zlacker

You're certainly right they were pretty evil back then. I think they became ethical at about the same time Bill Gates did. Even though this involved him stepping back to start the Gates Foundation, he was still a board member at Microsoft for a number of years, and I think helped guide its transition.

As perhaps a better example, Microsoft (including Azure) has been carbon-neutral since 2012:

https://unfccc.int/climate-action/un-global-climate-action-a....

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-gb/global-infrastructure/

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2012/05/08/making-carbon-ne...

>>upward+(OP)
A supervillian can walk by a baby, become overcome with joy, and smile. That doesn't mean his ethics are suddenly correct.

It's almost like you believe Gates is General Butt Naked, where killing babies and eating their brains is all forgiven, because he converted to Christianity, and now helps people.

So?

How does that absolve the faulty ethics of the past?

So please, don't tell me Gates is 'ethical'. What a load of crock!

As for Microsoft, there is no change. Telling me they're carbon neutral is absurd. Carbon credits don't count, and they're doing it to attract clients, and employees... not because they have evolved incredible business ethics.

If they had, their entire desktop experience wouldn't, on a daily basis, fight with you, literally attack you into using their browser. They're literally using the precise same playbook from the turn of the century.

Microsoft takes your money, and then uses you, your desktop, your productivity, as the battleground to fight with competitors. They take your choice away, literally screw you over, instead of providing the absolute best experience you choose, with the product you've bought.

And let's not even get into the pathetic dancing advertisement platform windows is. I swear, we need to legislate this. We need to FORCE all computing platforms to be 100% ad free.

And Microsoft?

They. Are. Evil.

>>upward+(OP)
You know that MS been forcing people to use Edge 90s style again right? They started it (again?) as soon their monopoly punishment by EU ended.

Or privacy invasion since Win10. Or using their monopoly power to force anti-consumer changes on hardware (such as TPM or Secure Boot).

As for Bill Gates ethical... you talking about that same Bill Gates that got kicked out by his wife because he insisted in being friends with convicted pedophile?

>>upward+(OP)
Bill Gates become ethical? That is on which episode of Star Trek Discovery? The one with the three parallel Universe?

- https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/16/business/bill-melinda-gat...

- https://www.popularmechanics.com/science/environment/a425435...

>>b112+O2
Agree, but HN likes to hate on MS so much that it becomes a little blinding to others.

Really, all corporations are evil, and they are all made of humans that look the other way, because everyone needs that pay check to eat.

And on the sliding scale of evil, there are a lot of more evil. Like BP, pharma co, Union Carbide. etc... etc...