It's also a kneejerk reaction

Story: Dell Mail Reeks of Redmond's FearTotal Replies: 0
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Sander_Marechal

Feb 01, 2007
12:53 PM EDT
Aside from fear, MS's reaction in the e-mails can also be a knee-jerk reaction. Reading the PDF, Bll Veghte states in his opening e-mail that Dell is a key MS partner and MS cannot afford to loose them. Digging back in my memory (and the El Reg archives) I recall 2002 as the first time Dell started pushing Linux hard.

I don't see direct fear/despair in the mails but simple blind panic of a company caught totally off-guard. MS simply didn't see this coming.

Looking back to http://lxer.com/module/newswire/view/57261/index.html in coincides nicely with the timing of their tactic change from saying that Linux is broken or bad to the infamous TCO studies. Dell caught MS by surprise and MS reacted by starting to tout the TCO FUD.

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