在越来越漫长痛苦的法律辩论中，上周星期五微软公司的CEO Steve Ballmer发表了一个有些语言不检点的长篇演说，宣称要“干掉”Google公司，而Google公司则称微软的执行官“像豺狼”一样。这些辨词记录在华盛顿州法庭，表明了两家公司在由于7月份微软的前副执行官李开复加盟Google而引发的案件中相互攻击。

众所周知，这项关于李开复的激烈战争是由于它在电脑语言识别方面的工作引发的，但是这暴露了两个最优秀的高科技公司一直存在的相互憎恨。

10个月前，微软公司的另位一位工程师Mark Lucovsky也准备离开微软公司，转而加入Google公司，这让Ballmer非常气愤。然后就轻蔑地指责Google公司的CEO Eric Schmidt。他说，“我将要埋葬这个家伙，我以前已经做到过，我将再次做到，我将要感到Google。”

李开复表示，这个案件虽然有一定影响，但是他将继续坚持下去，并从所有的工作停顿中恢复过来。公司认为李是一个“全明星”，它将能够为公司在中国扎稳脚跟做出巨大贡献。Google支付给李250万美元的奖金，并承诺一年以后再支付150万美元，加上每年2.5万美元的薪水和1万股票，如果他能够在公司做满4年，李还将得到另外的2万股股票，按目前的市值为580万美元。李同时要求，如果微软起诉他的话，Google公司要支付法律费用。

转自：The abc news ,September 3,2005

Microsoft, Google Trade Salvos Over Exec

SAN FRANCISCO Sep 3, 2005 — Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" Internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed Friday in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals.

The allegations, filed in a Washington state court, represent the latest salvos in a showdown triggered by Google's July hiring of former Microsoft executive Kai Fu-Lee to oversee a research and development center that Google plans to open in China. Lee started at Google the day after he resigned from Microsoft.

The tug-of-war over Lee known for his work on computer recognition of language has exposed the behind-the-scenes animosity that has been brewing between two of high-tech's best-known companies.

 Ballmer's threat last November was recounted in a sworn declaration by a former Microsoft engineer, Mark Lucovsky, who said he met with Microsoft's chief executive 10 months ago to discuss his decision to leave the company after six years.

After learning Lucovsky was leaving to take a job at Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, according to the declaration.

Ballmer then pejoratively berated Google CEO Eric Schmidt, Lucovsky recalled.

"I'm going to f——— bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again," the declaration quotes Ballmer. "I'm going to f——— kill Google."

Before joining Google, Schmidt was a top executive at Sun Microsystems Inc. and Novell Inc., a pair of tech companies that Microsoft has previously battled.

In a statement Friday, Ballmer described Lucovsky's recollection as a "gross exaggeration. Mark's decision to leave was disappointing and I urged him strongly to change his mind. But his characterization of that meeting is not accurate."

Microsoft is suing to prevent Lee from leading Google's China expansion, maintaining those duties would violate the terms of a noncompete agreement that he signed as part of his employment contract.

Mountain View-based Google has depicted Microsoft's lawsuit as a form of intimidation designed to thwart a fast-growing rival that has emerged as a formidable threat to the Redmond, Wash.-based software maker.

The Lucovsky declaration is just one piece of evidence that Google has filed in an attempt to prove that Microsoft is on a vendetta.

Microsoft won the first round in the case in late July when King County Superior Court Judge Steven Gonzalez issued an order temporarily barring Lee from performing the duties that Google hired him to do. The two rivals are scheduled to face off in court Tuesday when Microsoft will ask Gonzalez to extend the order against Lee and Google until the case goes to trial in January.

As it tries to make its case, Microsoft is trying to demonstrate that Google wanted Lee largely because he knows intimate details about Microsoft's strategy for expanding in China and for the booming search engine market.

In its brief Friday, Microsoft alleged that Lee sent confidential documents about the company's China strategy to Google a month before he was hired, although Google insists all the material that Lee relayed to Google had been made public previously.

Microsoft also released an e-mail from Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's director of business development, in an attempt to prove the company wants Lee for other projects besides the new China center.

"I all but insist that we pull out all the stops and pursue him like wolves," Rosenberg wrote of Lee. "He is an all-star and will contribute in ways that go substantially beyond China."

Before resigning from Microsoft, Lee began to help Google plot its China strategy with a series of suggestions, including recommending possible sites for the new office, according to Microsoft's brief.

Microsoft alleged Lee's insights helped him win a Google contract worth more than $10 million a package that Google itself described as "unprecedented" for the company.

Google paid Lee a $2.5 million signing bonus and promised a $1.5 million bonus after one year, plus a $250,000 salary and options on 10,000 shares of Google stock, according to court documents. If he stays for four years, Lee also will receive another 20,000 Google shares, currently worth $5.8 million.

Lee also demanded that Google pay all his legal fees if Microsoft sued, a request that was granted.