Microsoft lies

[Wendy <WENDY@compuserve.com>]

Microsoft is once more issuing outright lies
about my Random House book, The Microsoft File.
See the Wired article  below, and note that i have
NEVER at any time "admitted to making things up" in the book,
as Microsoft is telling people. The book is a highly sourced 
work of nonfiction, as Random House has repeatedly stated.
Microsoft itself filed court motions, in fact, complaining that
the book is filled "throughout" with confidential Microsoft 
information. Some work of "fiction"!   (Like other
 publications that repeated these lies, Wired
will run a correction.) 
   NOTE: otherwise, the attached article is quite accurate.

-------------------
 from Wired News

Microsoft Taps the Source
by Heidi Kriz 

2:05 p.m.  4.Dec.98.PST


The author of The Microsoft File: The Secret Case Against Bill Gates
 claims that Microsoft is on a "witch hunt for sources" that she used 
for her recently published book which accuses Gates of predatory 
business practices. 

In an email this week, author Wendy Goldman Rohm wrote that Microsoft 
accused Caldera, the company that filed an antitrust lawsuit against 
Microsoft in 1996, of leaking information to Rohm for use in her book. 

"Microsoft is on a witch hunt for sources apparently, and ... accuses 
Caldera of leaks in regard to articles I published.... [Microsoft] seeks 
to find Caldera in contempt of court," Rohm wrote. Rohm believes that 
Microsoft is attempting to stall the case. 

She said a sealed motion presented by Microsoft stated the "evidence is 
overwhelming that Ms. Rohm received confidential materials referred to 
throughout her new book from Caldera or its lawyers." 

Rohm called the claim completely false. 

"Caldera was not the source for the leaks," she said. "While I cannot 
name sources, and usually would not comment on sources at all, I cannot 
stand by while Microsoft falsely accuses Caldera of leaking information 
that it clearly did not leak to me. I can say that information 
throughout my articles and my book came from Microsoft sources and 
others." 

Rohm recalled, too, that Microsoft originally dismissed her book as 
fabrication when it first appeared. If that's true, she wondered, why 
the intense interest now? 

"It ... put my entire book into evidence, oddly enough," she said. "This 
is the book that it publicly described as 'fiction,' but then behind the 
scenes is complaining to a judge that the book is filled with internal 
Microsoft information." 

Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan explained his company's position. 

"Rohm herself has admitted that she made up many scenes in the book, 
scenes where she herself was not present. But there are isolated 
references to documents in the book that we feel were improperly used. 
We are proceeding with our complaint against Caldera." 

In July 1996, Caldera, a Utah software developer, filed an antitrust 
lawsuit against Microsoft, accusing the software giant of "unfair 
pricing practices and license agreements," and "anti-competitive 
conduct." 

"Unless restrained by order of this court, Microsoft will permanently 
destroy competition in the DOS market in the microcomputer software 
industry," Caldera's complaint read. 

The lawsuit echoes many of the charges made in 1994 by the US Department 
of Justice against Microsoft, a case which is now being thrashed out in 
court. 

In late September, the court handling Caldera v. Microsoft rejected a 
motion filed by Microsoft requesting a 120-day delay in the trial. It 
remains on track to begin in early June.