Seen on another lisr

["Peter B. Van Campen" <pbvanca@mcs.com>]

I thought you might be interested in the message (translated
from German) that is posted at:

first offiicial news concerning the timebomb, look
http://home.t-online.de/home/jMichels/nte.htm


Windows NT Server 4.0 Deutsch, received  5. Nov. 1996

Dear Mr. Roy,

about the same letter was sent on June 17. 1998 to Mr. St. by Fax and standard
mail. Since there was no reaction until June 20, it was repeated by e-mail to
Mr. St..

Since there is again no reaction up to now, I send this letter by fax now to
you. Should I not receive  any reaction until noon of today (the 25. June) I
have to give full information to the media and clients that can be reached.

This was the content:

in Nov. of 1996 Microsoft made available to me a full version of NT 4.0 Server
/10 Clients  which we used to test and work on various projects, e.g: SMS,
Outlook,  Access, Frontpage etc.

On June 16. about 10:45 a.m. in the middle of work, there is suddenly a window
on the screen, saying that  NT will cease operating within one (1) hour.
(!!!) Further it said, that I should save all files and get another version
because this one will be invalid  after that hour.

Not even a fast MS dealer could procure a new NT within that time!

By lucky circumstances  I was able to lend a colleague's NT Workstation almost
immediately which I installed over the existing expiring one.

The sinister consequence: all settings were lost, no single hint how to secure
them. The emergency diskette was completely unusuable in this situation.
The net balance: damage by loss in worktime and income will be at least 1.500
to 2.000 USD. Even worse effects such as lost files may have happened and can
only be detected in the following weeks and months.

After about 5 hours for rapid new installation and reconstruction of the most
needed environments there will be needed at least another 20 to 30 hours for
tuning all setting as they were before the desaster. This will affect all
applications used like Office, Comms Programs, type fonts, language
translation, voice input, database and hardware components, internet front
ends.

There was not a single warning on the shipping papers, nor the accompanying
letter, nor on the CD-ROM nor on the package. No warning message what so ever
on the screeen. One and half year of quiet use, then - all of a sudden - one
hour time to reinstall !!! My question is, wether Microsoft really did not
know about this time-bomb. And if it did, why not inform the user ?

Now I urge you to immediately communicate this unbelievable fact to the
responsible persons in charge. I trust you will immedialy take appropriate
action.

The legal side of the case will not be raised now, but I reserve the right to
do so later if needed. And there will be messages to the media and the web. I
will have to inform my clients too.

I expect Microsoft to indemnify for any damages. I want to return the package
I lended to the owner as soon as possible.

Finally I ask for a simple and secure mtethod to save the settings befor such
a case. The loss in time already is much more than the retail price of the
package.

Sincerely J.M.



Peter B. Van Campen
pbvanca@mcs.com   72701,1263  CI$
This work copyright Peter B. Van Campen. No portion of this work
shall be reproduced on the Microsoft Network in any form.

 "The most dementing of all modern sins is the inability
to distinguish excellence from success" - David Hare