New Microsoft Dirty Tricks Revealed 207
Conrad Mazian writes "Robert X. Cringely has an article on the Technology Evangelist web site where he claims that Microsoft destroyed evidence in the Burst vs Microsoft case. Specifically Burst's lawyers had asked for certain emails, Microsoft claimed that they couldn't find the backup tapes the emails would be on, and while this was happening the tapes were in a vault at Microsoft — until they mysteriously disappeared. It's a fascinating story, and even names one person at Microsoft."
And your point? (Score:5, Informative)
If you do, and actually get caught, you get some token fine and you chalk it up as a cost of doing business and move on.
New? (Score:4, Informative)
link to "Microsoft dirty tricks, part two" (Score:1, Informative)
Here's the second part (Score:5, Informative)
Re:the irony (Score:3, Informative)
Re:Jesus Christ! (Score:2, Informative)
According to Cringley:
You are welcome to question whether Cringley is being truthful or not, but why should I belive your assertation that the source was a friend's sister's boyfirend's
I think what is new is our knowledge that Microsoft is being accused of destroying evidence. The allegations are new. Cringley said in the article you apparently didn't bother to read:
Mind you, there is no date on this blog entry (I couldn't even find a Cringley byline, only a link to an audio version that gives his name), but the comments are dated Feb 15. So the allegations are current.
There is also a lot that sounds pretty damning, like:
Sorry for the long quote, but I think this lends credibility to what is being asserted by the source Cringley has so far not named.
That's why Burst won the courtcase (Score:5, Informative)
To the courts, it doesn't make much difference whether you say "sorry, we lost these emails by accident" and say the truth, or you say "we destroyed these emails, take that!" and say the truth or not, or whether you say "sorry, we lost these emails" and are in fact hiding them. In each case, the emails are not there, and the courts will assume that whatever they might have contained was not good for you. So whether Microsoft really lost these emails or was just hiding them, it doesn't matter.
Similar, if you are taken to court because someone claims you downloaded music illegally, and you just happen to format your harddisk by accident, you are in deep shit. And it doesn't matter whether there was evidence on that harddisk or not.