2 ms·

The anti-Microsoft stance of HN readers never ceases to amaze me, not just talking about this thread. I've seen people even accusing Microsoft of orchestrating

The anti-Microsoft stance of HN readers never ceases to amaze me, not just talking about this thread. I've seen people even accusing Microsoft of orchestrating the board to fire Altman and cause this cascading of events, based on no evidence other than some imaginary plot because Microsoft is always evil. Yet those comments get upvoted and breathed more oxygen into. Seems more likely that the OpenAI board just grossly miscalculated their own power/sway. It has happened countless times in history in both small and large companies. This is just an example of one that involves a tech behemoth.

thelittleone 3y ago
It's not just Microsoft. Big tech has an obligation to put profits and growth as priority (even often short term at the expense of long term). This is often at odds with the customer as we have seen by so many dark patterns, decline in privacy, PRISM etc etc. Google changed their motto from "Don't be Evil". Companies may start with good intentions but the pressure of shareholders (and agencies) will take that away over time. Interested to hear examples to the contrary.
croes 3y ago
Maybe because of MS's history. Just think of the Nokia take over
dacryn 3y ago
it's because a lot of us are working in an environment that has a certain degree of Microsoft forced upon us, made by people who believe more in sales than their own engineers. Is Teams the best option? No, but it's the most used. Is Excel the best option? Who cares in a world where Airtable, Google Sheets, Monday, Notion, is blocked by the company firewall, you take what you can get and you start to do things with Excel that are not a spreadsheet anymore, just because it's the only thing left. Is Azure the best cloud? AWS and GCP are clearly more developer friendly, but they don't get to choose. You want to use Jetbrains tools? Too bad, your company decided on VSCode. Because surely those are the same. You want to use Miro? Too bad, your company decided on Microsoft Whiteboard. Was there an RFP? No it just came with Office licenses. This is why people are sick of Microsoft, and it's happening again with OpenAI now. Most don't even have a choice to experiment with Anthropic or try out Llama. Some DPO/CTO/CDO exec love their microsoft contract and it's hindering digital innovation so much

thelittleone 3y ago

It's not just Microsoft. Big tech has an obligation to put profits and growth as priority (even often short term at the expense of long term). This is often at odds with the customer as we have seen by so many dark patterns, decline in privacy, PRISM etc etc. Google changed their motto from "Don't be Evil". Companies may start with good intentions but the pressure of shareholders (and agencies) will take that away over time. Interested to hear examples to the contrary.

croes 3y ago

Maybe because of MS's history. Just think of the Nokia take over

dacryn 3y ago

it's because a lot of us are working in an environment that has a certain degree of Microsoft forced upon us, made by people who believe more in sales than their own engineers. Is Teams the best option? No, but it's the most used. Is Excel the best option? Who cares in a world where Airtable, Google Sheets, Monday, Notion, is blocked by the company firewall, you take what you can get and you start to do things with Excel that are not a spreadsheet anymore, just because it's the only thing left. Is Azure the best cloud? AWS and GCP are clearly more developer friendly, but they don't get to choose. You want to use Jetbrains tools? Too bad, your company decided on VSCode. Because surely those are the same. You want to use Miro? Too bad, your company decided on Microsoft Whiteboard. Was there an RFP? No it just came with Office licenses. This is why people are sick of Microsoft, and it's happening again with OpenAI now. Most don't even have a choice to experiment with Anthropic or try out Llama. Some DPO/CTO/CDO exec love their microsoft contract and it's hindering digital innovation so much