Heh. Let's ask those people who invested lots of dollars into using Visual Interdev how "being in the mainstream" worked out for them.
"Nobody ever got fired for buying IBM". I think its pretty much that way now for Microsoft."
Unless, of course, you bought Microsoft based on the premise that you could sue them if it broke.
Considering how often Microsoft software breaks (often) and how often they've been sucessfully sued for it (never), you deserve to be fired if you are dumb enough to think that buying Microsoft somehow covers your butt.
For sheer incompetance and stupidity, if nothing else.
Then again, you can talk about how buying a closed source product locks you into their upgrade cycle and prevents you from adding your own features, fixing your own bugs or extending the life of the product once the manufacturer has either discontinued it or replaced it with a new, incompatible version.
All buying closed source software gives you is the feeling that there's someone backing you up.
Try actually getting a software company to actually back you up. That feeling will evaporate pretty quickly and then you get to deal with reality.
And the reality is that Microsoft (and not just them. lots of other closed source companies too) have made fortunes by selling a perception, not a product.
"..you deserve to be fired if you are dumb enough to think that buying Microsoft somehow covers your butt.
For sheer incompetance and stupidity, if nothing else."
Wow. So all microsoft's customers should be fired. Stop the presses. You have spoken. I'm sure their stock will tumble on this news.