H8 w/o ESR comments (Score 2, Informative)

Because it is much more chilling without Eric's rants:

From: Orlando Ayala

Sent: Monday, November 25, 2002 5:22 AM

To: GMs of Subsidiaries

Cc: Mich Mathews; Mike Nash; Craig Mundie; Brad Smith (LCA); Pamela Passman (LCA); Vivek Varma; Orlando Ayala's Direct Reports

Subject: OSS and Goverment

We need to more effectively respond to press reports regarding Governments and other major institutions considering OSS alternatives to our products.We must be prepared to respond to announcements,such as this one by the Japan Government (or prior announcements in Peru, Germany etc) quickly and with facts to counter the perception that large institutions are deploying OSS or Linux, when they are only considering or just piloting the technology. Announcements by governments are reported quickly around the world and require more coordination. In several instances,our ability to communicate effectively has been hindered by a lack of integration across groups in Redmond and the subsidiaries.

How to Escalate: Send an email immediately (same day) to the OSSI alias. This group includes members from the Security Business Unit, Server Marketing, LCA and Corporate PR who can quickly pull in additional stakeholders, influence business decisions, create and communicate PR guidance. Your mail should include the following information:

* Designate the subsidiary owner (s) and their 24 hour contact information

* Explain the overall validity of claim, what is being reported, what is true/false

* Explain how and where the organization fits within govt structure (is it a small/medium/large department, how much influence does it have on other IT decisions, are their political influences at play, is there a commitment to deploy, what are the specific details of the announcement, what are the next steps)

* Explain likely influences, bottom line reasoning on why this is happening (i.e. security, cost, politics)

* Explain Microsoft's presence in the account

* Name the key contacts within the gov't

* Name available third parties/potential defenders

* Provide detail on the writer and their media who are writing the story, i.e. are they technical, political, sensational

The Commitment From Corporate:

* Deliver, at minimum, guidance and messaging regarding any new instance within the same business day of your mail being received, including WW communication to prepare all subs

* Follow up with additional guidance, messaging and content within a second business day, including customer and government communication tools

* ecome much better in giving messaging and content proactively on OSS and Linux related issues.

* Todd and MarkM to coordinate with SueB on Mike Nash participation in Linux business press tour

Orlando