BOOKS
It's time for Microsoft corporate relations to adopt a name truly reflective of its mission. Department of Refutation would fit the bill. The latest target of Redmond's comm corps: Wendy Goldman Rohm, author of The Microsoft File, a tell-all tome alleging the software giant is guilty of predatory business practices and, more sensationally, that Gates has been serviced by prostitutes. (See review page 191.)
With File selling fast after its September release, Microsoft Spin Control showed it was paying chapter-and-verse attention to Rohm's prose. "The book is literally riddled with errors," contends spokesperson Greg Shaw. "Page 40, last sentence," he points out: Rohm is guilty of "a complete fabrication" regarding Microsoft's lowering MS-DOS prices in '88 when competitor DR-DOS came along. And "Page 80, last sentence": Far from "soaring," as the book claims, DOS prices rose just 2 percent once competition was eliminated. Shaw says Gates's alleged paid sexual liaison "was so vaguely written and full of innuendo as to cover up an accusation that has no merit."
But Times Books' John Mahaney hasn't flinched: "We went through the book with a fine-tooth comb. It has had one of the most extensive legal reviews in our recent history."
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