Microsoft will appear in California Superior Court on Monday, February 26, 2007 to ask the Hon. Barbara M. Scheper to exclude any reference of its name from court proceedings that pit the computer giant against FutureLink Online, Inc. — a former ISP founded by four NJ entrepreneurs allegedly wiped out of business by Microsoft.
“This is the multi-million dollar lawsuit Microsoft is trying to hide from the public,” explains FutureLink Online, Inc. (FutureLink) co-founder Dave Durko, in the press release
Not listed on Microsoft’s website as current litigation, the case (FutureLink Online, Inc., cross-complainant vs. Microsoft, Inc., cross- defendant, case no. PC019071) was brought in 1997 and is scheduled to be heard in early March 2007.
The case, which through its decade-long journey through the courts has included two successful appeals on behalf of FutureLink, involves Microsoft’s $503 million purchase of WebTV (now MSN TV) and stems from Microsoft’s alleged “tortious interference” with a FutureLink contract and theft of FutureLink’s internet subscriber base — two actions which lead to the demise of what was one of the fastest growing ISPs at the time that provided internet access to customers across the country via a national infrastructure.
“This is more than a modern-day David vs. Goliath. It’s a story of how corporate cannibal Microsoft stole the American Dream from us and then dragged us through 10 years of litigation,” according to FutureLink founder Emile Farina, who credits life coach, friend, and mentor Tony Robbins for what Farina calls his determination “to right this wrong and finally have our day in court.”
Press release: http://sev.prnewswire.com/computer-electronics/20070223/NYF06123022007-1.html
MacDailyNews Take: Microsoft would never do anything like what’s described above, would they?
While the enemy of my enemy is my friend there’s no getting around the fact that Tony Robbins is a certifiable assclown.
WOW.
What a surprise. Monopolysoft arrogantly doing what ever it thinks it can get away with.
Speaking of, no buzz of the new WOW ads that ran during the Oscars last night? hadn’t seen them before.
Sadly, this is how it works of everyone. Lie cheat and steal and be successful.
Go get ’em, Shallow Hal.
I’m siding with Microsoft against this Tony Robbins-cult-member jackass.
Any other press releases you can reprint today, MDN?
Speaking of infrastructure, did you fart so hard you ended up in another zip code?
Hey Surly,
How successful are you. The man’s a self-taught, self-made millionaire, and has helped thousands, maybe millions of people. What have you done?
The actions described are part of standard Micro$oftopoly’s SOP, especially back in the day. It has the fingerprints of everybody’s favorite chair thrower all over it.
haha, the press can’t get any better for MS.
On another note,
I find it hilarious that the iPhone teaser ad (all 2 seconds worth of iPhone face time) got more press and made more noise than the entire launch of Windows Vista.
“than the entire launch of Windows Vista.”
There was a product launch for Vista?
Huh. I must have missed it.
just passing through,
Steve Balmer is worth more money than many of us could ever dream of. And I’m sure he’s made lots of people rich too, but we all think he’s an assclown. So what’s your point?
Monetary success does not indicate a good, wholesome, moral or fair person.
@Average: you missed the launch? here’s a photo for you:
While I worked for an ad agency that shall remain nameless, I once sat at a meeting where Microsoft execs literally stopped the proceedings to celebrate the news of their successful dismantlement of a competitor by hiring key members of the development team.
And I mean, joyous celebration, with hi-fives and all kinds of trulty inappropriate remarks being thrown all over the place. On the agency side, we couldn’t believe the amount of unbridled prejudice against competing companies demonstrated by these people.
Haven’t purchased a single Microsoft product ever since. Good riddance.
@Jerry T –
I’m not quite sure how Tony R deserves your label of being “bad, unwholesome, immoral and unfair”, or even the earlier moniker…
Did some of your hard-earned cash depart in the direction of one of Robbins’ “surefire” programs that nets him his millions? If that’s the case, who is the greater fool?
Heroin says “I’m siding with Microsoft against this Tony Robbins-cult-member jackass.”
It makes me laugh so hard when people show how ignorant they are…
Bill Gates (that Godless bugger!) didn’t just kill the American dream, he killed all our dreams! And he stood over them and pissed on them as they lay dying!
Wow. Can you imaginie what the damage will be if M$ loses? They will need to pay for Future Link’s 10 years of litigation, pay them $millions for stealing their internet subscriber base, and then pay for loss of future earnings. Kewl!
M$ represents the ROTTEN side of american capitalism in its pure form.
[The man’s a self-taught, self-made millionaire, and has helped thousands, maybe millions of people.]
Yes, L. Ron made loads of money, but helping… What. Uh, sorry. Wrong ‘The Leader’.
BTW, let’s ask Becky how helpful Anthony is, hmm? WWAI, let’s ask “Polly”, Sara, and Mary Sue how helpful L Ron was.
Remember, no one person has all the answers — except me!
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• Microsoft must not only win, but it NEEDS to kill competitors.
• Bill Gates will be seen as the only computer authority.
• Microsofterians number 88% of the world population. While the MacJihad only account for 2%.
• Who has the better Koolaid? Leader Gates or Jobs?
In the interest of full disclosure, Microsoft should really change its name to LCS (Lie Cheat Steal), Inc. I’m glad that Bill Gates
has decided to give away some of the billions he has stolen during his ruthless tenure as head of Microsoft; but giving it away
doeesn’t absolve him of all blame for the tactics he used to get so much money in the first place.
Tony Robbins uses a Mac. Can’t be all bad, now can he?
“Microsoft would never do anything like what’s described above, would they?”
I don’t know, let’s ask the people who once worked for Stac Electronics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stac_Electronics
BuriedCaesar,
When did I label Tony Robbins as anything? I don’t even mention him in my post.
I was merely replying to the person droning on about Tony’s success that success is not necessarily an indicator of goodness, wholesomeness, morality or fairness, i.e. Steve Balmer.
Re-read what I typed…or not.
BTW, I haven’t given him any money. I think his head is too big already.
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JerryT,
The article states the the little guys were using the self-respect tools they aquired through a TR self-improvement course to not give up in the fight against the evil empire. I just wanted to know how Surly Duff was qualified to call a person like TR an assclown, just a simple question.