[fuzzyman]

As an open-source developer (with Python) who uses Windows, Microsoft and their actions hardly ever seemed to feature in the things I was interested in or that were important to me.

That actually changed when I got a job developing an application with IronPython (an open-source implementation of Python for .NET - funded by Microsoft).

Now I actually use .NET, and I have to admit that it isn't bad. Generally a sane API, and C# is nicer than Java.

Still, when I develop my own projects I use cPython, and Microsoft is now 'slightly; relevant whereas for the last few years they have seemed completely irrelevant.