I have recently admitted to be a "Microsoft hater" for various reasons such as their monopolistic policies, bloated & inefficient OS (Vista...), incompotent products (Zune, Windows RT etc...), bully tactics (forcing windows 8 and tablet strategy on people, prior XB1 policies etc)... However, I have not been a hater of the Microsoft entity but merely that particular "stage" of Microsoft. The Microsoft of the Bill Gates Era (Pre-Vista) was great, and I always liked them, but the Microsoft of the Steve Balmer Era (post-Vista, and Ribbon) gathered all the hatred from me that they deserved. I migrated to Linux in several of my machines in one way or another, though dropping windows was out of the question.

However, especially after the stepdown of Steve Balmer (and with the office of Satya Nadella), things have started to improve tremendously! I am starting to like their new policies. I see that they are figthing at multiple fronts nowadays and striking back with gradual victories in each.

* They started to push the net & cloud strategy pretty extensively. They do not only match google (and drive) in this area but also supplement a much more sophisticated office solution. One drive (1 TB) with or without office is a pretty neat and integrated solution.

* They cut down the licensing costs and started to push cheap yet decent laptops / ultrabooks / netbooks to fight chromebooks. These things double down with a tablet interface at will, which is pretty good with touch and can be disabled. Although there are still disadvantages with Windows 8, the pros are more than enough to offset against windows 7 (at least on a touch device) or chromeOS. You can / could buy a decent win8.1 laptop with one year office 360 subscription for $99 - $199.

* They obviously cooperated with intel to stop the arm - android - chromeOS onslaught, and with intel and MS that cut down their prices substantially (Atom quad core SOC is around $15-$25, and win8 license is $0-$20), we see a huge attack of cheap windows 8 tablets and convertables. I see little reason to buy an android tablet instead of a windows one unless you are into a huge plethora of android apps, which are also available in ipads and smartphones. For most people who do the casual stuff like browsing, music, email, video etc, these tablets are even better by doubling down as PCs, especially when connected to a monitor thru HDMI.

* I like the way windows is headed. They started to listen to the customers by streamlining certain windows 7 and 8 features into 10, adding more sophisticated and well wanted features from Linux or elsewhere. The use of flash specific technologies such wimboot is also a big step for efficiency.

* I have to admit that the XB1 gaming scene looks great and after a disastrous start, they got their sh*t together, and hopefully will further go in that direction. Although I still think PS4 is a much better deal with the features and hardware, I cannot deny the quality of XB1 games, and the fact that MS seems to have past over some of the major hurdles of an inefficient hardware design. The difference between two machines will likely to stay around 20% (perfectly acceptable) except when the XB1 bottlenecks (due to bandwidth or ESRAM capacity) are a hindrance. Getting rid of the kinect and cutting down the prices are good moves for MS, and they are likely to win the NPDs for November and December, which is crucial for not letting the gap to increase too much and keep the market share relevant.

It has been nice. Microsoft is not evil like most people claim on internet forums. Even if you hate Microsoft, you can't deny they have had one heck of a comeback. Yes, they will lose worldwide in console sales but even Microsoft knows that. They never had a chance worldwide. But they have listened to their fans and gave them what they want. Price cuts, world class exclusives, monthly updates, etc. I'm proud to support the platform. I'm going to be buying my 3rd Xbox One this Xmas for me and the wife's bedroom. Thank you Microsoft.

MS never had a chance? I'm pretty sure they had every chance. Considering how cocky they were with their anti consumer ideas and how a boat load of people on here and elsewhere tipped them to dominate, I'd reckon a lot of people don't agree with you. 

I'm sure you are proud to support them but thankfully a lot haven't because those are the people who have made it better for you. And why have you got 3 X1's? I can't imagine buying 3 PS4's. I'd spend the money the other 2 would cost on games. Would you not do the same?

They absolutely made a great comeback exceeding my expectations given the time frame. Yes, I hated Microsoft (and I still kinda do), but this does not mean Microsoft as a whole but rather "The Microsoft of Steve Balmer".... Things can be fixed.

- Windows 10 seems promising and hopefully they will further streamline it and make it more efficient.

- I like the way Windows 8 and online account works; hopefully they will further improve it.

- I don't see a harm with Windows Store as long as they don't force people onto it (solely the modern apps). I don't mind having "modern apps" for touch interface if it does not take anything away from my tradtional way of computing with desktop apps and such. Again it should be about options, not forcing people into certain ways, just because it is more profitable.

- Hopefully MS will learn a valuable lesson from XB1 and learn to create a game-specific PC. Their next console should be a gradually upgraded "platform", much like the "ipad", which is upgraded annually, and the games also slowly adjust to the hardware. The console should only be a "gateway" to the platform, and you should be buying games per account, not machine. Any game you buy must be playable on any future console (just like an ipad game in 2010 will work in ipad air 2). This will create a virtual Microsoft platform, which is a game specific subset of the PC scene. The machines should be cheap (around $299) with acceptable performance and there should be a new model every one or two years with slightly upgraded hardware and full backward and forward compatibility. The older models can take a $100 price cut with the advent of the new machine, and games can support 2 or 3 generations (4-6 years of span), with everything gradually improving by time, while the older hardware is also phased out.

Yeah, Microsoft is making all the right decisions recently. Very pro-gamer and pro-consumer for the most part over the past few months.

Desperate MS is best MS and they are loaded with money. I love Windows 10

Well it is because hopefully everybody is not "you" and people have different ways of doing things :)
I have 3 Xbox One (mine, my wife/living room one and one for my kids). We are playing a lot together (and at the same time) and having one Xbox One will just not work at all. And I can imagine a lot of other families out there in the same situation. I can also imagine a lot of people like you who do not need that setup.

2 PS4's maybe but 3 is overkill. If he has kids that want one each then fair enough. 

Yup.. Microsoft deserves all the props they are getting!

Microsoft never really needed to make a "comeback" because they were always there and current. They've always made billions, even in a "bad" year. I think Vista was a good OS and it was adopted well by consumers. Zune was simply an underrated media player that was actually awesome. But they are still doing very well.