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...

[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.

[billbuckner]

Why? It's being quite civil at the moment.

[Katie Reynolds]

Originally Posted by plutonium83

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

If things get out of hand, the thread will be closed; same with any other thread.

Until then, keep posting.

[Eugenia Gabrielov]

To the two above posts regarding locking this thread:

There is no reason to lock this thread if people are being civil, that is quite correct. I'd like to remind you all, as mentioned above, that this conversation has been considered before. It is a new angle on it perhaps, but respecf other people's opinions.

While I support Macs for many uses and Windows for many others, I am a highschool student. Like many people on this forum, I do not pay for my own computer. Kudos to those of you who construct your own. It's highly admirable. However, I would say that no matter what operating system you use, you should get the best antivirus available for it. There are awesome ones (I presume, not being a longterm Linux or Mac user) for any OS.

. Operating system discussion is good.

This thread was started as an opinion on Windows products and services, not as a bashing session or so I would hope. A couple posts thus far have been unsupported in that regard.

My favorite operating system is Dance Dance Revolution /strange humor. It covers all my needs.

- Genia

[sanddrag]

The nice thing about Macs (at least pre-OSX) is that they just work. And they keep working forever. They are also very easy for a first time computer user. Also, Macs keep very high resale value. However, they are limited in capability. Microsoft OS can do much more and is much more compatible with the world and is easier to use for computer-savvy people. I grew up on nothing but Macs, but today I hardly know how to use them at all. The thing that bothers me most about Macs is that I keep searching for that darn right click button that is never there.