Open email to bg@microsoft.com

Rumors, as they say, are flying…that Microsoft and NBC are negotiating Redmond’s exit from the MS-NBC partnership, the one that runs the cable news channel, and, more to the point, the number one news site on the Web. I can understand why the bean-crunchers would recommend it, but why would you want to do that, Bill? When you seem to own the bad-press operating system, why wouldn’t you want to be part of an well-run, well-done, independent journalistic operation, that you have not sought to spin? The PR may be hard to measure. The profits may not match software-cloning. But MSNBC is surely the half of your ad budget that isn’t wasted. Why not send the millions you’re spending on those lame your-potential-our-passion ads directly to the per-share dividend account? They just piss us off.