Microsoft Trash Talks Rivals At Partner Conference

Microsoft has been silent as rivals have had a field day using the company as a punching bag in public. But at this year's Worldwide Partner Conference in Houston, Microsoft executives made several comments that suggest the software giant is about to start dishing out some long overdue payback.

The trash-talking at WPC was in marked contrast to Microsoft's tendency to avoid mentioning Google and other competitors by name in public speeches. But in a Thursday keynote speech, Microsoft COO Kevin Turner threw a couple of jabs at Google as well as at another rival, Oracle.

Noting that Microsoft has a huge lead over Google in enterprise applications, Turner suggested that Google's lack of a channel program is the most telling thing about why that's so. "Well, if you have to actually SAY you're not evil..." Turner said, in a play on the unofficial Google corporate slogan.

Turner also threw some trash Oracle's way by thanking the vendor for doing Microsoft a "big favor" recently by raising the prices of its products 15 to 20 percent.

Allison Watson, corporate vice president of Microsoft's Worldwide Partner Group, also got in a couple of shots against Google in a hilarious, Microsoft channel-themed rap video titled 'Saturday'.

"I roll with Google Maps, know what I'm sayin'? Yo, I'm just playin'. Hey Google, y'know I'm comin' for you," Watson rapped.

On Tuesday, Brad Brooks, corporate vice president for Windows Consumer Product Marketing, extolled the virtues of Vista and said Microsoft is preparing to fight back against "noisy competitors" like Apple with an advertising campaign that's set to launch in the new couple of weeks.

"You thought the sleeping giant was still sleeping? Well, we've woken up now, and it's time to take our message forward," said Brooks.

Microsoft may be late to the corporate trash talking game, but no one should underestimate its resolve to commit the resources necessary to become the clear leader in this space.