
Ask HN: Why is there so much hatred and distrust of Microsoft? - parvenu74
The overwhelming reaction of commenters here at HN to the news that Microsoft might be acquiring GitHub is negative at best and &quot;OMG, the sky is falling&quot; at the most hyperbolic. Why is that? Microsoft  is a Platinum level member of the Linux Foundation, a huge advocate of open source in general, and is open-sourcing more projects and technologies of their own every month. Why, then, is there so much antipathy for this company?
======
jsiepkes
Well not all the critism might be directly aimed at MS but more at GitHub
losing its impartial / neutral status.

However regarding MS specifically; I don't know your age but a lot of us were
around when Microsoft was a different company then it is today. The Microsoft
of the Halloween documents (
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween_documents)
), the Microsoft that killed Netscape with very anticompetitive practices, the
Microsoft that had to pay Sun billions for its anticompetitive behaviour, the
Microsoft that called opensource a cancer, etc. etc. You know what they say:
Trust arrives walking and leaves riding...

------
__d
Microsoft's recent behaviour could represent a genuine change in corporate
culture, and I sincerely hope that it does.

But, spending a little cash to have a LF sponsorship to point to, and talking
up open source and switching development of some peripheral products to that
model now that they've figured out how it can be good for them doesn't really
mean much.

We've had 30 years of the old Microsoft, where free software was cancer, a
joke, and Microsoft used all its corporate power to try to strangle Linux
(especially) as a possible competitor.

You'll notice that today, Windows, Exchange, Office, Azure, etc, etc, -- all
the products that they make money from are still totally, or almost totally,
proprietary. There's clearly been a recognition that open source is not going
away, and even has some value, but they haven't actually changed to being a
genuine open source company.

GitHub was always a risk: one day it was going to be acquired (pre- or post-
IPO). Clearly others (eg. Oracle) would be worse than Microsoft, but I think
some level of concern (especially given the Skype debacle) is warranted.

------
dozzie
> Why is there so much hatred and distrust of Microsoft?

Because of more than two decades of trampling on open source and competitors.
Remember when Microsoft called Linux a cancer? No? Then read up on their
history.

~~~
parvenu74
Remember when the person who called Linux a cancer retired and started playing
NBA owner? And the new CEO declared Microsoft's love for Linux -- becoming a
PLATINUM member of the Linux foundation -- and said he didn't want people
using Window because they had to, but because they wanted to?

Maybe you should have another look... Microsoft isn't the same company it was
12 years ago.

~~~
tfehring
So it's fair to say that they're _embracing_ Linux, then?

Don't get me wrong, I'll be thrilled if it turns out that their newfound
commitment to open source is driven solely by an interest in creating better
software. But there are few solid reasons to believe that that's the case: the
PR around open source is, well, PR, and Microsoft's anticompetitive practices
were around long before Ballmer took over.

~~~
parvenu74
Over 3/4 of Azure VMs are Linux. You don’t call that an embrace? The ironic
truth right now is that Microsoft is a better supporter of Linux than Amazon,
Google, or Facebook.

~~~
tfehring
To clarify, I genuinely believe that Microsoft is embracing Linux. The issue
is that, if history is any indication, its next two steps will be "extend" and
"extinguish."

I'm probably over-extrapolating a bit, but my point is that there are plenty
of reasons to be skeptical of claims that Microsoft is being altruistic.

------
melling
Embrace, extend, and extinguish

[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extingu...](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embrace,_extend,_and_extinguish)

Microsoft was quite dominant for quite some time.

These days they’re a little disappointing. I don’t want the old Microsoft but
they certainly need to be a little more aggressive.

------
dv_dt
For one, if the SCO Unix lawsuits had had a different outcome, Microsoft might
have killed Linux completely.

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO%E2%80%93Linux_disputes](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCO%E2%80%93Linux_disputes)

~~~
parvenu74
If.

There was always FreeBSD. And NetBSD. And OpenBSD.

~~~
throwaway2048
so who needs to worry about an agressive lawsuit funded by them right? Im sure
they are cool now /s

------
brownbat
I'm still hanging on to Microsoft centralizing Skype, Apple trying to smother
mp3s, and Googling killing (your favorite side project here).

Follow a company long enough and they'll break your heart.

Also, we old geeks really know how to hold a grudge, especially if it involves
a protocol or standard.

~~~
itworker7
I agree with that. And remember before Microsoft was the evil empire... IBM
was the original evil empire (yep, holding on to a grudge is fun)

------
newman8r
Personally I just don't like their software. One by one, I stopped using all
of their products and services.

I wouldn't say I hate Microsoft, but I wouldn't be surprised if they changed
github into something I wouldn't want to use anymore.

~~~
Zash
Same here. Annoying peculiarities in their software drove me towards Linux.
But then, I've only seen the user side, they supposedly try very hard to cater
to developers.

As someone preferring to self-host wherever possible, I don't have strong
feelings about this.

------
mindcrime
_Why is there so much hatred and distrust of Microsoft?_

Because a leopard never changes its spots, a zebra doesn't change its stripes,
and the scorpion always stings the frog in the end.

Or to put it another way: because they earned it.

