Lol, I enjoyed reading this thread. I have read a lot of these debates on microsoft and in all of them the points quoted are almost the same.
Lets go back to the begining - Microsoft started out as nothing, then they made something {an os} and marketed it well and it became a world wide sensation. The fact that they may have copied the idea from another company is irrelevant here BECAUSE,
*They have not done anything illegal
*If they copied it from somewhere then it means that the idea already existed, Well if the idea already existed then WHY didn't the company which developed the original idea make it a success ?
Microsoft has grown into such a formidable force now that it is only natural there are so many microsoft haters
The fact is, if it was linux that 90 % of the world was using then these people would have been linux haters.
I can understand why companies are pissed off by microsoft's monopoly, because the sheer presence of this software giant in any field can cause the death of the small competitors {yes thats a bad thing too}. But there will always be formidable opponents, the key to becoming a success is not by getting pissed off at the competitions monopoly and cry "I can't do it because he controls the market", instead come up with new ideas that would take you there {Who's stopping you ?} Remember the fact that microsoft, google etc all started out as small companies and have attained this monopoly through an initial brainstorm & then through their ruthless business tactics {you need that to survive}
Why on earth would the users be such microsoft haters ? If you don't like microsoft products there are PLENTY of other options to almost all microsoft products. I for one am pissed at some of the products of microsoft, but i use alternative products.
Thanks for reading this ... Awaiting responses { here we go again
}