Honestly, it was just a few months ago when everyone was going "Micro$oft", piling on the hate on everyone's favorite bashtoy. It's much more rare nowadays. In fact, it's far more common to see people bash the people who say things like that now.
Why? Is it because it has changed? Or is it because people have gotten bored of bashing it?
I'd like to believe it's the former. With the advent of Windows 7, of which I'm genuinely interested in, and not just because of Directx 11 and their strange new company philosophy of producing quality freeware for their existing users without alienating people (see Microsoft Security Essentials, Silverlight, etc.). Even their latest fiasco where they offered Windows 7 home parties wasn't actually a fiasco. Seriously, was anyone actually pissed at them for doing it? If anything, I think it actually just proved humorous... and if their sales team is to be believe, thousands of people actually subscribed to it and will be hosting their own Windows 7 parties all across the globe.
My pal recently encountered a problem on his pirated Windows XP where the Microsoft team found out about his pirated copy. Basically, they just put a message asking him to check if his copy was pirated and if it was, to please consider changing it to an original copy. He still could use it as freely as he wanted (there was just a notice on the log in menu warning him he could be using a pirated copy) with no real restrictions except when it came to updates which he couldn't do anyway. I thought it was excellent how they didn't immediately label him as a pirate (even though he was) and allowed him to continue using the software without any real restrictions (he could still get security updates). I can think of quite a few game and software companies which need to learn from this.
The new Zune HD has been recieving lavish praise all across the interwebs for the design and quality. I probably won't get one, but if the media on it get as good as it promises (something I doubt), it's quite possible to see a slow transition to that platform. It's good to see the Zune doing something more than just trail behind Apple and go one step further, even if it's a relatively small step.
I like this new Microsoft. They have essentially become what most economists only dream of, a monopoly that constantly learns from its mistakes and continually improves itself, with just enough competition to prevent it from significantly price-gouging its consumers. Sure, this attitude might be cyclical and the next Windows version might be a pile of junk, but hey... you gotta enjoy things while they last.
The only thing stopping me now from loving adoration is the fact that it's pretty difficult to find Windows 7 for a decent price tag. I could get an OEM version of 7 profession for $200... but maybe my campus will decide to get it for all students (which it has done in the past).
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Topic: Microsoft reinventing itself (Read 5190 times)