Re: In the Briefcases of Gates' Lawyers

[Mitch Stone <mstone@vc.net>]

  In reply to Jordan Pollack's message sent 11/12/97 8:27 PM:
  
  >Nobody can verify any connection between Mrs Gates and IBM.  That is a
  >nasty rumor to try to account for why IBM made the crazy business
  >decision it did.
  
  Mary Gates served on the national board of United Way with John Opel, a 
  top exec at IBM.
  
  According to James Wallace and Jim Erickson in "Hard Drive: Bill Gates 
  and the Making of the Microsoft Empire,"
  
  "Whether this United Way connection helped Microsoft get the IBM deal is 
  not clear. Opel, now retired, won't talk. [Jack] Sams believed Opel may 
  have been reassured about Gates because he knew his mother. After all, 
  Gates was only 24 years old, and IBM was betting the reputation of the 
  company on Gates, and Microsoft, coming through." (p.189)
  
  Jack Sams was the head of Project Chess (the PC development team). He was 
  later replaced by Don Esteridge.
  
     Mitch Stone
  +---
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