>but it is also the case that their getting-away-with-it power is at an all time low.
Actually, most, if not all of the provisions, of the DOJ settlement have expired. This is why they can ship an AV with their OS and tell OEM's to cut it out with the crapware and offer special installers to remove this stuff.
I think they're just too weak to be the MS of the 90s. They just have to play ball to be competitive like everyone else. This is a good thing. Yet somehow the hysterical anti-MS attitudes are still here. Look at this thread. Its 90% conspiracy theories and axe grinding from things a decade out.
It's not just MS that has changed. Every aspect of every industry that MS competes in has changed.
To argue that the same business practices from the 90s apply today, especially in the technology sector where the entire plane shifts radically every other year... that's just crazy. I don't see why so many people buy into it still.
I suspect a lot of is that people formed that opinion of Microsoft in their formative years. This generation we commonly see on HN has this childhood definition of Microsoft as evil internalized at a pretty deep level. People look for reasons to justify their beliefs more than they look for reasons to challenge them.
There are companies I got a bad impression of many years ago too that I am hesitant to reevaluate. I think it's pretty normal/natural, even though it's kinda unhealthy from an intellectual standpoint.
> Its 90% conspiracy theories and axe grinding from things a decade out.
There are 2/64 comments expressing this view. You're being hyperbolic. The main theme recently has been "Wow, I never thought I would like MS again, but they're impressing me!"
If anything, MS is the new darling brand of the big five here.
If anything, MS is the new darling brand of the big five here.
Eh, they're not as evil as they used to be. But they're not doing as much as I would like to protect user privacy either. So I'm not super happy with them.
Though I really the the Hololens, I hope that goes into mass production soon with a good field of view. That product might get me to buy into more of their ecosystem.
Actually, most, if not all of the provisions, of the DOJ settlement have expired. This is why they can ship an AV with their OS and tell OEM's to cut it out with the crapware and offer special installers to remove this stuff.
I think they're just too weak to be the MS of the 90s. They just have to play ball to be competitive like everyone else. This is a good thing. Yet somehow the hysterical anti-MS attitudes are still here. Look at this thread. Its 90% conspiracy theories and axe grinding from things a decade out.