Don’t take it personal. It’s “only business”. /sarc
Having programmed since 1971 or so, and being "in the business" since the KIM-1 came out in the mid-70's, it's hard not to get annoyed at such crap. They seem to think that everybody was born yesterday.
To be honest, I would have far less objection to the way Microsoft goes about their business, if they would just own up to it:
"Yeah, we still have every intention of crushing Linux into the dirt, except for those aspects which we are currently copying, and which we'll later slowly change, just enough that everyone has to migrate exclusively to our products."Then at least I'd have some respect for their honesty. As it is, when it comes to their business practices, they are lying sacks of sh!t, and nothing more. I have no respect whatsoever for their marketing or management.
Nor (as of Vista) for their technical work. Let us hope that Windows7 allows them to regain some forward momentum and pull themselves out of the pile of crap they've been lying in for the past five or so years.