John Topley: The Enemy Within (Why do people hate Microsoft?)

April 26 2004

A very thoughtful article about the reasons that people hate (or love to hate) Microsoft.

What really annoys me is when people are so blinded by their hatred of Microsoft that they lose all objectivity and go about spouting drivel to others, when they haven't even thought about what it is they're actually saying and why they're saying it. Often they're just repeating the anti-MS mantra because that's what you do. When so-called IT professionals display this prejudice in an official capacity in meetings, I'm afraid I lose all respect I may have had for them. I flip the bozo bit. The same goes for those who refer to M$ or Micro$oft.  I believe that competition is healthy and improves the breed.
I do, too -- and that's why a fair bit of my energy goes into making IBM and Lotus a strong competitor to Microsoft.  
Still, a well-written article like this does cause a bit of self-examination.  Am I "so blinded by...hatred of Microsoft that [I] lose all objectivity"?  I don't think so.  I know a heck of a lot about my competition -- including what's good about their products, their marketing, their ecosystem.  On rare occasion I'll even comment on their good stuff in public.  On frequent occasion I'll talk about their good stuff in internal meetings.
But.
In the comments to Mr. Topley's blog entry, someone hit it squarely on the head.  "Panicboy" says:
Not mentioned: people who hate (or dislike) Microsoft because it's a poor corporate citizen and a bully.
...That MS is unapologetic about this behavior and shows no signs of remorse or interest in changing its practices only makes things worse for the company's image.
and goes on from there.  This, dear reader, is where any animosity I personally have about competing with Microsoft originates.  And is also an area which is completely off-limits for me to blog about, for a variety of reasons (professional, ethical, and even personal -- gotta save something for that book I'll write when I retire ;).  Some of you know what I mean, though.
It's a fascinating read.  Link: John Topley's weblog -- The Enemy Within >
(via seattlepi.com Microsoft blog)

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Microsoft  Add/View Comments [16]

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  1. 1  Colin Pretorius http://www.e-md.co.za/web/colin.nsf/ | 4/26/2004 8:12:22 PM

    I'm sure that more than a few of us will be waiting for that book :-)

  1. 2  Duffbert  | 4/26/2004 9:15:45 PM

    I'll ask that he get Tom Cruise to play me, but I know they'll cast Danny DeVito for that part... :-)

  1. 3  Karl Ranger  | 4/27/2004 6:37:43 AM

    "This, dear reader, is where any animosity I personally have about competing with Microsoft originates." And IBM is a model citizen right?

    I think your animosity comes from being beaten, because IBM never follows through and always gives up just a bit too early.

    Ed your blog is entertaining *only* because it is sooo anti-MS and I think you know it. Heck we even show it to customers to show how closed-minded and out-of-date the Lotus community is. I can't recall when you've posted about something interesting or new in Domino or Notes, its generally just negative Microsoft posts all the way. Then the usual suspects chime in and snicker - like they did above - as Eric Raymond calls it, the Luxury of Ignorance.

    There is a post on /. right now titled "Stanford, IBM Team To Explore Spintronics" - I thought they had promoted you to a science ;-)http://slashdot.org/articles/04/04/26/2130209.shtml?tid=126&tid=134

  1. 4  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 4/27/2004 7:47:32 AM

    I don't know if I feel particularly defensive or just plain sad at reading such a comment. My category counts show that I've posted more here about Lotus than Microsoft, and when you combine it with my lotus.com/weblog, clearly I'm posting more good stuff about us than bad stuff about them. Not that I couldn't do more of the latter - there's plenty to choose from. But it's not my mission in life, so no worries there.

    You're certainly entitled to your opinion and to share it. Heck, keep showing my blog to your customers if you think it proves something - because for me, the number of customers I've been able to get involved with through this blog far outweighs whatever spin -you- are applying to my message.

  1. 5  Alex Grant  | 4/27/2004 8:09:05 AM

    You know the "I hate Micro$oft" mantra is getting very old now but I guess it is the in thing to do and you know how we all love to be in with the in crowd!

    I really want someone to tell me what is so bad about Microsoft, 'cause I really don't understand this trend...

    If I don't want to use outlook express, internet explorer, msn explorer or any other app. supplied with a Windows OS can I not just install and use a third party app instead?

    If the answer is NO then I must have a special copy of a Windows OS, I can do that and have done.

    And for all the other anti-MS "I'm forced to use Windows" crowd, why don't you just install Linux or buy a Mac.

    The anti-MS movement is kinda like parents who blame music or TV programs for the behaviour of their kids.

    We are all responsible for our own actions and choices, no one else...

  1. 6  Bruce Elgort http://www.BruceElgort.com | 4/27/2004 8:46:06 AM

    Ed was right...what a nice round of chat to wake up to. I am going to skip the coffee this morning and pull out a six pack. When does Round 2 begin?

  1. 7  Alan Lepofsky  | 4/27/2004 8:46:45 AM

    I love the post above, reminds me of the Howard Stern movie. "Average time a Stern lover listens to his show 30 minutes. Average time a Stern hater listens, 3 hours!" The more people being shown your blog the better... that way customers can make educated decisions based on the facts that you post, not the FUD that their MS account team tells them. Personally I neither love MS nor hate them. What I do hate in the ethics of MS account teams that lie to customers, or at best "leave out the truth". I speak competitively against MS all the time in front of customers, but I try and give the customers information, then let them decide. MS reps simply tell untruths about IBM and hope the can scare IBM customers into moving.... gee that is a great way to get a "nice guy reputation". Keep up the good work Ed.

