> "The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case." Microsoft didn't lift

> "The biggest propaganda win that Microsoft pulled was getting nerds - the biggest loudmouths about software freedom - off their case." Microsoft didn't lift a finger. In the early years while they still had developer fanaticism behind it, the FOSS movement delivered Linux, which was an adequate substitute for Windows, but failed to deliver an adequate software ecosystem to compete with the Windows software ecosystem to jumpstart Linux desktop adoption. Excel and Active Directory are big examples but I'm sure people can come up with others. So users stayed where the software they needed was. FOSS momentum really began to falter once it became clear that none of the proposed business models that were based on being free and open, OSI style, were working and the money hungry beancounters started moving to faux open source licenses like shared source. But Microsoft had nothing to do with that either other than simply surviving long enough for it to happen. > "Because Windows is now widely regarded as a pile of shit..." People eat at McDonalds and drink coffee at Starbucks by the millions every day. It all might be shit but being consistent has a value of its own.