[chflags]

"... linux laptops were being reformatted to run windows."

Microsoft/Windows is a cancer. Ballmer once said Linux was a cancer. He later retracted, after it was well-known Microsoft itself uses Linux.

There's nothing more pathetic than when you see Microsoft's businesspeople or lawyers at conferences all faithfully using Windows, as if there was no other choice, and rambling on about how their products can solve any problem. These are not stupid people, but they are blinded to independent reasoning about computer software.

And then there are the people at Microsoft Research. What a waste (not for them -- they probably get paid handsomely). It is like MS is keeping these minds locked away, so the zombie-like adherence to Windows can persist. Keep the monopoly going.

Microsoft is a cancer on the brain. It creates a zombie-like, tunnel vision of computing. Everything must pass through Redmond.

Microsoft continues to remain dangerous to the future of computing, because they continue to work dilgently to effectively quell all independent thought from being implemented and made accessible to users.

Intent, malice, etc. is irrelevant. Regardless of why they do it, the end result is suppression of non-Microsoft software.

And now hardware.

[dang]

This comment breaks the HN guidelines by calling names. Please don't do that on this site. The old-fashioned technology flamewar is one of the things we're trying to avoid here, regardless of how one feels about Microsoft etc.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11770051 and marked it off-topic.

[chflags]

OP: "... cemented them as assholes in my mind."

That's "name-calling".

But I understand the need to detach the silly hyperbolic responses my comment triggered. I was not expecting those.

Please accept my apologies for any incomvenience I may have caused.

[burkaman]

What do you make of all the Windows-unrelated stuff that comes out of Microsoft Research? Seems like a lot of money and effort they're spending to cover their real mission of infecting the world with their zombie cancer.

I recently saw a Microsoft Research paper about a memory mapping prototype the authors implemented in Linux. I now realize they must have been personally executed by Satya "Kim Jong Un" Nadella when he learned of their non-Windows treachery.

We can only pray that one day these minds will be set free, and we can finally enter the golden age of AI that would surely have arrived 30 years ago if not for the scourge of Microsoft.

[rifung]

I'm surprised at the negative attitude you have of MSR. People at MSR seem to have it pretty good and are free to publish their results to the open, so I don't see anything wrong with what they do. It actually seems nice that Microsoft is willing to fund researchers on things that are not directly related to products like Theoretical CS.

[wanderer2323]

There is nothing more PATHETIC than a designer using Windows. If only he could taste the wonderful FREEDOM of GIMP and throw down the shackles of Microsoft oppression!!! The CANCER would be gone from his brain and he would soar free like a majestic eagle on the winds of unZOMBIEfied morning forever. Yet he tolls forever blinded to independent reasoning about computer software! The work of the blind designer cannot be true! Everything else is irrelevant.

Yet there is NOTHING more pathetic than a gamer using Windows. This is a cancer on his game-brain, nothing more that a zombie-like tunnel-vision of gaming. The gamers are not stupid people yet Microsoft keeps their capable mouse-hands LOCKED away so their skills will never develop beyond what Redmond envisions. Everything MUST BE CONTROLLED through One Microsoft Way, and so Microsoft continues to remain dangerous to the FUTURE of gaming! Lo and behold, the end result is SUPPRESSION OF ALL non-Windows games.

And now - hardware.

[fsloth]

Is your argument that Microsoft is evil because not all people who use computers are actually interested in how they work?

It's not apparent to me why business people or lawyers should be also computer science aficionados. Should I be a telecoms engineer to use a phone or a combustion specialist to drive a car?

[Grishnakh]

I think the idea is MS employees are hamstrung by having to use an inferior OS because it's the one their employer makes. It's like being a Honda employee who needs to tow a heavy load for some company project, and while a big Ford diesel F-350 would be perfect for the job, you're not allowed to use that and have to use a Honda Ridgeline instead, but the load is beyond the Ridgeline's towing capacity so you either have to use two Ridgelines (which is probably illegal and technically difficult), or just overload one Ridgeline (which is both illegal and very dangerous). Or, you're an employee of Freightliner, and you need to go buy something from a local business, but you have to use a company vehicle. But the company vehicles are all Freightliner semi-tractors, and they don't have any regular cars in their fleet because they don't make cars. So you're expected to drive a semi-tractor to some local business to pick up something, and the local business doesn't even have a parking lot large enough for you to get the truck in.

Best tool for the job, and all that. Now arguably, Windows is indeed the best tool for business type people working at MS, due to the application software, the network environment they're in, etc.. However, for researchers doing heavy computing, I would say it's definitely not, it's quite inferior. There's a reason most of the supercomputers, render farms, etc. now run Linux, and it's not just license cost.

[hellbanner]

They are simply following incentives set by the economic environment they operate in.