Microsoft’s Secret Plan To Defeat iPod, iTMS, OS X.

Secret, high level meetings with Microsoft executives have been held over the past year to develop a rock solid plan to compete with, and destroy Apple’s dominant position with online music and portable music players.

Documents have been obtained by this reporter which show Microsoft is about to launch a major marketing, technical, and legal offensive against Apple, the Linux community, and Open Source.

The document, written by Bill Gates himself and addressed to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, provides the executive management team with “all resources necessary” to overtake Apple’s lead in online music and portable music players, and to “pull out all the stops” in an effort to topple Linux and Open Source as viable threats to the company’s monopoly.

The document not only targets Apple and various major Linux players, but provides specifics sufficient to cause concern for all Microsoft competitors.

First, Gates acknowledges Apple’s unique contribution to the computer desktop and points out that without Apple’s Mac GUI (graphical user interface), Windows would never have seen the light of day at Microsoft.

Gates congratulated Ballmer and the executive team for creating substantial legal “shenanigans” which avoided a huge payout to the government for Microsoft’s monopolistic practices.

However, Gates’ internal and private memo then asserts “Microsoft’s rights in the digital age” and directs the company to do whatever it takes to reverse Apple’s recent good fortunes and to assert Microsoft’s patent portfolio and bring sufficient lawsuits to bear on the Linux and Open Source community. Objective? Microsoft’s customers would never again consider an alternative.

Multiple Microsoft sources, at the risk of not only losing their lucrative management positions, and perhaps bringing on legal action from the company, provided us with sufficient documents to determine that the plan not only has been approved, but was implemented early in 2004.

Microsoft’s recent problems with security issues in Internet Explorer and Windows XP Service Pack 2 are actually a smokescreen designed to avoid public, private, and governmental scrutiny over “the plan.”

Microsoft’s ALOS Plan’s executive summary, Part One, then describes the basic competitive initiatives as operations against “Apple, the iPod portable music player, iTunes, QuickTime, and the iTunes Music Store, as well as Apple’s Mac OS X operating system.”

Gates’ concluded the executive summary with a requirement for Microsoft’s legal team to begin “pressing hard against all Linux distributors, Linux users, the Open Source community” with “patent and copyright legal initiatives” to bring an immediate end to Linux and Open Source market share.

While general in nature, it’s obvious from Part One that Microsoft intends to launch an all out war against Apple, the iPod portable music player, the iTunes Music Store, and Mac OSX (having embarrassed Microsoft by launching a durable, dependable, secure operating system while Windows XP remains riddled with problems, security holes).

Should Mac users beware? What will become of the Linux distributors, Linux users, and the Open Source community?

Part Two of the executive summary goes into more details and provides some surprising angles to Microsoft’s struggle to maintain market share and revenue growth.

Click Here for Page 2 and more details…