5 ms·

Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode

by mc32 5y ago

Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode of operation. Now they are throwing away their good will with smarmy tactics --why? for some short term gains? They were passing Google reputation-wise, of late, but these moves undercut their work of the last few years. It seems they see Google, FB, even Apple, etc., eating this cake (using market to undercut competition) and can't stand the temptation. I can only hope the DOJ will find some will to take on tech and do something about their behavior, but I am not holding my breath. If only companies would have principles they could stand on and we could count on.

arbitrage 5y ago
And what is good will worth these days? What does that get them?
jimbob45 5y ago
My personal theory is that they see Apple brazenly pushing anti-competitive features with their browser such as disallowing extensions on anything but Safari and they realize that they can't be called out themselves unless the corrupt courts are willing to call out their darling Apple as well.
ajsnigrutin 5y ago
> Now they are throwing away their good will with smarmy tactics --why? for some short term gains? I mean... if you're paid to increase the usage of X, do you really care about long-term reputation, if you'll be five companies away by then?
throw_m239339 5y ago
> Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode of operation. Microsoft never changed. There was never a "new Microsoft". Only a new strategy with the same goals as ever: anti competitive behavior, bullying "partners", and what not. Just because they made this or that opensource changes nothing to the nature of that company. Windows 11 is basically just adware at that point.
- mc32 5y ago
  I don’t contest that characterization; however, they did try to rehabilitate their brand, and, I think they did. So why go through that effort and throw it away? To circle back to your point, I now feel Google’s Don’t be evil was a deke, a fake and was all about building reputation which they leveraged for market share.
FredPret 5y ago
I noticed the same thing. However, I trust MS less now than in the 90’s. Back then, I felt like the owner of my machine. Sure they had bad things like IE but I could just ignore it. Now, it restarts itself and installs updates despite me specifically trying to stop it. It’s a shame really because I really enjoyed Win 10 and even Bing doesn’t suck completely. Thank goodness for competition and the new M1 laptops! Now Apple just needs to launch a good search engine and get Numbers to where Excel is and I can wave goodbye to both MS and Google.
- wongarsu 5y ago
  I trust Apple more than Microsoft, but if you want to feel like you own the machine Apple is much worse.
  - freediver 5y ago
    Hmm where do you get that from? I own a 2003 iMac G4 and do not feel Apple owning it 1%. And my latest iPhone can work without any Apple services if I choose so (I don't because they are actually great). If I am locked in the Apple eco-system it is by choice, not by design.
  - FredPret 5y ago
    Really? I've never had a Mac, but I have all the other gadgets and I love them. Would it interrupt a running process to restart itself? I've had Python scripts (ML, data analysis) running locally overnight on Windows, only to come back to a restarted computer. Not fun.
  - jppittma 5y ago
    This is true on the iPhone, but I feel ownership of my Mac. It's just a unix box. I turned off tpm and have skhd and yabai installed, which is close enough to DWM/i3 for me. I wish they'd offer better out of box support for X, but this is honestly good enough
wongarsu 5y ago
Microsoft was never good at being consistent. It's an organization defined by corporate politics and infighting. Just because the Edge or the Windows UI department are user hostile doesn't mean that this is a wider trend in the company. Conversely, the vscode or the Azure departments doing good things doesn't mean the rest of the company behaves that way.

by mc32 5y ago

arbitrage 5y ago

And what is good will worth these days? What does that get them?

jimbob45 5y ago

My personal theory is that they see Apple brazenly pushing anti-competitive features with their browser such as disallowing extensions on anything but Safari and they realize that they can't be called out themselves unless the corrupt courts are willing to call out their darling Apple as well.

ajsnigrutin 5y ago

> Now they are throwing away their good will with smarmy tactics --why? for some short term gains? I mean... if you're paid to increase the usage of X, do you really care about long-term reputation, if you'll be five companies away by then?

throw_m239339 5y ago

> Microsoft has had a good few years of building up their reputation after their self inflicted blemishes from the IE integration fiasco as well as their EEE mode of operation. Microsoft never changed. There was never a "new Microsoft". Only a new strategy with the same goals as ever: anti competitive behavior, bullying "partners", and what not. Just because they made this or that opensource changes nothing to the nature of that company. Windows 11 is basically just adware at that point.

mc32 5y ago
I don’t contest that characterization; however, they did try to rehabilitate their brand, and, I think they did. So why go through that effort and throw it away? To circle back to your point, I now feel Google’s Don’t be evil was a deke, a fake and was all about building reputation which they leveraged for market share.

FredPret 5y ago

I noticed the same thing. However, I trust MS less now than in the 90’s. Back then, I felt like the owner of my machine. Sure they had bad things like IE but I could just ignore it. Now, it restarts itself and installs updates despite me specifically trying to stop it. It’s a shame really because I really enjoyed Win 10 and even Bing doesn’t suck completely. Thank goodness for competition and the new M1 laptops! Now Apple just needs to launch a good search engine and get Numbers to where Excel is and I can wave goodbye to both MS and Google.

wongarsu 5y ago
I trust Apple more than Microsoft, but if you want to feel like you own the machine Apple is much worse.
- freediver 5y ago
  Hmm where do you get that from? I own a 2003 iMac G4 and do not feel Apple owning it 1%. And my latest iPhone can work without any Apple services if I choose so (I don't because they are actually great). If I am locked in the Apple eco-system it is by choice, not by design.
- FredPret 5y ago
  Really? I've never had a Mac, but I have all the other gadgets and I love them. Would it interrupt a running process to restart itself? I've had Python scripts (ML, data analysis) running locally overnight on Windows, only to come back to a restarted computer. Not fun.
- jppittma 5y ago
  This is true on the iPhone, but I feel ownership of my Mac. It's just a unix box. I turned off tpm and have skhd and yabai installed, which is close enough to DWM/i3 for me. I wish they'd offer better out of box support for X, but this is honestly good enough

wongarsu 5y ago

Microsoft was never good at being consistent. It's an organization defined by corporate politics and infighting. Just because the Edge or the Windows UI department are user hostile doesn't mean that this is a wider trend in the company. Conversely, the vscode or the Azure departments doing good things doesn't mean the rest of the company behaves that way.