Resolve and Fortitude : Microsoft's ''SECRET POWER BROKER'' breaks his silence (53 page)

Boies, David   Lead prosecutor in MS’s antitrust trial

boot sequence   Process of launching an OS

Borland   ISV producing software-development tools and programming languages

Bull   Groupe Bull, French electronic and communications company

Bush administration   Management of the US government during George W. Bush’s presidency

Butler, Jeremy   SVP of MS responsible for territories outside the USA

byte   Digital information unit consisting of eight bits

C

C   Programming language developed by Dennis Ritchie

CA   California, state of the USA

Caldera   ISV for OS and application software

Canon   Japanese manufacturer of imaging and optical products

carpe diem   Seize the day

CD   Compact disk, optical storage disk for digital data

CE   Windows CE, MS OS for mobile devices and industrial controllers

CeBIT   Largest trade fair for IT and telecom solutions, held every spring in Hannover, Germany

CEC   Corporate Executive Committee, IBM’s top management group

CEO   Chief executive officer

CES   Consumer Electronic Show, held each January in Las Vegas, Nevada

CFO   Chief financial officer

Chase, Brad   SVP of MS’s Windows marketing group

Chicago   Code name for MS Windows 95 OS

Chicago school of antitrust   Institution of thought in regard to economics, law, and national policy

chip   Basic electronic component in form of an integrated circuit

Chongqing   Major city in the southwestern part of PRC

Chrome   Google’s Internet browser and OS

Churchills   Cigars of a large size as preferred by England’s former prime minister

CISC   Complex instruction set computer, computer architecture able to execute more than one instruction simultaneously

Claflin, Bruce   GM and VP of IBM’s PC company, now chairman of AMD

Claris   Apple-owned ISV

Clausewitz, Carl von   Nineteenth century Prussian general, military theorist, and author

clone   Hardware or software system designed to mimic another

cloud   Grid or network-delivering computing services

cloud computing   Execution of software programs via the cloud

COBOL   Programming language used for business, financial, and administrative tasks

code   Computer programming instructions

COMDEX   IT expo held every year in Las Vegas, Nevada

Commodore   Home computer and PC manufacturer

Commodore 64   Best-selling 8-bit home computer from Commodore

Compaq   PC manufacturer now owned by HP

compiler   Program translating source code from high-level programming languages into CPU executable code

computer   Programmable machine carrying out sequences of arithmetic and logical instructions

Con gusto   With pleasure

COO   Chief operating officer

Corel   Utah-based ISV, engaged in word-processing software

C++   Intermediate programming language developed by Bjarne Stroustrup

CP/M   Control program for microprocessors, OS developed by DRI

CP/M-86   DRI’s disk OS for the Intel’s family of CPUs

CPU   Central processor unit, electronic component capable of executing the binary instructions for a computer system

Cro-Magnon   Early
Homo sapiens
of the European Upper Paleolithic

D

Danton, George   Leading figure of the French Revolution

database   Application program organizing a collection of data

DataQuest   Provider of research and analysis for the IT industry

dBase   Popular database produced by Ashton-Tate

DEC   Digital Equipment Corporation, manufacturer of minicomputers and PCs

Dell   IBM PC clone manufacturer

Dell, Michael   Founder and CEO of Dell

Deloitte & Touche   Professional services firm

deposition   Witness testimony given under oath

desktop   Screen background for a user interface operating a computer

desktop PC   Stationary PC

DESQview   User interface for MS-DOS designed by Quarterdeck

developer   Person designing or writing software programs

DOJ   Department of Justice, USA’s top law-enforcement agency

DOS   Disk Operating System, OS needing a hard disk to function

sot-com bubble   Stock market rise and fall caused by enterprises engaged in Internet-related commerce between 1995 and 2001

DR-DOS   DRI’s disk operating system for IBM PCs

Dreamcast   Game console manufactured by Sega

DRI   Digital Research Institute, ISV producing OSs and software development tools

driver   Program guiding the interactions between the CPU and its peripheral devices

