Why do we love to hate MS?

[sime]

Because we can!

http://comment.silicon.com/0,39024711,39123183,00.htm

Later

Sime

[Orethrius]

I have a few better questions.

(1) Why does that author pick a random crockpot (I mean Metalcroc for Christ's sake!) as being representative of the whole debate against Microsoft's often heavy-handed tactics in dealing with its competitors and - perhaps more to the point - its consumers?

(2)  Why does the author feel it necessary to bring up the OLD OS/2 debate as a justification of the debate against Microsoft, considering that BOTH sides were guilty of some rather dirty politics at the time?

(3)  Is selling a proprietary operating system to foreign nations, activationless en masse really something to be ignored, or are we EXPECTED to activate BECAUSE we're Americans?

(4)  Is Davidoff still pissed about Gates laying claim to Altair?  

[bedouin]

The answer to this is simple.  People hate Microsoft because it's forced upon them, and most know of no other alternatives.

I remember sitting in a class one day listening to some other students talk.  They were complaining about the grammar check in Word, and one of the students (it was a graduate course, so the folks were a bit older) mentioned, "We used to use Macs to write our papers; I liked it so much better.  Why don't we use those anymore?"

If you look at the statement real close, it's evident that she didn't even realize she has a choice; she just accepts whatever institutionalized solutions are offered, by her employer, university, whatever.

That's why people hate Microsoft.  That's why nerds hated them even in the 80s and early 90s.  They didn't make computers humanistic tools like they could have been, but just made them another extension of cold business and bureaucracy.  People feel change is hopeless because they're just fighting against a well-tuned machine.

[Orethrius]

quote:Originally posted by bedouin:
The answer to this is simple.  People hate Microsoft because it's forced upon them, and most know of no other alternatives.

I remember sitting in a class one day listening to some other students talk.  They were complaining about the grammar check in Word, and one of the students (it was a graduate course, so the folks were a bit older) mentioned, "We used to use Macs to write our papers; I liked it so much better.  Why don't we use those anymore?"

If you look at the statement real close, it's evident that she didn't even realize she has a choice; she just accepts whatever institutionalized solutions are offered, by her employer, university, whatever.

That's why people hate Microsoft.  That's why nerds hated them even in the 80s and early 90s.  They didn't make computers humanistic tools like they could have been, but just made them another extension of cold business and bureaucracy.  People feel change is hopeless because they're just fighting against a well-tuned machine.

Holy shit.  Quoted for truth.      
So I guess the big question here is, why not tune its rivals to take Microsoft's position while actually KEEPING customer service (as in NOT what a stallion does to a mare)?