Your thoughts on Microsoft
 

What do you people think of Microsoft as a company? I just wanted to know if people really hated them or adored them for their products.

Personally, I hate them. I think they are a giant monopoly just buying out other smaller companies and destorying them. They just always remind me of the early 1900 trust companies.

I personally hate microsoft, but most of us use their products and they do come up with good quality stuff.

I used to stick up for Microsoft. I like most of their products. I don't really think their products are HORRIBLY overpriced when you consider how many resources are put into making a product that will work with an infinite combination of hardware components.

People always say that Microsoft is just a monopoly who is out to kill the little guys. Maybe (a little bit anyway), but not entirely. Microsoft started out as one of the little guys. They just knew how to market themselves. Yes, there were some dirty tricks. People seem to ignore the fact that almost EVERY company uses "dirty tricks" at some point in their existence. Microsoft just seemed to do the right tricks to get them to the top, fast.

Their support has been top-notch in most cases (let's hope it stays that way). They've made a lot of investors lots of money. They continue to produce some of the best software (even with the glitches everyone runs into).

i really really wish they had some competition, if they did we'd be getting 10x better products.

i use all their products, but i never pay the outrageous fee they charge for them (let's not go into piracy on this thread)

i admire bill gates. i almost consider him as a hero, certainly one to look up to.

Yup, same feelings here.

I really like Microsoft and Bill and I think they are doing things the Capitalist way - just like everyone else in this place.

LNCPapa

Overprised. Anti-copetative. Sloppy. Shitty.

Good mice though.

I used to feel exactly that same way, and in some ways, I still do. The reason I dislike them more and more everyday has to do with the fact that they've partnered with left-wing media whore NBC (MSNBC), they've become buddies recently with AOL, and they're working with the RIAA to take away my privacy. Plus, every damn week I have to get yet another security update because they did such a horrible job creating an OS that they still feel arrogant enough to charge $200-$300 for.

I'll never forgive MS for their business practices dating back to the 80's. What they did to Digital Research, Lotus, Stac, etc was evil.

They're a fairly decent company I guess, and they've done good things for the computer industry. Of course they've made their mistakes, they've created a monopoly situation and Steve Balmer is just evil.

People may not like MS, but you have to admit that Bill Gates is an American success story. What he and the company has accomplished has been phenomenal. Granted they have little competition, however had there been its quite possible that multiple standards would not have resulted in such widespread usage of PCs and in turn the internet.

My problem with microsoft isn't with their monopoly or market dominance: That's a part of capitalism.
My problem comes with their business practices and policies on privacy. I just cant trust Microsoft software.

I still use Ms Software though, because I dont have much of an alternative. I know a few people who went all-out against microsoft...Throwing out Windows and using Linux. A person I know even declined a University position because that particular University was funded by Microsoft. Thats a bit too far, in my opinion.

Bill Gates is the best leader the communist party has ever had :thumbsup:

I use the products... and bill is a badass... but i feel obligated to hate.... why?

The competition with open source software seems to be making better products.

The fact that MS have dropped their consumer windows crapola (aka 95/98/me) and gone NT with their line of OSes is a good thing.

yes they are anti-competitive, yes they have crushed their competition mercilessly, but find one market leader in a major industry with clean hands.

Oracle, Intel, MS, Ford, hoover... you name it.

I can't blame them for that.

The only office product I use is powerpoint (and occiasionally excel) I have windows 2k at home because I don't care what OS I use. so long as it does what I want. Similarly, my work computer is red hat 9.0 only, because I am a developer in network software.

Screw advocacy. Corporations are soulless, that's their job. Open source is nice and squishy, but it would not exist if the people working off source forge had paid jobs with real firms.

/me drops €0.02 in the jar

Microsoft's monopolization of several smaller companies and copying of several other "cool" features that other companies have while touting them as their own has been quite a disappointment. Their software is Good though.. The office applications are pretty nice and since they are the standard OS.. yay for them.

I have a certain dislike for them particularly because they bouth Bungie Software and turned it into Bungie Studios.. an exclusive Xbox developer now.. which sucks.. because I'm a platform gamer..

Like em, I think they make awesome products, since the 9X line was killed off and NT has taken over they've gotten a lot better, they have fantastic tech support for users and developers, i've yet to see any developer support rival MSDN.

Most companies have had some questionable tactics, but microsoft are considerably more successfull, why not complain about oil companies, or banks etc.

A lot of the reasons people don't like them isn't really based on anything valid, they just do coz everyone else does, if you hate them that much don't use their stuff, the OS zealots claim its a;l replaceable or better etc.