DVD   Digital versatile disk, high-capacity optical storage disk exceeding that of a CD

E

e-book reader   Text for a book stored on an electronic device

eMachines   Korean investor-backed PC manufacturer, later bought by GW

e-mail   Messaging system allowing computer users to exchange data via a network

Ernst & Young   Professional services firm

Escom   German PC manufacturer

étude   Musical composition of considerable difficulty

evangelist   Software specialist helping other developers

Excel   MS’s spreadsheet version for the Mac- and Windows-powered PCs

F

Facebook   Popular brand of social network services

Fade, Richard   SVP of MS, led the OEM group after I left

FE   Far East, all Asian counties

Feds   Federal officials or agents

Firefox   Open-source Web browser

Fischer, Franklin   DOJ’s economic expert during MS’s antitrust trial

FLP   Front Line Partnership, marketing pact between Compaq and MS

FORTRAN   Programming language for numeric and scientific computations

Franco   French

Frederick the Great   Eighteenth century king of Prussia from the Hohenzollern dynasty

Free Software Foundation   Nonprofit organization for the for free-software movement

FTC   Federal Trade Commission, regulates business practices supposedly to protect consumers and enterprises

Führungsstil   German, leadership style

FY   Fiscal year, period used for calculating annual financial statements

G

GameCube   Game console manufactured by Nintendo

Gassée, Jean-Louis   Former Apple GM and founder and CEO of Be

Gates, Bill   Cofounder and chairman of MS

Gateway   PC manufacturer, now part of Acer

GB   Gigabyte, one equals million bytes of 8-bit information

GE   General Electric, large conglomerate

GEM   Graphical Environment Manager, DRI’s GUI for MS-DOS and DR-DOS

GEOS   Graphic Environment OS for the Commodore 64 home computer

Gerstner, Lou   IBM’s CEO and chairman from 1994 to 2001

GM   General manager

Gneisenau, Neidhardt von   Nineteenth century count and Prussian field marshal

GNU GPL   License for open-source software, originated by Richard Stallman

Google   ISV and Internet services provider

Great Wall company   PC manufacturer in PRC

GUI   Graphical user interface, user shell to operate a computer with mouse clicks and graphical icons

GW   Gateway

H

hacker   Person accessing a computer system by circumventing security measures

Hades   Greek, the abode of the dead

Hallman, Michael   President of MS from 1990 to 1992

Hard drive   Information storage device containing a spinning disk holding large quantities of data

hardware   Physical components of a computer system

Harris, Jim   VP of MS and predecessor in my OEM job

HCL   Hindustan Computer Limited, India-based IT company

Heiner, Dave   MS’s antitrust attorney

Hewlett-Packard   IT conglomerate

Hitachi   Japanese manufacturer of computer systems

HK   Hong Kong, city in Asia located in special administrative region of the PRC, formerly under British rule

Holley, Steven   Senior attorney, guided me through the antitrust maze

holographic images   Images stored in a three-dimensional format

Holstein   A region in Northern Germany

house of cards   Structure in danger of collapsing

HP   Hewlett-Packard

HTML   HyperText Markup Language, program language for designing Web pages

I

IBM   International Business Machines, computer manufacturer and IT services company

IBM PC   Personal computer designed by IBM

IBM PC clone   PC functioning like an IBM PC

IBM PC company   IBM’s business unit in charge of her PC business

IBM PC compatible   IBM PC clone

icon   Pictogram displayed on a computer screen

IE   Internet Explorer

in camera   Latin, in private—not open to the public

injunction   Court order, requiring a party to refrain from certain acts

Intel   Semiconductor manufacturer

IP   Intellectual property, product of human intellect that can be protected by law

Internet Explorer   MS’s Web browser integrated in Windows

Interpreter   Software executing programming instructions

iPhone   Apple’s Internet-enabled smartphone

ISP   Internet services provider, company connecting users to the Internet

ISV   Independent software developer, company producing commercial software programs

