We should not hate Microsoft just because they are Microsoft. To do so is similar to hating the smartest kid in your class because he/she gets the best grades. I've thought about why I don't like Microsoft and could only come up with the following reasons (in no particular order):

1. They don't do justice to the Mac I love. When I write a letter to mom, I don't want to have to buy the kind of computer that rendered Jurassic Park. I also don't want to spend 80MB of disk and a ton of RAM on a word processor, spread sheet and presentation maker.

2. They think I'm stupid. When Word 6 came out, Microsoft spent a bundle on big (and numerous) ads telling me how to tune my Mac for their word processor. Do not adjust your software... your computer is at fault.

3. They don't know me as a Macintosh user. I love Macintosh. I love my Mac for the way it looks, feels and behaves. I love how I can work late, be tired and grumpy, and not get pissed off at my Mac. I love elegance, simplicity and harmony.

   Microsoft thinks of me as a "consumer." Someone who buys features. They don't know that I get angered by applications that don't look and feel like Mac applications. They think I'll find it acceptable to double-click a document then have enough time to fix myself a cup of tea before I can start working on it.

   Maybe Microsoft doesn't realized I'm not that unusual for a Mac user. Or maybe Microsoft is smarter than I think: they do know, but they just don't care.

4. Microsoft apps are made to run on Windows. Microsoft's heart (and pocket book) is really in the domain of Windows and its black-sheep sibling DOS. That's why they develop applications for Windows first then port them to Macintosh. That's why most PowerPC-native applications run faster on a PowerMac than their counterpart running on a Pentium with Windows, but Microsoft bucks the trend.

   Microsoft apps are made for Windows. They are designed to meet the expectations of Windows users. Macintosh users only account for 18% of Microsoft's profit. Democracy* is in action here. I hate being a second-class citizen in the eyes of Microsoft.

   *Democracy is three wolves and a sheep voting on what's for dinner :-)

5. Microsoft is big and wealthy enough to do things that I see as being "morally questionable." I don't know what really went on between Microsoft and Stacker behind closed doors, but I was jubilant to learn Stacker got the upper hand outside of those sealed portals. This was not the first or last time someone got Microsoft tooth marks. Some ended up as breakfast.

6. I hate Microsoft because they are such good marketers. They have a lot people believing that Windows 95 is "as good as a Mac." If my Macintosh behaved like Windows 95, I'd get it into the MacHospital for a thorough examination. Pronto!

   By being selectfully truthful, Microsoft makes it sound like Windows 95 is really something that can enrich your life. They also make it sound like they are inventors of the future, or at least Macintosh's past. That makes me mad.

   Windows 95 can run multiple applications (I was doing that with Switcher on a Mac 512KE in 1986 and MultiFinder a couple years later)

   Windows 95 has plug and play capabilities (providing you let the dealer plug it all in and play with it until it works)

   An Intel box with Windows 95 can even be a fully functioning multimedia machine (just don't buy a vanilla 486 and try to make it into a multimedia machine by yourself unless you do that stuff for a living).

   Microsoft is being truthful in what they say. And especially selective about what they don't say. That's marketing. Playing up your strengths and downplaying your weaknesses.

   Bill Gates said it best in an interview when he was discussing other GUIs (Open Look, Macintosh, etc) that were better than Windows. He retorted that Windows is superior in the way that matters most: "number of units sold." Pure marketing! Damn, they're good!

7. I also hate Microsoft because they feed on the ignorance or wishful thinking of my non-Macintosh friends. This causes me personal aggravation. For the two years preceding the launching of Windows 95, my x86 friends were goading me with tidbits fed to them and the unsuspecting public about "Chicago" (which would eventually become Windows 95):
   it's a total rewrite from DOS
   it will run on a 4 meg 386
   it'll have preemptive multitasking and memory protection
   it will merge with Windows NT to become the Mother Of All OSs and kill Macintosh

   Only after Windows 95 was launched did I finally learn that there was little truth in their on-going prodding:

   Windows 95 is still DOS under the hood
   it runs on an 8 meg 486... but just barely
   the fancy memory dressing only happens if all your applications are 32-bit
   Windows 95 and NT are not merging. It was something about two different product lines designed for different needs.

So did my friends look me in the eye and say "look pal, I guess I was wrong about that greatness stuff and the demise of Macintosh." Nope. They're too busy trading insights as to how to do a clean Windows 95 install by first deleting the CONFIG.SYS file or something, or what you can do when Word 6 crashes and won't come back up again.

I guess this one is my fault. I should have learned from previous experience. If you're a Windows guy, the future always looks awesome. I should have known. Windows is great for what it will become one day. Macintosh is wonderful for what it is today.