No, you don't always have a choice. Industry dictates program choice, not user.

Luckily, I'm in the design field so I was able to switch over to Macs a long time ago. Not that Apple doesn't piss me off on a continual basis but I can stand them a little more than I do Microsoft's software divisions.

Even then, I still need a Windows computer handy to code-check under IE. There's no way to be a professional in almost any field and not need access to a Microsoft-powered system now and again.

Well of course you have the choice, you can find another job. Duh? ;) But if you have to use windows for work, someone has chosen microsoft as their platform. Not like ms has forced them to use windows. They just find ms as the best, like they always are. ;)

You can run IE with mac, don't you? If not natively, then by wine.

I personally have no beef with Bill G or the Xbox360. Yet i do trully despise M$! Bill doesnt own M$ anymore so it aint his fault. MS has become a tyrant of sorts, trying to swallow everything whole in order to make itsellf more bigger and powerful, ala BUU from DBZ style. They use their huge sums of money to get what ever they want like a spoiled rich kid. MS pays companies (cough*gamespot*cough) to give their 360 all the hype and glory while spreading miss information on competitors. Also MS's reps are fairly cruel to the competition, always giving snide remarks. I dont like MS's money hungry demeaner either. If Sony can make online free while still taking huge losses from their hardware cost why cant MS who have an unlimited suply of money do the same?

These thing infuriate me when i think about them.

You didn't see the sweet pen and free mints I got off them at the recruitement events. Not to mention all the free software with MSDNAA :D

I don't think they're the be all and end all. I do use linux from time to time. But I don't hate them.

@Kyros - How has competition been killed at all? OSX is going strong and Linux is getting better every day. They haven't been killed in the slightest.

I personally hate Microsoft because every single product that I bought that was labeled by Microsoft failed me miserably. Whether it be a computer mouse, an XBox, or Windows. I'm the kind of guy who takes care of his stuff, but at the same time expects it to do whatever it's intended to do. I completely went away from Microsoft when it comes to games and computers because of their crappy products. I'm a mac guy and Playstation enthusiast. So far Apple hasn't made one device that has failed me, and neither has Sony.

When it comes to money, I don't care. All those company executives make wads of money a second, so it doesn't matter to me. What matters is what's in my best interest, and unreliable products such as Microsoft's just don't cut it. So that's why I don't like Microsoft.

For all the people in here saying you have a choice, just uninstall windows, blah, blah, blah.

Where M$ really got into trouble was that they forbid any reseller from selling PCs with windows installed if they also sold PCs with Linux (or anything else) installed. Basically, they forbid these companies from pre-installing and supporting Linux. Most people just aren't going to uninstall/install an OS. Just as most people won't change the engine in their car.

So instead of competing on features and performance, M$ strong armed all the PC retailers. This was one of the major reasons they were found guilty of being a monopoly.

Yes, the public did, by default. You're talking in abstracts now but in previous comments, you mentioned that we "have a choice" in using Windows or not. Well, I don't. I avoid it most of the time but there are still occasions where I'm forced to use it because it's the default PC platform for 95% of users out there.

PS. Wine doesn't do anything. You still need Windows on your computer to use it. What's the difference? MS gets their money either way. You may as well boot into Windows at that point and take advantage of running the programs natively.

honestly? i..dont..know...

must be the name microsoft.

MS is an evil monopolistic company in the software business. MS has a bad reputation and people do not respect MS as a company.

Er what? Are we talking about the same WINE. I mean to quote themselves...

"Think of Wine as a compatibility layer for running Windows programs. Wine does not require Microsoft Windows, as it is a completely free alternative implementation of the Windows API consisting of 100% non-Microsoft code"

http://www.winehq.org/