They keep me in business. I'm excited about open source taking some of their market share. There isn't much MS can do about it. They've got some shrewd business practices but no one can argue with their success.

i've always been a microsoft fan. its a kill or be killed world, and i gotta respect their dominance. and ive never had any issues with windows products. XP Pro Corp is runnin just fine!

Well, they DO make some nice products. However when you're developing for as many types of environments as they do, you would expect a bit of bloat. Truthfully, their products run on a LOT of machines and there's been minimal disastrous problems IMHO. It's still fun to "hate" them though ;)

sigh ...

They're like McDonald's. They may not have the best burgers. But, their burgers are available everywhere, taste the same everywhere.

That's exactly my problem with microsoft. Even though you say don't register, I still wonder sometimes if the OS isn't sending info on my info and my drive contents to microsoft. Think about this, everytime you connect to windowsupdate to get patches and sevice packs, you have them scan your computer. Who knows what info they are collecting.

I guess it doesn't really matter. I mean, we've all...well most of us...have the p0rn. So what if some stranger in a microsoft cube knows about my stash of pics? As long as they don't call up the friends and family and tell them, so what. At least I've got the Corp edition of XP Pro, so there's a little less info being sent.

Microsoft Rules!! :thumbsup: They have the best mice. Who cares if it is ruled by a money hungry monopolist who has obliterated any competition. Microsoft makes up for any wrong doing with the quality of its products.

I forgot to put that I don't dislike their products, in fact I use a lot of their products on a daily basis and enjoy them but I think they just take away some of the best companies out there.

I had a MS Optical mouse that died, I called them up and they replaced my 2.0 with a 3.0 Optical Explorer, no questions asked, other than serial number. They actually rushed the shipment. I was impressed by that. So, they are truely evil, but they have a nice streak now and then.

y'all should see the movie about bill gates and steve jobs.

how they started off and how they got where they are today.

You can't really hate them until they want to charge you 200 dollars for a 10 dollar piece of software. Fuck them, steal it off the internet.

i agree totally with Phaenx!
thank god for the Internet.

They currently make the best piece of crap out there in a lot of cases.

Me: Microsoft is great. They made my favourite OS, and I've been running this boot for almost 2 years now with no problems, and published Motocross Madness 2, one of my favourite games. Besides, Apple is a much more fathomable monopoly if you think about it. Not only do they make the only software for their computers, they make 95% of the hardware. Microsoft hasn't done anything wrong within the last 5 years, they're the forerunner in operating systems because they've made the best ones. That's the "monopoly".

Here's my typical conversation with these people.

Guy: FUCK MICRO$OFT!!! RIP THE SYSTEM!!!! LINUX FOREVER!!!!!!1

Me: What OS do you run?

Guy: Well.. Windows ME.. BUT I FUCKING HATE IT IT CRASHES AND FUCKS UP SO MUCH

Me: Then why not run *nix or something? You know, instead of whining and doing nothing about it.

Guy: Well.. the reasons are complicated. FUCK YOU MICRO$LAVE, YOU'VE NEVER EVEN RUN LINUX!!!!!!

Me: Yes, I did. 2 versions, and I dispised every minute. Why do you think every piece of software out there is for Windows?

Guy: Fuck that!!! All servers run Linux because it's more stable!!

Me: Ever heard of Windows IIS?


Anyway it goes on like that.

I'm really fed up with people like that. Face facts: Windows NT and XP are the best shit for office and home respectively, power user or not.


P.S. : Bill Gates used to be a fucked up loser with no money in his pocket, and nothing in his brain but computers. For where he is now, I think he deserves a pat on the back from all 100,000,000 of his users.

I really don't hate Microsoft that much. I'll use the products but not with much hype.

My personal opinion on Mircosoft...
I don't like them. I can't do anything about it though. I work in a company that uses NT, my mom needs the ease of use of 98 and my fiancee is to busy to learn Linux so she has XP. I don't like them for the fact that they release patches at least weekly for XP. Sure it's a nice sign they aren't giving up on their OS, but goddamn...why not do a little debuggin there before you release the thing. 98 I feel is less intrusive then anything above it, so that's a plus for it, but it crashes all the time. If you could take out the driver support for everything and it's mother, I bet it wouldn't be so bad, or slow. And NT has been pretty good I guess.

btw Snakeyes, not every piece of software is Windows, but I'm pretty sure you knew that, you were just saying it to some moron to try to prove a point.

Pirates of Silicon Valley-go rent it.

