The problems with Microsoft arent about fanboyism or patriotism.
Apple and Microsoft are identical in this argument:
Microsoft is a commercial enterprise. Their business model however is structured around creating 'platforms' for other software and services.
This is a huge issue for information freedom, and because its 2009, a huge issue for freedom of speech, democracy and in some cases human rights. Why? Well let cake explain it.
In almost all areas of engineering theres whats called standards. For example, the size of phillips screws is an agreed standard, and everyone makes their products to fit those screws. The same with the size, shape and format of CDROMs and stuff. Who maintains these standards? Who is in control? Well, these bodies:
W3C: World Wide Web Consortium. This is a huge committee which governs web standards like HTML, CSS and so on.
IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force. Ever wondered who maintains HTTP, FTP, SMTP, and all those specifications? Its them.
ITU: International Tellecommunications Union. For squillions of years this group has governed the standards which relate to communications. For example, ISDN, PSTN, fax machines, data modulation, GSM, etc etc.
ISO: International Standards Organization. Everything else in the world. Seriously, everything from filesystem formats to business practices can have an ISO number.
Now the issue here is that all those bodies exist to allow ALL people and groups free, unrestricted access to information which helps people & machines communicate. Without these bodies, we have nothing.
Microsoft directly competes with every single one of those standard bodies. For almost every Microsoft technology that exists, there are industry-specified and vendor-neutral equivalents. Microsoft does NOT compete by improving their products. Microsoft competes by marketing and pushing in their platforms/standards. And Microsoft absolutely fights tooth and nail to keep the inner workings of their stuff a secret.
That is a HUGE HUGE HUGE problem because one company cannot:
* Maintain all types of filetypes, APIs, applications and ways to access information, forever. Try opening a Word 1.0 file.
* Innovate anywhere near as fast as an entire planet of engineers.
* Be trusted to act in everyones best interests.
Some examples of Microsoft pushing their way into industry and overpowering existing standards:
OpenGL: Hey I know, lets invent Direct3D for no reason.
HTML: Hey I know, lets make Windows-only syntax & extensions to HTML. Then we can get everyone hooked on how our IE6 works and not fix any bugs or tell people how the browser works for the rest of time.
Javascript: You guys ever heard of Jscript? Welp, its the same story. Proprietary extensions.
ODF: Open Document Format. Anyone can use this format to make extremly feature rich documents. HEY I KNOW LETS MAKE OOXML and bully the ISO into accepting this proprietary format.
Now guys Apple are EXACTLY the same here. There is no difference in their business models. Apple are even more strict. Have you ever wondered why theres no Flash on the iphone? Apple governs everything that device will run. And they specifically disallow any way to circumvent that. That means no virtual machines: No Java, no Flash, no nothing.
And also, there is encrypted, secret functionality in all versions of Windows.
When the same person holds the keys to information access, and markets themselves so much people think they are a 'standard' that worries me. It worries me because they have proven time again that they dont EVER act in the interest of end users.
In summary, this is called anti-competitive behavior. It is why Microsoft has been fined well in excess of a billion dollars.
Guys remember: Computers today are extremely fast and extremely smart. You must look at things with the right perspective. Incompatibilities between Apple OSX and Windows are by design. They fight with their platforms & image, not by competing on product value.
Here is a video of cake explaining (for noobs) how Microsoft and Apple and Linux and GNU and everyone else all works:
[youtube:4a2jeaki]3YfSQ3XP9OA[/youtube:4a2jeaki]
And here is the same content in an easy to read web page:
http://silenceisdefeat.com/~weblordpepe/macpclinux/macpclinux.html