Microsoft discussed dumping Office to ‘hurt Apple’


bill_gates_halo_3.jpgEven more fun stuff has been exposed via the Iowa anti-trust trial. This time it’s in the form of documetation that confirms Microsoft considered dumping the Mac version of Office in order to do “a great deal of harm” to Apple.

The email specifically described dumping Office for Mac as “The strongest bargaining point we have, as doing so will do a great deal of harm to Apple immediately.”

The form of the documentation was in an email memo from Microsoft-cofounder Bill Gates to then Mac Business Unit chief Ben Waldman. It was dated June 1997.

1997…hmmm…why is that familiar? Oh yeah! Remember what happened in January 1997?

So roughly 6 months after Bill Gates appeared at Macworld to show support for Apple, Microsoft was discussing stabbing the company in the back.

That’s real classy.


Kokou Adzo

Kokou Adzo is a stalwart in the tech journalism community, has been chronicling the ever-evolving world of Apple products and innovations for over a decade. As a Senior Author at Apple Gazette, Kokou combines a deep passion for technology with an innate ability to translate complex tech jargon into relatable insights for everyday users.

6 Comments

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  1. If you read the original memo and Bill’s response, you’ll see that the threat was mentioned as a tactic to get Apple to act like professionals. It’s likely that Waldman cared more about the Mac’s future than some people within Apple at the time.

    I’m not a M$ apologist having evangelised Macs since I got my first in February 1984.

    The knee-jerk reaction on many Mac-fan sites to this memo shows how lazy journalism is rife amongst Mac pundits.

  2. Yes, yes, trusting a site like MacNN with what they’ve reported is very lazy on my part. I do apologize.

  3. Microsoft save Apple ass, be grateful.

    You shud put your selfs on your knees infront of Bill Gates.

  4. Papucho – as flame inducing as that comment from you is supposed to be, you are right, and you are wrong.

    1 – yes, Microsoft pulled Apple out of the fire and made things easier for them.

    2 – no one should EVER…under ANY CIRCUMSTANCES…get on their knees in front of any CEO for anything.

  5. Papucho:

    Microsoft no save no Apple ass. Apple can do that for itself. Apple kick all other software/ IT hardware company ass. OK?

    The fact is that Steve Jobs made Microsoft *see sense* in investing in Apple. The deal was that the world’s worst browser (IE) comes bundled with Mac OS 9, meanwhile Apple gets a neat $ 150 from MS and contunued development of Microsoft Office for the Mac, in order to come out of the red. Billy boy thought he was getting a neat deal, because he thought this would sink Netscape, which was the browser to beat back then, which did happen eventually, but all the while Steve laughed his way back to Apple campus because it was probably the easiest $ 150 Million that he got for Apple!

    And close on the heels of the 5 year deal coming to an end, Apple snubbed Microsoft by releasing Safari, which is the best browser i have seen to date!

    Only Steve could have pulled off a home-run like this one.

    Poor Billy boy, i doubt he realizes [even today] what really hit him!
    And you ask us to kneel in front of that cultureless, money-grubbing idiot?

    If you love kneeling, do it in front of the right people at least.