I used to have an adversion to MS because they were against Apple. I have since come around and don't hate them, but don't like them too much either. I do use some of their products, like MS office v.X and explorer and the intellimouse explorer. So, I don't have the anti M$ sentiment that most Mac users do... but that's because I insist on keeping an open mind... :)

If you want to read a really good, really amusing book, check out "Accidental Empires" by Robert X Cringly, subtitled "How the boys of Silicon Valley make their millions, battle foreign competition, and still can't get a date".

Informative, entertaining, fucking hilarious at times. A bit dated but an excellent take on the PC business from 1975 or up to the mid 90's.

I love his take on how the business came about.
"
1. It all happened by more or less by accident.

2. The people who made it happen were amateurs.

3. And for the most part they still are.
"

I don't hate them at all. Their software is optional unlike some other companies *cough* apple *cough*. If you don't like it, don't use it. Don't like IE? User a different browser. It's really funny how people bitch about them being monopolistic when there are other companies who are just as monoplistic or even more like verizon, apple, comcast, clear channel etc.

I don't really know those companies history that well so I could find out those maybe I could change my mind about Microsoft.

The way I see it, access to computers have changed our lives so dramtically that the people complaining that a piece of software isn't worth $300 is crazy.

You spend $300+ dollars a month for a car to get you to your job, but if you are like me where you work the comptuer industry, having understanding of the lastest software and hardware makes sure you keep your job. What I'm saying is the investment makes sense. Even if you are a low level tech making $8 an hour, purchasing a meager program for only $150 for windows xp pro full can make you so much more money in the long run.

I personally respect microsoft. Here's a stat, 85% of our business in the US is small sole proprieterships. I feel Microsoft is the same way. Big player, but their's so many third party around. Microsoft also plays one major role, publishers, because of them we see things that might have never had the support to be released.

Well said! :)

I don't want my hard earned dollars to go to some schmuck who can't write code worth beans, and always seems to have to develop patches, then patches for patches...if there was an easy, simple OS that had as much programs as Windows does, I would use it. But there isn't. Still, it doesn't mean I can't use what MS tools I do have to download open source stuff for FREE!!!

Windows Office $650 cdn. OpenOffice FREE.

My only income - my disability pension.

Simple enough.

Microsoft can be blessed and cursed at the same time...just like any large corporation. If you think about it, what big company do you absolultely LOVE without any malice? Doubt you can find one.

I don't hate MS but I'm not keen on everything being forced down my throat by them, or any vendor. Luckily I have choices: Mac, Linux. Linux is even free.

I'm not a big fan of MS but they did a good job of taking an opportunity that was presented to them and capitalizing on it. Unfortunately they then took their actions too far and used their power to crush competitors and bully partners which is the main reason I don't like them.

"If you think about it, what big company do you absolultely LOVE without any malice? Doubt you can find one."

American Express

Just One problem with that analogy Konicwaneko. When I buy my Car I get 2000 lbs of steel and other solid materials that I can call my own. M$ and most the rest of the software industry never sell you their software, they are selling you the privildge of using it, but you do not own the software. If I so choose, I can open the hood of my car, pull out the engine, and mount that engine in a different chassis or vise versa. And I can use that car as collateral on a loan, and even sell the car to another user.
<p>Plus, in most cases the Auto industry has been quick (at least the last few decades) to recall hazardous vehicles and replace or repair them. <p>M$ has only recently learned that the concept of security is of importance. And even then you have to wonder. When one servicepack re-opens a hole they had managed to close before.<p>Now I mostly Utilize M$ products, It's primarily because I am a gamer and not many of the better games get Linux ports. However that is beginning to change. Also the Linux I would use would be Debian unstable and really needs greater than the current dial-up access I have right now to keep up to date. But at my last apt where I had DSL access, I used it and loved it. <p>ps I will admit to being a total fan of Microsoft Mice. One piece of tech that they have gotten totally right.

DaKnife:p

A car is also 100x the cost.

microsoft isnt really a monopoly. they make os's and a few descent games. they dont deal with hardware or any of that stuff.
but the mac people make os's, processors,hardware ect..........
they may not be the juggurnaut that microsoft is but they have all
the makings for true world domination in the cpu market. but i will say that microsoft needs to spend more time on their os programing proccess and beta testing ,other than that i aint got no beef son.

Ooo, passport, for this they will never be forgiven. NEVAR!

Oh, man, I am such a rabid supporter of Microsoft. I'm glad to see a few opinions posted so far that also understand the intricacies of capitalism. Every company strives to be number one; that is the whole point of having a company; if Netscape or Apple had the leading market share, do you think they'd be complaining about Microsoft's business ethic? No. Bill Gates is my hero, and I'm not even driven by capitalistic urges, I just understand that society is.

