Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#61

Post by mindslight » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

mikeash wrote: post #27

quaffapint wrote: post #14

I'm almost afraid to reply to this. It's like the hunt for Communists in the US during the cold war - ah another MS sympathizer. MS made a lot of mistakes - so did Apple. I was an Apple tech support - it really sucked not having multitasking and dealing with so many OS issues. Now I make a living off the MS stack. I think MS sticking with RT is a bad move - go with full Windows support. I would still say a Nexus devi…

And much like the Communist thing, there are some good underlying reasons even if the end result is not necessarily good. For the Communists, it's because they were horrible oppressors. For Microsoft, it's because they nearly destroyed the industry back in the day, and to many of us it seems like they set back computing about a decade with their monopolistic tactics. That doesn't mean that the Microsoft of today, muc…

Of course in both cases, it's very important to not let the hunt for one particular type of witch take on a life of its own - the ensuing hysterical myopia makes it easy for differently-branded beasts (in these cases, Apple and Democracy) to escape scrutiny.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#62

Post by TheLegace » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

x0x0 wrote: post #36

tr4656 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The iPad Air isn't really a unique form factor; its just thin and light.

and, you know, actually relevant given the thriving ios app business and wide deployment. Unlike microsoft phones and tablets.

Exactly, I'm tired of hearing PC-esque defence of these incompetent companies. Their products have always been a bane, they suck.

I remember my HTC Diamond on the original Windows Phone failure.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#63

Post by tptacek » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

iamshs wrote: post #40

In that particular thread, I was accused of being a shill and an astroturfer by 3 members. All of the accusers had karma greater than 1500, and atleast two of them were on HN since at least 2 years. Why? Because I posted the spec list of the tablet. And I do not have allegiance to any of the tech companies at all, except having used their products one time or another. MS hate is vicious on here. I remember recoiledsn…

Nobody in the history of HN has ever made themselves look smarter by calling someone else a shill, and that thread is no exception.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#64

Post by pkteison » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

I know it's been too long and it's an unreasonable position to take, but I'm still upset about Stacker.

Add on wasting the purchase of Danger (Sidekicks were amazing), intentionally changing their OS solely to screw with competitors, the terribleness of embrace and extend, and I just can't get excited about anything from Microsoft. Sure, they've behaved better recently, but they've had real competition recently. I stop short of hate, but I'm not excited about their stuff unless it's something as big as the Kinect can drive my car to the moon.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#65

Post by fleitz » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

kudu wrote: post #43

Slightly offtopic but related: can someone explain the difference between HN and Slashdot like I'm five?

HN is the new cool piece of playground equipment, the old cool piece of playground equipment has been overrun by losers and is now lame.

Eventually HN will become /. or reddit and we'll move on. It's essentially nerd fashion.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#66

Post by keithwarren » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

icefox wrote: post #30

shearnie wrote: post #10

My startup friends and I here in Brisbane, Australia talk quite a bit about going to San Fran to "soak up the start-up vibe". I often joke about having the nerve to set up camp in a coffee shop there and whip out my Surface Pro, fire up visual studio, and sling some C# and see how quickly I'll get hated on. I do wonder, will that really happen? Honest question.

Just begging for some sort of poke.... Hmm how about: Even if you got some negative comments it wouldn't be much as you would have to put it away when its battery died before long ;D Seriously C# is nice and while I am a die hard unix guy I wouldn't be caught owning a MS laptop myself I am coding with C# server code at work at am enjoying the experience. I would honestly be curious what you could do doing in C#. MS i…

"MS is giving no direction on the future of C#, desktop is suppose to be JavaScript now..."

What planet did that come from? Microsoft made a play to get Javascript devs to be capable of building native windows apps which all things considered was a smart strategic move - that has not worked out. So no, Javascript is not the way to build desktop apps - it is one way, to build one type of app for Windows 8.

Future of C#? Are you kidding me? That is just lazy to make a statement like that. For all the recent love of F# and the resurgence of focus on C++, C# is still the king in Redmond.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#67

Post by seanmcdirmid » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:49 AM UTC

kefka wrote: post #49

mikeash wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And much like the Communist thing, there are some good underlying reasons even if the end result is not necessarily good. For the Communists, it's because they were horrible oppressors. For Microsoft, it's because they nearly destroyed the industry back in the day, and to many of us it seems like they set back computing about a decade with their monopolistic tactics. That doesn't mean that the Microsoft of today, muc…

Aside the whole Communist topic.. Ye who enters that debate lies in Internet flamewars. Who cares what Microsoft did to the community. They changed SMB protocol to screw up open source devs. They intentionally fouled up Kerberos authentication. They added API after API in part to foul up WINE. Not only that, but then they continuously stagnated on any sort of browser development until Mozilla kicked in. But that's th…

Microsoft Research is the only company still doing pure CS research that I'm aware of. This is widely acknowledged also, even by my peers who are working for Google (we talk often, Apple is completely MIA from the research space).

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#68

Post by tacoman » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:52 AM UTC

olalonde wrote: post #20

In case you are genuinely wondering, a lot of the hate towards Microsoft stems from their historical hostility towards open standards[0] and open source[1]. [0] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend_and_extinguish [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents

And things like ACPI: http://www.osnews.com/story/17689

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#69

Post by keithwarren » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:52 AM UTC

nikatwork wrote: post #16

I started my career working on VB apps, and ASP then ASP.NET websites, using a Windows dev box. After learning several OSS stacks, I have nothing but contempt for Microsoft technologies. I wouldn't say I hate MS - they are what they are - but I am certainly conditioned to be very suspicious of their offerings. I would never take a job working on a MS stack again, ever. I currently work for a large enterprise that use…

Similar career arc to me but I actually recognize that a company is not a person, it is a collection of people that change. The Microsoft that exists today is far better than that of a decade or two decades ago.

Don't let prior experience prevent you from seeing when great stuff is happening.

Re: Ask HN: Why the Microsoft hate?

#70

Post by jes » Wed, Oct 23, 2013, 1:53 AM UTC

I don't hate Microsoft, but as an older (54) hacker who was plenty happy on his 11/780 running Mt. Xinu BSD in 1989, I'm still waiting for this whole "Windows" thing to blow over.