Do you hate Microsoft?

(Credit: Microsoft)

In a recent column, magazine editor Jon Phillips tackled this provocative topic: "Why PC users hate Microsoft."

Noting that few users would admit to anything like fondness for the company, Phillips suggests that because we're effectively stuck with Windows when we buy a new PC, Microsoft is the obvious scapegoat when things go wrong. "When Windows fails [users]," he writes, "they elevate Microsoft to boogeyman status: a craven, profit-hungry monopoly that runs an unreliable service."

True, but I think there's more to it than that. Much, much more. I say this because for the past few weeks, I've been mulling this very same question. Specifically, I've been wondering why I hate Microsoft.

We need to talk about Windows OK, "hate" is too strong a word. Viewed objectively, Microsoft advanced the computer age like no other enterprise, even as it hit speed-bumps along the way. Without Microsoft, the computing world as we know it would likely be much different -- and not necessarily better.

I know this, yet I harbor a passionate -- some would say irrational -- animosity toward the company. It's like everything Microsoft does leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I'm realizing now that I've felt this way for years, but only recently have I started to wonder why.

What sparked the sudden fit of self-examination? All signs point to Windows 8. After some poking and prodding, I conclud... [Read more]