[quote name='Tromack']M$
http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2002-07-22&res=l[/quote]
Assuming this wasn't sarcastic, did you read Tycho's news update for that strip?
"It's often assumed that you can assume a computing enthusiast hates Microsoft, and I think that's why people pepper mails to us with it - I'd imagine people just automatically think we'd agree with the sentiment. It simply isn't true. We do love virtue and detest bullshit. But I think Microsoft has had - thus far - a Net Positive Effect.
It's rare that you see one of our number - geeks and gamers, all - say anything positive about Microsoft, because MS is the veritable embodiment of The Man. They are like the Avatar of The Man here on Earth. And you can't throw in your lot with him if you want to maintain your underground credentials. Well, if we ever had those, here they go. When I say that I think Microsoft has had a Net Positive Effect, I'm not just trying to flaunt my iconoclasm. My experience with x86 personal computers has gotten more sensible with every Microsoft operating system I've installed. Admittedly, I never installed ME. But I didn't need to. 98 was fine until it was time to graduate to 2k, and despite the computing apocalypse that Windows XP's Product Activation features were supposed to ignite, I've never had the first problem with it, and it's not like I don't upgrade shit. I like using their programs. I like going into a store and having so Goddamn many things available for my operating system that I can't decide and just go home. "
Other than that, SCO GROUP INC does sound pretty bad.
I agree with Cornfedwb. No company is perfect, and many things a company [or a person] does can be interpreted in positive or negative ways, or have some positive and some negative effects, but:
* There's nothing wrong with making money.
* You can make money while still being 'moral/ethical.'
* There's no such thing as a product that's perfect.
I would like to know how many people who think of Microsoft or KFC or whatever as 'evil', would think the same if *you* were that top man. Is it evil, or is it jealousy/envy?
As far as I know, no companies nowadays really rely on slavery, or molest children or run over dogs or defile churches. [The closest I can think of is the companies who used sweatshops and child labor, which is certainly wrong.]
And a company's job is to make money. If it doesn't make money, people lose jobs, stockholders lose investments, usually the CEO bails out with a golden parachute, and isn't *that* more evil than anything mentioned here so far? To make a promise, to fail miserably, then to bail out without making amends.