Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals. more here: http://www.techarena.in/comments.php?shownews=3538
COURT DOCUMENTS: Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer Vowed to "KILL" Google News Published: September 2, 2005, 1:07 PM PDT Reprinted From CNET News.com - Written by Ina Fried ----- ---- --- -- - - Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Google in an expletitive-laced, chair-throwing tirade when a senior engineer told him he was leaving the company to go work for Google, the engineer claimed in court documents made public on Friday. In a sworn statement made public Friday, Mark Lucovsky, another Microsoft senior engineer who left for Google in November 2004, recounted Ballmer's angry reaction when Lucovsky told Ballmer he was going to work for the search engine company. "At some point in the conversation, Mr. Ballmer said: 'Just tell me it's not Google,'"Lucovosky said in his statement. Lucovosky replied that he was joining Google. "At that point, Mr. Ballmer picked up a chair and threw it across the room hitting a table in his office," Lucovosky recounted, adding that Ballmer then launched into a tirade about Google CEO Eric Schmidt. "I'm going to f***ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again. I'm going to f***ing kill Google." Schmidt previously worked for Sun Microsystems and was the CEO of Novell. ARTICLE AT: http://news.com.com/Court+docs+Ballmer+vowed+to+kill+Google/2100-1014_3-5846243.html? COMMENTED AT: http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/05/09/03/0515250.shtml?tid=109&tid=217&tid=133&tid=123
Good for Mircrosoft, maybe a good ol' fight might be some fun and then these people won't keep blanking eachother.
Lee is obviously a traitor. Lee is trying to screw MS and will later screw google. This is obvious. Later it will be like the guy that steals his friends wife and get's pissed when she leaves him for another friend. This Lee guy can't be trusted. BTW, since when is wanting to bury the fucking competition illegal? If the company you invested in does not think like that, you'd lose your money or at the least never show a growth in profit. This is bullshit sensationalizm because the word fuck was used. Used in a private meeting that Lee repeated incidents that occured in it. Lee cannot be trusted. He's a liability. Furthermore, google would not invest in the guy unless they knew they were getting inside information on technology that is better then what they already have. Do no evil? That's some funny shit for google to have ever said. Go figure! :/
Hey....what comes around goes around. It must really hurt MS not to be able to intimidate another software company. Google might be the first truely non-MS dependent software company that can actually tell MS to go F themselves. I am not saying what Lee is doing is right or legal..just that I think MS had it coming.
It's thoughts like that of acceptance of illegal activity that are erroding our society. Good going. But if you check the numbers, MS has the expendable cash to crush google if they want to. They can and will tie up this in the courts for years. Google is no MS when it comes to cash.
Well, I guess it's good that Ballmer is passionate about what he does. Hopefully that will go into Microsoft products and they'll come up with some good innovative competition for Google.
"I'm going to kill Google" .. well assuming they do have the expendable cash, they will surely suceed with Ballmer at the helm. Watch for the next versions of Windows over the coming 10 years, and what they include. ..Wether Ballmers heart lasts that long and he lives to see it is another matter. Pete
It didn't get held up in court... if that's the dispute I'm thinking about. Google hired an executive with a non-compete clause and Microsoft sued. Microsoft won that one in a heartbeat and the guy is without a job.
Microsoft won the first round of the increasingly bitter battle between the two firms in July, when a King County Superior Court judge issued a temporary order barring Mr Lee from carrying out the duties he had been hired to do for Google. The two sides will face each other in court again on Tuesday when Microsoft will ask a court to extend that order until the matter comes to trial in January. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4213466.stm
Steve B may want to kill them but I do not think they are going to be able to. Google may not be able to use this guy they hired, but MS can't either now I guess. Maybe it was calculated that way. Anyway Google is good for MS. It gives them something to compete with. Oh wait, maybe that is why Steve is upset...
Yeah, I saw that article on Goyk the other day. Gave me a good laugh. You have to wonder if guys with that much power really do go to the mat to try to crush the competition?
Google has been given legal clearance to hire a former Microsoft executive to head its Chinese research and development facility. Microsoft had gone to court in the US to try to block the move, but a judge in Seattle has allowed Kai-Fu Lee to join Google with some limitations. Ahead of a full trial next year, Mr Lee will not be able to recruit any former Microsoft colleagues. Nor will he be able to work on projects he previously led at Microsoft. Both sides claimed victory in what has been a bitter dispute between the two rival companies. Continues............. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4243744.stm
Microsoft had the OS, the web browser, and the money. Yet, they still couldn't create anything coming close to Google or Yahoo. Both of which had none of the things Microsoft had. Just goes to show, motivation is more important than money, in new markets.
The main thing Google had going for it when it started in business was that start up attitude that anything is possible. Now Google, like Microsoft is filled with attorneys and other folks that will slow down progress. In many ways, Google and Microsoft are starting to look more a like. Wonder who the next start up will be? They may already be in business, but just not yet noticed.
Ballmer is a legend, I mean this video proves it: Ballmer = Legend (80kB) Apparently he said: "F**king Eric Schmidt is a f***ing p****. I'm going to f***ing bury that guy. I have done it before, I will do it again. I'm going to f****ing kill Google." Thats just funny. I like google but i'm rooting for Ballmer....for comedy value but still.