I've always liked the Microsoft languages and they once had a great flight simulator (possibly still do), but their op-systems, starting with the original MS-DOS (almost entirely ripped off from Gary Killdal's CP/M....they made no effort to hide it) they just continue to get worse with each release.
I am no Microsoft fan (Gentoo is my system of choice), but I do not think that that is an entirely fair assessment. They have been getting better over time. 95 was better than DoDOS (dark old DOS), 98 was better than 95, and XP was better than 98. The only real hickups have been ME and the upcoming Vista. They have, however, been getting more and more invasive as time goes on. I don't mind entering a key all that much, but I hate anything that requires a phone home to work. I just don't have that level of trust in any company, but especially not Microsoft.