I Come to Praise Microsoft and to Bury It

I bash Microsoft a lot. They deserve a lot of bashing, and they're actually getting worse now that they think they're off the governmental hook.

But it's true that not everything MS does is automatically evil, so let's take a look at some of the things they do well and/or deserve praise:

1. Their Mac apps are far and away better than their Windows apps. No, I don't know why either -- but I'll bet it has a lot to do with the Mac Business Unit basically operating as an independent entity.

2. Their Intellimouse -- which, incidentally, they did not invent (they bought it off of HP) -- is a very nice mouse that works very well. If I could stand looking at that horrible logo of theirs, I might consider buying one.

3. I hear their Flight Simulator app kicks ass. Good for them. They also market a number of computer games, some of them very good they say (and all of them either on or coming to the Mac). Again, good for them.

4. They help bring Slate, a web magazine with some honest-to-goodness good writing, to the Net. This is a good thing. Take a look at this article, which talks about what's really changed since the Republicans took over the House of Representatives in 1995. (Hint: not much, they're just even bigger crooks than the Dems were). Somebody explain to me again how the Republicans were supposed to restore honour and dignity to Congress, the White House et al.

As far as I can tell, we've gone from screwing one person to screwing all of us. Big improvement.