[MetalheadGautham]

Originally Posted by iMav

On what basis do you say that? Do you know who is the Chief of Software Development in MS? Bill Gates had left coding long back. Ray Ozzie is a great guy with equally great brains. There is a lot and I mean a lot MS has to offer, as a matter of fact, Bill's retirement is a much needed PR for MS, now people shall remember the good times and it will help the PR of MS. The size & magnitude of MS is so huge that no 1 man is the basis of it's running.

But Bill Gates represented all that was good about microsoft.
He was all about working for the PEOPLE. He wanted to make software that EVERYONE can use, software that was cheap and affordable. He wanted to make PCs as affordable as possible. His social work along with his wife Belinda gates has been recoganised world over. No other man could do what he did - he donated 30% of his wealth, while he was the richest man in the world, to charity and never cared that his name was off the top of the richest people list.

But look at MS now - they get into trouble, they try to supress opensource, they try to bribe governments and use their influence to push OOXML as an ISO standard, with psudo openness. Windows Vista is miserable, because its not an OS that performs great on common hardware, the way Mr. Gates wanted the original DOS to be. Microsoft software is pricey and not as powerful as other software. Their hardware would have been great but for the RROD problem in Xbox 360. Their dealings with different governments and companies are comming under the scanner due to some suspected malpractices. They are being criticized for abuse of power and monopoly. Their web browser has been declared to NOT be standards compliant, and their media player which was an ANGEL in version 6.4 is a BLOATED DEVIL in version 11.

You still think MS is in its golden age ? You still think MS is the darling of software companies ?