I have a couple of sort of non-stories for you about our personal contact with Microsoft management. Many years ago, my wife and I were given tickets to a play in Seattle. Our neighbors had season tickets and every time that they renewed them, they got a little better seats. They had been doing this for years so the seats were in a section that had a lot of Seattle's elite.
There were a couple of kids behind us who were bored and they kept kicking the back of my wife's seat. During an intermission I turned around to give their dad a piece of my mind, and it was Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft and his two boys. He was fooling with his laptop and had obviously gotten roped into to spending some time with his kids. I said, “Hey!” and startled him, I told him his kids were kicking my wife's seat and creating a nuisance. He politely apologized and made his kids apologize as well. They were little angels for the rest of the night.
My wife and I used to do a lot of volunteering at the Historic Flight Museum that was on Paine Field across from Paul Allen's Museum. Every year they had a dance with Big Band music and a live band. It was quite and event. Paul Allen used to come over with his entourage and mix with the group. One year he and his entire entourage were all dressed in identical Indiana Jones garb. It was actually pretty funny, and he was a personable guy who acted like he was interested in other people.
I went to school with a few people who went on to work at Microsoft fairly early on. None of them were big shots, but all of them retired early with quite a bit of money. I haven't seen any of them for quite a few years now.
I had the somewhat unique opportunity to attend one of those Soirees at the Paul Allen museum. It was the closest thing to being treated like royalty I’ve ever experienced and a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing chapter of my life.
But their sadistic business model and lack of appreciation and/or respect for their customers are brutal and absolutely cruel.
Their being nice in your face is a mask to hide the evil within.