Is this true, you ask?  Of course not.  But this message compares to the message displayed by Microsoft when you install Windows 98 using a boot manager.  The message displayed by Microsoft says point blank that your boot manager will no longer work after you install Windows 98.  It is simply not true. It is an intentionally false statement displayed for the obvious purpose of discouraging customers from using non-Microsoft products.  Microsoft knows for a fact it is false, but they display it just the same.  I guess what they meant to say was that they disabled it. But, unless the consumer can figure that out on their own (Microsoft will not help you) and figure out how to re-enable it, Microsoft will have effectively blocked the user from benefiting from other technology. And, that is the Microsoft culture.

It is just another example of how Microsoft uses knowingly false statements to influence what customers do.  Apparently the same person that approved the message regarding Windows 3.1 not working correctly if you used DR-DOS still works for Microsoft.  Perhaps he even got a raise?  Is it the same person that spread rumors about OS/2?  Or the same person that spread misinformation about the Apple product?  Or the same person that approved the release of a white paper on Real networks rather than help out the company.  Or, is it the same person that approved the public statement by Microsoft's attorneys that Netscape lost market share due to inferior products as opposed to Microsoft's illegal acts?

Microsoft does not only advertise its own products.  It only makes derogatory and false statements about the products of others.  A policy, by the way, that most companies in the industry refuse to adopt because it is dishonest and disrespectful.  But, at Microsoft is is part of the culture.  It is part of the business plan.  Microsoft uses deceit and false statements in its marketing program. Anything that Microsoft can do to reduce the value of competing products for its customers, Microsoft will do.  Other companies would refer to this tactic as little more than "dirty tricks" and stay away from such plans.  But, not Microsoft.  Even if it is illegal, it is in the plan.

Microsoft uses consumer fraud to help it maintain its monopoly position.  It also uses technical statements intended to confuse and mislead customers as to the proper operation of their computers.

Lewis A. Mettler, Esq.