Microsoft Vs. Mike Rowe Soft - Press Coverage and Settlement

Press Coverage and Settlement

Rowe went to the press, creating publicity for the case and garnering support for his cause, including donations of over $6,000 and an offer of free advice from a lawyer. At one point Rowe was forced to take down his site after it was overwhelmed by around 250,000 page views over a period of twelve hours, only managing to get the site back up after changing to a service provider with a higher capacity. The case, portrayed as a David versus Goliath struggle by the media, characterized Microsoft in a negative light. The resulting bad publicity was later described as a "public relations mess." The public showing of support that Rowe received was credited with "softening Microsoft's stance," leading to an eventual settlement.

In late January 2004, it was revealed that the two parties had come to an out of court settlement, with Microsoft taking control of the domain. In return Microsoft agreed to pay all of the expenses that Rowe had incurred including setting up a new site at and redirecting traffic to MikeRoweforums.com. Additionally Microsoft provided Rowe with a subscription to the Microsoft Developer Network, an all expenses paid trip for him and his family to the Microsoft Research Tech Fest at their headquarters in Redmond, Washington, training for Microsoft certification and an Xbox with a selection of games. Following an on-line poll, Rowe donated most of his legal defense fund to a children's hospital and used the remaining money for his future university education.