[Bratmon]

I genuinely don't understand why anyone would ever make a business transaction with Microsoft.

Like, they're up there with crypto companies in the category of "This outcome was so inevitable that if you didn't expect it, maybe you should consider finding a legal guardian"

[jiggawatts]

Hundreds of millions of businesses (and individuals) transacted $83 billion to Microsoft just last quarter, so clearly they're doing something right.

Any "big enough" organisation will eventually do something stupid, disgraceful, or even illegal. Once you have over a hundred thousand staff, there's just no way to guarantee that they all row in the same direction and nobody gives in to the temptation to cut corners or outright cheat.

If you think you can judge the entire rest of an organisation by a few bad actors within it, you'll be perpetually disappointed.

[Bratmon]

Yet not as disappointed as the people who actually believed Microsoft would give them a perpetual license for something just because they paid for it.

[tim333]

They provided some good products. I use Office 2019 daily and I used Windows for a decade or two. They do seem to have become more cash grabby in recent years.