… The majority of criticism has been for its business tactics, often described with the motto “embrace, extend and extinguish”. Microsoft initially embraces a competing standard or product, then extends it to produce their own incompatible version of the software or standard, which in time extinguishes competition that does not or cannot use Microsoft’s new version. …

Wikipedia

The bigger game plan for Microsoft is:

1) Get a monopoly by any means necessary
2) Maximize profits from that monopoly by any means possible

That’s not evil. That’s business. Right?

What’s evil about Microsoft is that they are often unethical, sometimes criminal, in carrying out this simple game plan.

Take Microsoft’s general counsel, Brad Smith, who made the company an internet laughing stock recently with baldface lies like the ones quoted in this article:

Microsoft is “committed to openness,” snickers its general counsel – CNET

Sure Steve Jobs of Apple is an arrogant prick who wouldn’t spit on you if your hair was on fire. But at least he’s honest about it.

When I say “Microsoft monopoly” I refer to:

Windows Operating System

Internet Explorer Browser

Microsoft Office

No one claims Windows is the best OS. It’s less secure than Mac or Linux. And more prone to problems. Yet by strong arm tactics sometimes called “vendor lock-in”, it’s very difficult to buy a personal computer without Windows pre-installed.

MS ties many of it’s products together but rarely admits it. For example, you can ONLY do some things in Windows using the IE browser.

Internet Explorer started from nothing and got to #1 over market leader Netscape by being “better”. By innovation. I recall switching from Netscape to IE. I liked IE then.

But in 2008 IE is not one of the best browsers. Firefox, Opera, and perhaps every other browser is better. Market share for IE is in decline.

Microsoft Office too got popular in the beginning because it was so much better than competitors. It’s still the best though we’ve seen very little innovation lately. MS fears that customers will eventually edit and file their Office documents online. And the Microsoft OfficeLive suite of products has potential, but most believe it will lose out to Google and others.

None of Microsoft’s online products are best in class, that I can recall.

Microsoft is evil because they deliberately deceive customers. One recent example is a law suit accusing MS of knowingly lying to the consumer to boost sales of PCs. Just prior to the release of the new OS Vista:

Across the country retailers carrying various laptops and desktops saw there wares begin to sport “Windows Vista Capable” stickers. The stickers were part of a campaign my Microsoft to continue sales of Windows XP computers, by citing as a selling point the computer’s ability to later be updated to Windows Vista.

The new suit challenges that many of the computers bearing this sticker were by no means fully “Vista Capable” as they were not powerful enough to support Vista’s advanced features and would only run the most bare bones installation of Windows Vista. Further the suit accuses Microsoft of knowing this, and willfully misleading less computer-savvy customers into buying machines under false premises.

…

The plaintiffs were represented by Jeffrey Tilden of Gordon Tilden Thomas & Cordell. In his opening presentation Tilden quoted internal emails which he had gained access to, in which Microsoft employees stated their concerns about the program, which they felt was inaccurate.

The currently sealed documents includes some zingers. One employee writes, “Even a piece of junk will qualify” for the “Vista Capable” designation. Another employee, Mike Nash, currently a corporate vice president for Windows product management, states angrily, “I PERSONALLY got burnt … Are we seeing this from a lot of customers? … I now have a $2,100 e-mail machine.”

Jim Allchin, then the co-president of Microsoft’s Platforms and Services Division writes, “We really botched this … You guys have to do a better job with our customers.” …

DailyTech

Pundits think MS will lose this law suit, caught this time, but in the past often getting away with this kind of monopolistic business practice.

I believe Microsoft has slowed progress of technology and the internet deliberately in order to drag out the profits on their fading monopolies.

I don’t have to prove it. This is a blog. Merely personal opinion.

Can Microsoft turn around before their huge war chest of our money is depleted?

I doubt it.

But I wish they could and would compete competently against Google in the online advertising space. Inevitably that “monopoly” of Google’s will lead them down the same path as MS.