To: Microsoft chairman Bill Gates and CEO Steve Ballmer
From: Jim Allchin, former co-president of Microsoft's platforms and services division
Re: The day after Apple CEO Steve Jobs' 2004 Macworld keynote speech, Allchin e-mailed his bosses saying Microsoft had to do better. "This is a rant. I'm sorry," he wrote. He must have been even sorrier when the message surfaced as evidence during Microsoft's 2006 Iowa antitrust trial. "I think our teams lost sight of what bug-free means," he wrote. "Apple did not lose their way." Soon after the e-mail was made public, Allchin responded on his blog, saying his goal was to spur people to work harder and make Windows Vista the best product it could be. "I was being purposefully dramatic in order to drive home a point," he wrote.
Excerpt: I am not sure how the company lost sight of what matters to our customers (both business and home) the most, but in my view we lost our way...I would buy a Mac today if I was not working at Microsoft. — Allchin