IT   Information technology

J

Jackson, Thomas P.   Judge presiding over MS’s antitrust trial from 1998 to 2001

Java   Object programming language and partial OS

Julius Caesar   Roman general and statesman

K

KB   Kilobyte, one equals one thousand bytes

Kindle   Amazon’s brand of e-book readers

Klein, Joel   Assistant AG, head of DOJ’s antitrust division from 1997 to 2002

L

LAN-Manager   MS’s first network operating system

laptop PC   Portable PC or notebook

l’audace   French, audacity

Legend   PRC-based PC manufacturer, now called Lenovo

Lenovo   Same as Legend, bought IBM’s PC business

LG   Lucky Goldstar, Korean-based electronic conglomerate

license   Legal instrument governing the usage, redistribution, and replication of software

Lieven, Theo   CEO and cofounder of Vobis

Linux   Linus Torvalds’s UNIX version

Lisa   Apple’s first workstation computer

Logitech   Swiss-based PC peripheral manufacturer

Lotus   ISV producing office applications, now part of IBM

Lotus 1-2-3   Lotus’s spreadsheet product

M

MA   The state of Massachusetts

Mac   Apple’s Macintosh PC

Mac OS   Operating system for Apple’s Macintosh PC

mainframe   Largest multiuser computer system for scientific and commercial use

Mao   Communistic leader of the PRC from 1949 to 1976

marines   One of the four branches of the US military

Maritz, Paul   Former group VP of MS’s system-development group

MBA   Master of business administration, college degree

McKinsey   Management consulting firm

MDA   Market development agreement, contract regulating marketing incentives

Me   Millennium

media tablet   See
tablet

melee   French, confused struggle

micro   Microcomputer, early PC

Microsoft   Largest ISV and PC-device manufacturer

middleware   Software components needed to connect to the Internet

minicomputer   Class of midrange computer systems located between PCs and mainframes

minimum commitment   Purchase guarantee in a contract

MINIX   Andrew Tannenbaum’s version of UNIX

MIT   Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MLB   Master League Baseball

Moltke the Elder   Helmuth von, nineteenth century German field marshal

Morpheus   Greek mythology, the god of dreams

Mosaic   First popular Web browser

Mostek   Integrated circuit manufacturer

motherboard   Circuit board containing crucial electronic components like the CPU for a computer system

Motorola   Semiconductor manufacturer

MS   Microsoft

MS-DOS   Microsoft’s disk operating system for IBM-compatible PCs

MT   State of Montana

Multiplan   MS’s early spreadsheet version for MS-DOS

Mustek   South African PC manufacturer

N

NAP   Non-Assertion of Patent, clause restricting the use of patents lawsuits

Napoleon Bonaparte   Emperor of France from 1804 to 1815

Napoleon complex   Alleged type of inferiority syndrome supposedly affecting men short in statue

Nat Semi   National Semiconductor, electronic-component manufacturer

Navigator   Name for Netscape’s Web browser

NBR   National Bureau of Asian Research, Seattle-based think tank

NCSA   National Center for Supercomputing Applications

NEC   Nippon Electric Company, Japanese IT conglomerate

netbooks   Stripped-down, lightweight, and inexpensive notebook PCs

Netscape   Web browser ISV

Netware   NOS produced by Novell

network   Interconnected computer web allowing sharing of resources and information

networking effects   How the number of users of goods and services impact their values

Neukom, Bill   MS’s general council from 1985 to 2001

NFL   National Football League

NH   State of New Hampshire

Nintendo   Japanese game-console manufacturer

Nixdorf   German computer manufacturer

nom de plume   French, pseudonym or pen name

NonStop computing   Name for Tandem’s server

NOS   Network operating system

NOOK   Barnes & Noble’s brand of e-book readers

notebook PC   Portable PC

Notes   Program allowing communication and collaboration between computer users