> I used to work on Windows at Microsoft, prior to Windows 10. I've always kept some Windows machines around because I felt that Windows was actually not that bad of an operating system, having personally reviewed a good amount of its source code and seen what the engineering culture was back at the time I was there.

I'm curious how the culture was though. I always get the vibe that Microsoft has never been "end user oriented" if that makes sense. They always seemed to be making a product for other businesses. To this day, Windows, Office, and especially stuff like MS Teams feel like they were designed from the ground up for a heavily managed business environment with heavy surveillance and tight controls.

Stuff like Telemetry and requiring MS accounts for logging into Windows 10+ seem more of a nod to employers. It's really amazing how much MS has been able to convince users to give controls of their own devices to MS/employers/others. Stuff like using Outlook on a personal phone giving the employer the ability to wipe the employee's phone.

Like I don't think they have ever, in their years, seen end users of their products as "customers". I think they see businesses, sometimes independent developers, and advertising firms as their real customers.