Opinion of Microsoft and it's products

[mgs]

As I was browsing though Chief Delphib forum threads I see a lot slamming Microsoft and it’s products. In my opinion I think Microsoft does a pretty good job with it’s products. Microsoft has a good range of some pretty powerful tools, some of these are: DirectX, Visual Studio, and .net stuff. The one thing that I think by far out weights other products in its class, is DirectX, I have never seen better graphics than what DirectX can generate. Of course this is just my opinion of this stuff.

[Roland]

Microsoft makes plenty of quality software; there's no better desktop OS for x86 computers than Windows XP. As a web developer, though, I'm annoyed by Internet Explorer's bizarre interpretation of web standards and lack of support for things as simple as PNG images. I still prefer to use a Mac for almost everything except gaming, though.

[Billfred]

Overall, with a few tweaks (read: get some spyware protection, dump IE for Firefox, etc.) Windows is alright. (Windows is just about the only Microsoft product I use--I'm packing OpenOffice.Org.) However, the more I use the Apples in the Student Media office, the more I'm tempted to switch.

I will hand this much to Bill and Company: they make one sweet gaming console.

[Brian Lesser]

Overall, Microsoft is a very good company. Good software (mostly), good products, good gaming console. However, I never had great technical support in the past (and present) and IE is a very lousy program (which is why I now advertise Firefox in my signature)

[Ryan Albright]

i like Microsoft alot except for what everyone said is IE has to many venerabilities. Likes billfred said i use firefox and the rest is Microsoft and i have no complaints.

[AIBob]

I personally like Microsoft, but it still has some problems... Although people do not bother to say it, there are many other systems that are much worse, such as linux and Mac....
But I believe that the reason that they do this slamming of Microsoft is because there are tiny little things that they do not like....
Just because it is on top, and it is not perfect, it will be slammed until its second best or maybe third.

[tkwetzel]

Originally Posted by AIBob

Although people do not bother to say it, there are many other systems that are much worse, such as linux and Mac....

I would not put Windows above Linux or Mac OS's. They all have their strong points and weak points. Most people use windows for the ease of use and compatability. Many programmers (please correct me if I'm wrong...I am not a programmer) use linux because it is open source and everyone can edit and share it easily. And most of the people that I know that use Macs use them for their amazing capabilities with video and graphics; for example, the game animation is rendered on Macs. I do also agree that windows is probably the best of those system's for gaming. I personally use Windows because it fits my needs and I know how to use it. I also use various pieces of software made by Microsoft. Microsoft is a fine company in most regards, but I also do agree that IE is pretty horrible.

[Ryan Albright]

Ya i have to agree with wetzel here each OS does have their own pro's and con's and we can sit here and debate it all day and nothing will ever change and yes linux is open source

[DarkJedi613]

Personally I like a lot of Microsoft products. Microsoft Office is very good, everything meshes together very well and all. Only thing I absolutly hate is the drawing canvas in MSWord.

Windows XP is a very good product, especially with Service Pack 2 installed. It is much more stable than 98SE and ME, plus has many more options.

I seem to be one of the only people around who prefers Internet Explorer over other browsers, but I do. I find FireFox and Mozilla a pain to work with.

They did turn out some other good products also, plus some upcoming products look good - MS Longhorn should be good and MS Anti-Spyware looks decent (though I haven't tried it yet).

Microsoft .NET is an entirely different story, however...

[Mike]

Originally Posted by tkwetzel

Many programmers (please correct me if I'm wrong...I am not a programmer) use linux because it is open source and everyone can edit and share it easily.

Not really, since Windows holds a lot of the market share most programmers will program their product on Windows.

IE sucks, plain and simple. Get firefox.

Microsoft worries too much about ease of use and not enough about security. "Those who would sacrifice liberty for security, deserve neither security nor liberty."

Overall, Windows is good, it's just some small stuff that Microsoft doesn't fix that annoys me.

[Jay W.]

I don't have much to say in the technical manner...just some thoughts from a gamer's point of view.

1) Not an annoyance..just stating the obvious. Microsoft did good when the created the Halo-erm, I mean the X-box. Its a very good system, with some very good games.

2) However, the way the do PC games annoys me badly. FASA used to hold the Battletech/Mechwarrior combo. Their last game, MechWarrior 3 was awesome. There was one expansion (Pirates moon) for it and everything was finalized. Then, Microsoft gets the Battletech line and comes out with MW4. Then they come out with MW4: Vengence, MW4: Black Knight, and MW4: Mercenaries. THEN they release the Mek Pak expansions for a wider choice of Battlemechs. Seems to me that they want a profit off the game, and do not care much about the gamers.

[Eria4044]

Originally Posted by Jay W.

Seems to me that they want a profit off the game, and do not care much about the gamers.

Thus explaining once and for all why Halo2, one of the most profitable games of all time, is exclusive to one console. Big jerks.

[Ashley Weed]

From an IT standpoint, you just have to jet annoyed with several never ending doings of Microsoft:

1. How you constantly hear Microsoft has no money, the cost of licensing is going up, and they are going to fight "distributing". Bringing up a business or group of systems of approximately 700 systems, that you only want to install Office (NOT Enterprise) will cost you $200,000+.

2. As for licensing yourself as an individual FORGET Microsoft OS's, just run away from them. With Microsoft releasing a new OS every two years, you might as well kiss your licence good-bye as soon as you complete your certification.

3. A positive standpoint of Microsoft, it's friendlier to the "common user". It's not to be overseeing labs, and not have to work simplistic tasks of "my flash drive wont work" "my file name . extension" wont open. Microsoft and Windows makes things a little cozier in the current corporate and large scale settings on the user end.

[Kyle Fenton]

Originally Posted by AIBob

I personally like Microsoft, but it still has some problems... Although people do not bother to say it, there are many other systems that are much worse, such as linux and Mac....
But I believe that the reason that they do this slamming of Microsoft is because there are tiny little things that they do not like....
Just because it is on top, and it is not perfect, it will be slammed until its second best or maybe third.

Windows is definitely not better than Mac OS X or Linux. While I can site many reasons, I prefer not to.

But basically my beef with Microsoft is there monopolistic power. They try to control basically every sector of technology. Whether it is the PC, server, music, video, DVDs, networking, DirectX, etc, etc. They always come out with a product that is proprietary, and it must only use a Microsoft solutions (there are a few exceptions of course). Microsoft is basically the reason why there are few open standards in the world that technology can interrupt. There strategy is basically like Wal-Mart strategy. They lower the prices of the products, until the competition dries up, and then they jack up the prices to whatever they choose, because there is no viable alternative. They don’t even try to embrace open-source solutions, and sometimes they try to stop in dead in their tracks.

If you think that Microsoft has helped the world by providing all of these products, than you are somewhat misguided. Microsoft strategy is often taking someone else’s idea, making there own version, and throwing a bunch of money at it until it becomes the majority.

On the other hand, I do like some of Microsoft’s products, especially Office. While it is not perfect, I do prefer it against other office suites.

Oh here we go again. I suggest someone lock this thread.