Microsoft: Difference between revisions

* [[Demonization]]: [[Linux]] absolutely ''terrified'' Microsoft at the turn of the century. They did ''everything'' they could to paint it as an immediate and dramatic threat to the survival of Western Civilization. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft from 2000 to 2014, got plenty of press for his attacks on Linux, including calling it [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/06/02/ballmer_linux_is_a_cancer/ a "cancer" that infects software] and [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2000/07/31/ms_ballmer_linux_is_communism/ "communist"].

* [[New Media Are Evil]]: If Microsoft doesn't own them. When the Internet exploded into the popular culture in the late 1990s, Microsoft did everything it could to subvert the Net and turn it into a Microsoft product, treating it and its standards as the next targets of its infamous [[w:Embrace, extend and extinguish|"Embrace, extend and extinguish"]] strategy. (They didn't count on the Net ''fighting back''.)

* [[Perpetual Beta]]: Microsoft is often accused of this with varying and [[Your Mileage May Vary|subjective]] levels of truth. When its monopoly was weakened by users outright refusing to adopt Windows Vista while XP still worked just fine, and the increasing popularity and variety of alternatives, the company appeared to be starting to clean up its act. They have been through more than one [[Dork Age]] before, though. (see: Windows ME)

* [[Playful Hacker]]: Basically founded by a couple, and given what can be found hidden in its products (like the infamous Windows API call BozosLiveHere and its other creatively-named companions, a flight simulator inside Excel, and other goodies) it's pretty clear that they continue to employ more than a few.

* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: Microsoft still makes no bones about their desire to dominate their competition and never passes up a chance to do so, but has softened its stance over the years on competing with OSes like Unix and Linux, even being willing to ensure a degree of cross-compatibility and interactivity with them, [[Know When to Fold'Em|since they absolutely dominate certain niches Windows just cannot adequately cover, especially when it comes to certain web applications]].

* [[Screw the Rules, I Make Them]]: Was infamous for this kind of attitude throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, defying even antitrust investigations to continue doing business the way it wanted. Among the abuses it engaged -- and still engages -- in is the practice of forcing PC manufacturers to pay a license fee for Windows on every machine they create -- whether it ships with Windows on it or not.

* [[Take That]]: The film ''[[Anti Trust]]'', to Microsoft.