I'm a software engineer student so I work a lot with Microsoft professional tools but I'll spare you my opinion and give you the consensus:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace%2C_extend_and_extinguish

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticism_of_Microsoft

You won't find that kind of articles on Sony and Nintendo. They have done bad things but they were put in their place. MS hasn't been yet...

Zucas said: I hate the corporation MS for many reasons. The normally bad and breakable OS system that is windows, the unethical things the business does, the destructino of smaller companies byt this big giant, the wnat to control numerous markets which they enter by throwing away billions of dollars simply to take over, ect.

Welcome to the real world.  There is nothing Microsoft does that Nintendo, Sony, and almost every other corporation is doing or would like to do.

People hate Microsoft for the same reason people dont like the New York Yankees.  Its cool to hate on the big guy because he's successful and root for the underdog, even though the underdog Kansas City Royals are trying to do the same thing, they just suck at it.

The thing is companies make better OS than Microsoft. OSX is far superiour to Vista and even Linux is getting there.

Microsoft sits on its fat monopoly and a competitor cannot get in because everyone uses programs that work only on Windows. That's a classic lock-in. The quality of Windows has nothing to do with it but the number of programs that work in it.

Microsoft Office is also not worth the billions of money M$ makes with them. Its a stupid Office suite. You can get comparable offerings for free. But since everyone uses Microsoft Office and MS does its best to make document interchange with competing programs as hard as possible there is no real competition in this market.

If most gamers weren't such mindless, gotta have it consumers, neither Sony or MS would be much respected. I'm not going to give my money to a company that says I will just have to work harder to afford their system, among other things.

So let's not act like we have some kind of ethical standards here folks. You are slaves to the hobby.

Squashing smaller companies, destroying market innovation, releasing sub-par OSes just cause they can, overcharging because of their monopoly, continually trying to extend their monopoly into other markets, constant attacks on PC gaming through horrible systems like Games for Windows Live, practices of selling private information and holes in their security on Internet Explorer to anyone willing to pay, blatant robbing of ideas of other companies (Internet Explorer from Firefox, Vista from OSX, Zune from iPod, and numerous things from Sony and Nintendo), practices of buying out patents then just letting them sit so no one can ever use them and advance past their own creations, and most recently the creation of the Xbox 360, one of the least reliable pieces of gaming hardware ever made (STILL has >16% failure rate).

Fortunately for perhaps the world in general Microsoft is nearing the end of their days. Their expansion markets have all been cut off. Despite bleeding money into the 360 it's moving quickly into 3rd place worldwide, Zune was slaughtered by Apple, PC gaming was taken over by Valve and digital distribution, Google kicked them out of the internet and Firefox takes more internet explorer users every year. Google is very quickly nearing a position where they can begin to destroy Microsoft, and in 10 years Microsoft will be a shadow of their current self.

For the record, Bill Gates is a great guy. I really like Bill Gates. He was smart, innovative, and giving, but the company he created has become monstrous and a plague on technology and innovation.

ChronotriggerJM said: I find that Microsoft is one of those huge companies that's notorious for taking, taking, taking, taking... and never giving >_>

m$ and bill gates have given more money to africa then many countries in the western world so stop talkin crap

i love xbox360 said: ChronotriggerJM said: I find that Microsoft is one of those huge companies that's notorious for taking, taking, taking, taking... and never giving >_> m$ and bill gates have given more money to africa then many countries in the western world so stop talkin crap

Riiiiight, charity or tax write off? Either or it doesn't sit well with me. America spends heaps of money in foreign affairs and my personal take on the situation is we need to stop, we honestly do more harm than good most  of the time >_> The affairs of a foreign country need to be handled by that country unless requested for help. But anyway, that's an entirely different subject which I'm sure we'll get into at some point.

Besides, where did this "more money" come from? Software they develop and money they force you to spend to "upgrade" -_-

 

People hate what is big and powerful. Why do people hate Wal Mart? Same reason.

ManusJustus said: Zucas said: I hate the corporation MS for many reasons. The normally bad and breakable OS system that is windows, the unethical things the business does, the destructino of smaller companies byt this big giant, the wnat to control numerous markets which they enter by throwing away billions of dollars simply to take over, ect. Welcome to the real world. There is nothing Microsoft does that Nintendo, Sony, and almost every other corporation is doing or would like to do. People hate Microsoft for the same reason people dont like the New York Yankees. Its cool to hate on the big guy because he's successful and root for the underdog, even though the underdog Kansas City Royals are trying to do the same thing, they just suck at it.

 

I don't remember saying that Nintendo and Sony didn't.  This is a topic about MS not the others so stop putting words in my mouth that ya know I didn't say. 

And I don't hate them because they are top dog.  Hell if I wanted to hate on the biggest corporations why would I go so low as MS.  I'd start talkign about Exxon are Wal-Mart.  They make MS look like a baby company.  I hate the corporatino for those exact reasons.  They are waht really keep the mainstream from advancing in technology because they don't have to respond to the competition anymore.  That's why monopolies need to be controlled.  I'm just glad Apple is making lead way in the OS market, otherwise MS would never make a more approachable OS.

The difference is that Walmart is awesome and the only decent shopping experience in the North American continent (besides Target). ALL of your supermarkets besides those two suck. So people hating it are stupid hippies.

On the other hand Microsoft has tormented millions of people with the mediocre software you cannot escape so they have earned this wrath. (Which doesn't mean that there was necessarily all the time a superiour alternative to MS)