I have said for years that MSoft really brought computing to the masses, which was its initial goal. In the same breath, however, Lincoln said (paraphrased) "If you try to please everybody, you're guaranteed to piss most of them off." That's the crux of the whole Windows/Mac thing. For millions of people, Windows does the job day in day out.

Most users bitch about Windows because it's the accepted thing to do. The majority of them, from what I've seen over 15 years, can't tell the difference between an optimized system and one that's just chugging and plodding along. The average user doesn't measure time in milliseconds. Case in point, I just installed a new Color LaserJet printer on a small municipality's network. I was appalled at how slowly it prints but all the users are thrilled to death at the print speed in comparison to the old one.

Despite MSoft's effort to make a "one-size-fits-all" product, such a goal is impossible. No matter what you make, it's not going to work for every.single.customer. Someone's going to hate it and they're going to yap and yap till they find someone else who hates it and so on and so on.

If Linux and free productivity suites, etc., will work for you, all the better. If you've built your livelihood around MicroSoft's products, don't blame them for trying to protect them however they can with piracy now so rampant and "cracked" software so easily accessible.