Gateway 2000 Inc complained to Microsoft Corp in 1997 that it was being charged a higher price than rival PC vendors, according to an internal Gateway memo released in error to reporters at the Microsft antitrust trial in Washington. Earlier in the week the court had been closed after Judge Jackson upheld motions from Microsoft Corp, Dell Computer Corp and Compaq Computer Corp that maintained that the public and their competitors had no right to know what they paid Microsoft for the operating systems they installed on their machines. The government economic witness claimed that Microsoft has used different pricing for its OEM partners as a way to reward those it felt were its closet allies. While Compaq and Dell are widely thought to have won preferential prices below the $50 per computer average, less compliant vendors such as Gateway who had disputes with Microsoft over browsers and other issues may have been charged significantly more, though still well below the $89 retail price. The memo from Gateway executive Penny Nash, sent to Ted Waitt, CEO at Gateway, listed issues of concern the company had with Microsoft including the lower rates given to Compaq and Dell. The confidential document was apparently given to journalists by mistake after the Department of Justice gave the document to the Judge under seal. รก
