Techland

It's just what I wanted! How did they know?

Seriously, are you guys following the trail of de-cloaked internal Microsoft e-mails that's coming out of this class-action lawsuit over the whole Vista Capable thing? Slashdot keeps picking up the news stories -- for example, here, here, here and here. They just keep on coming. I live in the Mac-verse, mostly, so I don't actually have strong opinions about Vista, or much of a horse in this race. But oh God the drama!

A lot of the kerfuffle seems to have to do with Microsoft lowering the specs necessary for a PC to get a Vista Capable rating, a move designed to help out their close corporate chums Intel, but which had the effect of screwing certain other partners, and -- it could be argued -- consumers.

Here for example is Microsoft/s Jim Allchin -- at the time Microsoft's Windows czar -- e-mailing Ballmer:

... I was away and I get back to see this mess.

I was told this all started with a call between you and Paul [meaning Intel CEO Paul Otellini]. I will have to get to the bottom of this and understand how we could be so insensitive in handling the situation.

Ballmer comes back with this:

I had nothing to do with this Will [meaning Will Poole, another Windows-related exec] handled everything I received a message that paul was going to call Will said he would handle it Paul called I had not even had a chance to report his issues when Will told me he had solved them (it did not sound like he had) I am not even in the detail of the issues

You better get will under control thanks

Thanks!

It goes on and on like that. I'm not even saying I think it's funny. I just think it's amazing that people e-mail each other like this.

It definitely won't be funny if anybody ever files a class-action lawsuit against Time and people got to read my e-mails. There would be nothing funny about that.