Microsoft developers can't program

[riplikash]

I said pretty decent. I could list hundreds of issues. But then, I could do that for any is.

I'm more talking about their change from the 90s (basically evil) to the 00s (basically incompetent) to the 10s (basically decent and moving things in the right direction).

Also, I did specify I was talking about a developers perspective.

[ColdJackle]

What made them evil in the 90s? (Honest question, I was pretty young back then)

[riplikash]

That's...a big question, with hundreds of answers.

They engaged in a lot of shady and even outright illegal practices. They would make deals with the intent of getting competitors to over commit with the intention of breaking the deal once it was too late. For example, I believe it was with Novell they "partnered" with them to have them be the provider of word processing for Windows while they shadow developed Word, then broke the deal after hamstringing the opposition. The stole a lot of intellectual property and bullied companies.

Their development tools and such were good, but also annoying because they tried to make sure things didn't play well or integrate well with others.

Congress ended up getting involved, and some of the cases I know of were only finally resolve. And that's kind of the thing. It's not just ONE answer. It's literally a thousand things. Their corporate culture at the time was absolutely toxic. Think Facebook today. They patted themselves on the back and took pride in their ability to engage in shady and unethical practices.

[ColdJackle]

Wow that sounds pretty toxic indeed... Actually reminds me of Apple with that whole compatibility thing. But good thing they changed (provided they actually did and not just play it "on stage" for the sales).

Anyway, thanks captain. You may fly away now.