5 ms·
Some people are too young to remember. I recently worked with new grads in a startup, and for these 20-somethings Microsoft has always been somewhat cool, and B
by ggambetta 6y ago
Some people are too young to remember. I recently worked with new grads in a startup, and for these 20-somethings Microsoft has always been somewhat cool, and Bill Gates has always been this benevolent old guy that cures diseases. They were very surprised where I shared the articles where they were saying literally LINUX IS CANCER.
With a mixture of time passing and billions of dollars, it looks like they've successfully "cleaned" their image :(
- tpmx 6y agoHigh-end, (long-term) consistent PR management works very well. (Remember how everyone used to hate George W. Bush with the passion of a thousand burning suns?)
- bryanrasmussen 6y agoI think there might have been something else that helped dim that hatred than just PR management. A sort of comparative effect as it were.
- tpmx 6y agoA key element of this long-term consistent PR is timing. Time makes old criminal idiocy pale, and there'll always be another clown.
- benrbray 6y agoOn a related note I'm 25 and am bitter about how older generations lived through Watergate / Iran-Contra / etc, and not only let everyone involved off the hook, but then let them all pull the strings behind the scenes throughout the 2000s and into the Trump era.
- tpmx 6y agoIncluding during the Obama era? That would be a ballsy statement. I might have misunderstood you though - I'm not a native English speaker. (And also, we are drifting off-topic.)
- thatguy0900 6y agoObama continued being a middle east warmonger. He just got a Nobel peace prize for it instead of being vilified
- UnpossibleJim 6y agoDon't confuse politicians with "everyone". To be honest, being an east coast transplant on the west coast, I was shocked that no one remembered Trump during the Clinton era, or when he was pulling real estate cons. Either way, this isn't the place for me to get into politics. I hope that isn't what this forum becomes. P.S. Everyone is bitter about how the "older generation" handled things without the lens of modern values. I'm Gen X and we were angry all the time. EDIT: phone changed east to easy. They are not equal.
- benrbray 6y agoI should clarify that I'm upset that they lived through it but still manage not to let that experience inform their votes today. Hindsight is 20/20, and now they have the benefit of hindsight!
- skinnymuch 6y agoEveryone is like that all the time. Look at how things have been recently. People forget things all the time in politics. Then the same BS continues.
- Salgat 6y agoIt's not about PR, it's about some fundamental changes in their business goals. Azure allowed them to embrace Linux and open source in a way where they benefitted. Also they are no longer ran by that shithead Steve Ballmer. Microsoft isn't perfect but as far as massive corporations go they're no where near that bad.
- tpmx 6y agoI've learned from experience: There is no way on HN to successfully comment negatively on something like that. Good luck with whatever you are doing with the the Microsoft platform.