cackled the Kitty.

Spencer F. Katt can be reached at spencer_katt@ziffdavis.com.