Microsoft Live platform: Bill Gates outlines the Microsoft Live Platform, while bits rain down on other platforms.I am a technically adept user. I have been using Windows since Windows 3.0. I remember the entire progression, 3.1, 3.11 for Workgroups, 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, and it kind of ended there for me. These days I find myself absolutely disgusted by Microsoft. From the AutoUpdate system which I feel like I am selling my soul to use, to their restrictive licensing, to the threats from BSA, to how difficult it is to upgrade Windows versus something like Ubuntu, my relationship with Microsoft is strained. Further, I don't feel like I can trust Microsoft, even if I pay them. I think that much like IBM and the Nazis, if an authoritarian government comes after you, Microsoft will be the first company to sell you and your data out.

Further, I don't think that I and Microsoft can have a forward facing relationship. As a developer, I abhor the Microsoft platform. It's expensive, it doesn't scale without significant cost and I have to ask Microsoft each time I want to do something. Compare that to something like Linux where I can do whatever I want, I can deploy 10,000 clusters tomorrow and Linux Inc. isn't going to say a damn thing to me, other than awesome, can we write a case study? Investing time learning Microsoft technology from the perspective of the end-user or the developer seems less and less beneficial. Bill Gates and Jay Z: Bill: "You think you're a pimp? I've got the limited edtiion Porsche, a few Bentleys, and I could buy a few countries. Money ain't a thing." Jay Z: "Yeah, but you need some dope spinners. Can't knock the hustle." So many captions, soSpending twice as much time learning Linux seems like a much better use of time because Linux and all the free software that comes with is available to me at all times, on any machine, without any cost. Even if the software does half of what its compeitors do -- something that's usually not the case, it's still worth it because the trade-offs are huge.

I have come to hate Microsoft, not because their products are bad, but because their attitude towards me is appalling. Their limitation of my freedom to do what I choose to do with what I pay them to make in the long run just doesn't work for me. If I am going to spend 1,000 on software, I rather donate the 1,000 to software that I really care about and settle for half of its functionality now, because in the future it will out shine Microsoft's offer. Don't believe me? Look at some mature products like Apache, MySQL, Firefox, or Eclipse. Eventually all open source software will be of this caliber, if we pump enough money and talent into the problem. In the meanwhile the alternatives are usable enough that I can get my work done. Sometimes it does feel like I am on Windows 98 when Open Office all the sudden dies out, but I have developed tools like saving every few minutes for that not to a problem. All in all, Linux is the future, Microsoft is very much the past. Their relevance to me in the long run is essentially irrelevant, they just don't produce what I want them to... and until that happens I can't see myself investing money in their company through purchasing or even using them products!