Microsoft's hard sell backfires
Competitors are used to Microsoft's strongarm tactics, but it turns out that the Windows maker doesn't exactly apply a soft touch to customers, either. At least one Microsoft employee has used a sleazy scare tactic to attempt to get a customer to buy more Microsoft software.

When Auto Warehousing CIO Dale Frantz got an inquiry from Microsoft employee Janet Lawless about the company's software-licensing status, he politely replied that his Microsoft licenses were fine, thanks for asking. He got back a note from Lawless informing him that Auto Warehousing was at "significant risk." Frantz had to call his lawyer in to get Lawless to back off. Computerworld got wind of the situation and raised a stink, prompting Microsoft PR to claim that Lawless, an "engagement manager," was just helping a customer navigate the supposed complexities of buying software licenses from Microsoft. If that's what the engagement is like, we'd hate to hear about the marriage.
Posted by Owen Thomas 9:06 PM 0 Comments comment | Add a Comment

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.