  1. 8  Mike Brown  | 4/27/2004 9:09:33 AM

    Please note the quotation marks. It's the title of this web site:

    http://www.euronet.nl/users/frankvw/rants/microsoft/IhateMS.html

    Despite the title, it's a well reasoned article on why Microsoft is not good for the IT industry. Basically, it's a case of releasing unstable, unscalable, insecure and generally overpriced products together with Microsoft's ethically questionable operating practices.

    I think the guy (and I don't know him) makes his case well. And he shows more restraint than some of the posters to this thread, despite the odd lapse: "the day MS makes something that doesn't suck is the day they start making vacuum cleaners".

    Even with the article's considerable length, he's misses out some choice material. Can anybody else remember the days when Microsoft charged PC OEMs an MSDOS licence fee for every PC they sold, even if some of those PCs didn't actually have MSDOS installed on them?

    Cheers,

    - Mike

  1. 9  MikeRoweSoft  | 4/27/2004 10:13:14 AM

    Ed,

    I refer many of my clients to your blog also. I have a small IT company and a few clients in the NE area. I propose what I feel is the best solution for clients. When a company asks me Exchange vs. Domino, I explain both sides of the pictures. To me, Exchange has a much better UI and is generally more compatable with 3rd party products. Domino is more stable, and provides a lot more functionality at a fraction of the cost. I also explain the Domino could start out on a Windows box, but down the road, moved to Linux, Sun, AS400, etc...This leads me to choice. Lotus\IBM solutions are generally about choice. They integrate with other products (connectors, 3rd party tools, etc..) where as MS tends to only provide "temporary" tools - meaning they are not so great because the expect you are just migrating and not coexistance. I feel that MS provides users with no choices but there all in 1 solutions, and then force insecure, inferior products for 2-3x the cost. This is where the resentment comes from. If MS would learn about being a good corporate citizen, and working with newer technologies and integrating more tighly with linux, iseries, etc...I would have a lot more respect for them.

  1. 10  Neill Laney http://www.laneyconsulting.com | 4/27/2004 10:32:53 AM

    MS loves to be hated. At least IBM attempts (and succeeds to a large degree, of late) to be a good corporate citizen. Oracle, Sun and MS, don't. What do these have in common, a founder who believes their own lies at the top of the heap. Sun is the only corporate entity that comes close to being a good citizen, and see where it's gotten them, sucking MS tit. In life, one makes choices. It's the dash that makes all the difference. Neill Laney (1961 - ). Not sure where this is going :)

  1. 11  Colin Pretorius http://www.e-md.co.za/web/colin.nsf/ | 4/27/2004 10:52:09 AM

    The book I'd like to read is the one where the behind-the-scenes politics, bunfighting and set-tos up and down the chains of command finally see the light of day. We all know it happens, and occasionally we get a glimpse (eg. the recent issue of misstated licensing costs). That's all I was referring to.

    Funny how people get a bit antsy when they're faced with the suggestion/reality that their gravy troughs are in some small way tied to the ethically questionable practices of their bosses/masters.

    The truth hurts, I guess.

  1. 12  Kamal Rij  | 4/27/2004 2:38:24 PM

    http://blogs.msdn.com/chris_pratley/archive/2004/04/27/120944.aspx

  1. 13  Mike Brown  | 4/27/2004 6:11:00 PM

    ... it was WordPerfect that lost the word processor war to Microsoft, as the article makes clear. I don't recall Lotus ever being a serious contender, although Ami Pro (later called Word Pro) picked up some good reviews at the time.

  1. 14  Randall Shimizu  | 4/28/2004 5:22:58 PM

    There are many reasons to dislike Microsoft....

    My main objection to Microsoft is how monopolistic they are. Microsoft's whole strategy is based upon "extend and embrace". Microsoft is now espousing 'integrated innovation'. This is Microsoft's attmept to tie desktop applications to the web.

    Microsoft's protocols like activeX,.NET,j# have inherent architectual security flaws.

    What's really irritating is how insecure their software is. Microsoft's Trusted computing concept is essentially a false dichotomy. You can't have a secure os when they have architectual flaws. Microsoft has failed when it comes to developing security tools. Virtually all of Microsoft's security strategy rests upon patching.

    Now that being said I know people for Microsoft. Some of them have asked why do you hate Microsoft..?? My response is that I have experience from the OS/2 days....

    I am also amazed by how closed minded the Microsoft culture. Microsoft is unwilling tolerate any dissent. The MSDN eula prohibits the publishing of MS benchmarks without their prior consent. So Microsoft will come out with some study that states c# has let's say 20% faster that Java. The user groups seem closed minded as well. A few years back on the members of the SDW2003 (http://www.sdw2003.org) asked how Apache compares to .NET. One leader of the group than indicated that the issue should be discussed on the list server. Several weeks later I brought up this issue. Now mind you that we were discussing Apache on Windows. The list manager then told me that this was off topic several months later.

  1. 15  Doug  | 4/30/2004 9:44:28 AM

    The development community invents the great new .png image format. Microsoft's graphic software doesn't follow the standard. They have their own version of .png files.

    "I can't read your .png file. You must have exported it from a Microsoft program."