Holy shit that's gross.
I haven't used Windows as my main OS in a really long time -- 20 years? -- and crap like this is one reason why. I thought that, with Ballmer gone, they'd stop doing deeply wrong stuff like this, but here we are.
I haven't used Windows as my main OS in a really long time -- 20 years? -- and crap like this is one reason why. I thought that, with Ballmer gone, they'd stop doing deeply wrong stuff like this, but here we are.
They cheated the license with Spyglass Mosaic for Internet Explorer - making it based on software purchases and then bundling it for free with Windows so they didn't have to pay any royalties. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Explorer#Internet_Exp...
Then there's the Halloween documents, and the attempts at forcing ActiveX (and IE) on the early Web, etc. - the whole company is rotten.
They'll obliterate all competitors and become so profitable they'll force Oracle to take them out.
Tada! Market forces at work once again!
This kind of thing is especially apparent in interoperability -- Office on the Mac is currently as good as it's ever been; I never need to switch to Windows to get something done. Sharepoint (which is awful) now works properly on non-Windows platforms. There are excellent iOS builds of the Office tools. None of that was conceivable under Ballmer.
So yes, I'm old enough to have lived through all the things you mention, but I have also noticed a distinct change in MSFT's behavior in the last 7 years. I see this kind of browser tomfoolery as a return to the bad old days, for sure.