Submission + - MSFT Evangelist Apologizes for "Pawns" Com
gogat0rs writes: Former Microsoft Tech Evangelist James Plamondon, who made headlines this week when a 1996 speech he gave became public during a Microsoft antitrust trial in Iowa, has appologized to the Microsoft developer community for using a metaphor which described key industry influencers and developers as "pawns." Plamodon wrote that calling developers "pawns" was both "offensive and inaccurate." He goes on to say, "It mischaracterizes the mutually supportive relationship that must exist between a platform vendor and its platforms' early adopters, such as that which Microsoft and independent software developers created in the 1990s. I regret having used the 'pawns' metaphor; I apologize for any misplaced ill will it may have caused towards Microsoft; and I won't use it in [the] future." Since the apology was issued, the full text of the Plamondon speech has been released as a public document on a Comes v. Microsoft website, along with eighty other exhibits.