Microsoft never ever got the mad props it deserved for its extensive testing and compatibility work. I remember going through reviews where we had to fix bugs from our competitors to preserve compatibility for earlier versions of their own products that had taken shortcuts.
I’ve often wondered if part of the declining quality of its products is that those actions were simply never given the respect they deserved.
I read the "USB cart of death" post from Raymond, and I really respected them for that.
I'm sure there are many great engineers, minds and all-round nice people who work at Microsoft, but when the company does what it does and screws people over and over, the act of the whole shadows the acts of individuals. These acts (of Microsoft, the company) doesn't make them bad people, but makes respecting them as a whole a lot harder.
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