As for their products: I know I can't speak for everyone here, but I have never had a problem with a Microsoft product, and I do everything with my systems: gaming, programming, 3d modeling, graphic design, audio manipulation, web serving, everything. The few problems I have had were due to poorly-written third party software, and I'm sure someone could rebut this with, "well, if they released their source code, better programs could be written." Fuck that.

It is every company's prerogative whether to release their code. Information is meant to be free, but code isn't information, it's a product of information, and products are (typically) meant to be sold.

Their security flaws are only so prevalent because everyone focuses on them. With (if I recall correctly) 75% of servers and 80% of workstations running Windows, why would you really bother to exploit flaws in other OSes?

I have used Linux many times; I actually have it installed on a secondary machine right now, and I agree that its security and stablility are nice, but I absolutely hate the OS itself; it's way too complicated to install anything not wrapped in a tidy little RPM package or run anything not installed by default, and it took over four hours for me to install the drivers for my two-year-old hardware on the newest release... and I still don't have audio! In order to get the sound to work, I have to patch the source code, rebuild the kernel with the sound module, and build the driver for the sound card... wtf? Aurgh!!!!! Sorry for the rant.

To conclude, I love Bill Gates.

I think this thread has gotten a bit off track. It's turned into the differences between MS Windows, and other OS's such as Linux, OS X, etc. I think Microsoft is a ruthless corporation in the purest sense, but like others have said, thats what it takes to make it in the industry. In my personal opinion, they don't get enough credit in one critical aspect of the IT industry, and thats keeping things uniform. This applies to most of the IT industry, and in the end only benefits almost all users and developers alike.

APIs like DirectX ensure cross-compatibility between PCs, also making development easier, faster, and more efficient. Of related note is how this effects console gaming as well. It is common knowledge that the X-Box was developed using DirectX compatible hardware. As such, future versions of the X-Box hardware (XBox2, X-Box Next, etc etc), if so desired could be designed for backwards compatibility with the old X-Box, and quite easily so, unlike the PS2 which has a multitude of processors to handle both PS2 and PSX games. This benefits not only the developer, but also the user as older games can benefit greatly in the enhanced hardware, much like upgrading hardware on a PC helps. (so you can argue that the X-Box is really just a PC in a small box, but in many ways thats not a bad thing)

Microsoft has always tried to get PC's into the mainstream market, and they have done that tenfold. Yes, they are a monopoly in many ways. However, one can argue that this isn't always a bad thing, as it make things easier for the consumer (one of the main reasons that Linux isn't picking up at lightspeed like many of us would like.)

Getting off-track once again myself, yes I do use Linux on a regular basis, and I love it. I love how customizable it is, how I can change any setting without worrying about the MS and RIAA police knocking on my door. But thats what Linux is for. However because Linux is Opensource, it may never become as wide spread as Windows is. There are too many different versions out there, and elements such as drivers and software/hardware compatibilty isn't up to par as Windows is... plus, Linux simply isn't as easy to use as Windows for the common user..... yet. Some day, it may be, but that time isn't now. Like stated before, most of the developers contributing to it and the open-source movement are doing it just to get recognized and get a paying job in the industry. Just trying to make a living and start out somewhere... like Microsoft did years ago.

bill gates must die lol before he rules the world

I have a love-hate relationship with Microsoft. I love what Windows/IE did to open up the world of computing to non-geeks. No matter how much we may hate MS, we have to recognize that the home computer/internet explosion of the late 90s was directly attributable to Microsoft.

On the other hand, there are many reasons to despise MS. I refer you to www.fuckmicrosoft.com if you want to know all of them. For me, the two primary reasons are bloat-ware and the privacy issues. Secondary issues are their business practices and the way they have monopolized the industry with regard to home/office computing. They created a vicious cycle: they created for themselves a dominant position in the industry by making the easiest (for non compusavy users) OS. As a result, most software is designed to work (first and foremost) on their OS's, which leads to a more dominant position for them, which leads to more software being written primarily for windows, etc, etc.

I do admire Bill Gates for one thing, though. I dont think anyone can deny that he is the epitome of the American capitalist success story. I have no doubt that he and his company will be studied by generations and generations of business students. He is, after all, THE most successful entreprenuer of all time.

A packet sniffer can tell you EXACTLY what's going over the wire. Some stuff is encrypted, but people have used debuggers to see what it is. Doesn't currently tell them anything more then some of your hardware info.

After he started out by buying then illegally using DOS =)

M$ was founded with dodgy business, and it hasn't improved. The bloated software mainly gets the job done, but if you use any alternatives you see just how inefficient most M$ software is. AppleWorks eats Microsoft Works, iTunes beats the crap the Windows Media Player, OSX is a better operating system than Windows.