You can say that again!
It may turn out to be rather 'unfortunate' for Microsoft's public relations. Surprisingly, we haven't heard much from Mr. Ballmer lately. I wonder if there is any connection.
[link|http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/industry/07/30/ms.debates.open.source.idg/index.html|
Microsoft holds firm in open source debate]

July 30, 2001 Posted: 12:14 p.m. EDT (1614 GMT)

By Ashlee Vance

SAN DIEGO, California (IDG) -- Microsoft may have loosened its licensing structure, but it's still no fan of open source, and the debate between commercial software developers and the open-source community is raging on in a friendly confrontation between top executives from Microsoft and Red Hat at an industry conference here.
....
Mundie delivered a biting commentary on the downside of open-source software during a presentation at New York University's school of business in May. His comments at Thursday's conference, however, were tempered by his claims that other Microsoft executives mislabeled open-source software as a "cancer" in various public remarks.

"(The comments) were just unfortunate," Mundie said later. Microsoft meant to criticize the GPL specifically, instead of open source software as a whole, he says.