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Yes and no I guess. People seem to forget Microsoft consists of 'departments' A/B/C/.../Z. So while A might still be all about proprietary software and B wants to embrace, there's also C open-sourcing tons of interesting stuff on github and sometimes even accepting PRs. C didn't exist a couple of years ago I think. So projecting sentences onto a single Microsoft entity is usually a false generalization. Same goes for a lot of other companies who are active in more than one field.


Labels, names and symbols matter. To paraphrase:

— Hey, Mike.

— Yeah?

— Have you looked at our name badges lately?

— Yes… No, why?

— They say “Microsoft”.

— Yeah, so?

— Do you… do you think we might be… the monopolists?

(With apologies to Mitchell & Webb: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qv2XGQBcvxQ)


This is simply name calling.


I am calling Microsoft “Microsoft”. (Also “monopolists”, but that fact has been thoroughly established.)




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