[ericmay]

No, I don’t think you’re being harsh, I think you’re spot-on. What Microsoft generally lacks is taste. It’s evident across most product lines.

Some will point to “MBA types” but that’s a red herring. The engineers don’t have taste either.

[linguae]

When you have monopolistic or near-monopolistic control over platforms and other key pieces of software such as office suites, taste is irrelevant since people are still buying licenses out of necessity. Now, Microsoft is capable of writing impressive, tasteful software; I have fond memories of the Windows 95-2000 era, and I also enjoyed Office 97 and Visual Basic 6.0. Even Internet Explorer wasn't bad when it was competing against Netscape Navigator. The problem is Microsoft has a tendency of getting complacent and lazy once acquiring dominance, which breeds bad software.

Apple is more tasteful, IMO, but Apple also has a tendency to abuse its users, taking the attitude, "What are you going to do? Switch to Windows or Android?" Adobe has taken a similar attitude since the Creative Suite became subscription-only. "What are you going to do? The GIMP? Seriously?"