Re: [Businessweek] Microsoft vs. Crossgain: Don't Moon the Giant

Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

From: Matt Jensen (mattj@newsblip.com)
Date: Wed Jan 31 2001 - 12:50:32 PST


On Tue, 30 Jan 2001, Adam Rifkin wrote:

> "They plan to trickle back to Crossgain when their yearlong noncompete
> restrictions expire." Rrrrrright....

The main point of the story is that Microsoft still plays hardball, of
course.

But I find it even more interesting that the *main reason* Crossgain fired
23 of their key employees was to protect their right to use Oracle/Sun
instead of using SQLServer/Win2000. And that's from a team made up of
former Microsoft product managers. Ouch.

> > ''CHARGED UP.'' So Crossgain considered the offer. The company entered
> > into a three-week agreement with Microsoft, beginning Jan. 1, in which
> > it would test Microsoft's software. After two weeks, though, Crossgain
> > concluded that it would be more trouble than it was worth. Crossgain
> > execs believed that by firing the 23 employees, they could remove
> > Microsoft's most potent argument if it sues. Crossgain decided that the
> > right to choose its software was worth the fight. ''The Crossgain guys
> > were saying, 'Give me liberty or give me death,''' says an executive.

-Matt Jensen
 NewsBlip.com
 Seattle


Date view Thread view Subject view Author view

This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu Feb 01 2001 - 04:08:20 PST