I would also argue that MS is nothing like the company that it was 30 years ago when that philosophy was a thing. The truth today is the via GitHub, Microsoft hosts the vast majority of the world's open source software, entirely for free.
This is like saying that a cannibal has stopped eating people because there have been no disappearances in the last two days. Sure, technically correct, I'd still not eat their curry.
30 years ago your PC was at least your PC, now they shove all kinds of cloud and AI services down the users' throat and put ads where they don't belong.
1 / https://i.insider.com/4e0b340dcadcbbdd35120000?width=700&for...
To be fair, though, y'all did 90% of the work before the acquisition. MS only hosts the vast majority of the world's open source because they backed up dump trucks full of cash at the houses of the people who actually built that capability.
> I would also argue that MS is nothing like the company that it was 30 years ago when that philosophy was a thing.
I don't think I can ever truly trust their motives, though. I will agree that it's a different company in many ways, but their history is still that of a company that, through anti-competitive practices, set personal computing back decades. And worked tirelessly to keep open source at bay where they could.
At this point MS realizes it's more profitable to work along side open source than against it. If at any point they no longer believe that's the case, you better believe we'll see a reversion to their former behavior.
Corporations like Microsoft don't do charity.