Younger Irreal readers whose memories don’t extent beyond the start of the century may be puzzled by my occasional disparaging of Microsoft. After all, they’ve made a point, lately, of reciting all the appropriate open source mantras and cultivating a kinder, gentler demeanor. Those with a longer memory will understand.
Microsoft has long had a reputation for an aggressive, take-no-prisoners approach to marketing. They have, traditionally, met any challenge to their hegemony with a no-holds-barred counter attack. They have, as late, tried to foster the belief that they’ve changed, support open source, and are everybody’s friend. Old timers are suspicious and unwilling to take their protestations at face value.
Occasionally, the facade slips and Microsoft reverts to type. Back in the day, Microsoft got in a lot of trouble for trying to force their browser, Internet Explorer, on their customers. You’d think they’d be especially sensitive to that type of thing to avoid another suit from the government.
You’d be wrong. Sometimes they just can’t help themselves and revert to type. The latest example is Microsoft’s decision to make Outlook and Teams open links in Edge, their current browser. You can read the details of their latest reversion at the link but that’s not the point.
The point is that no matter how much Microsoft would like you believe that they’re a new, reformed company, they’re still the same old Microsoft and you trust them at your peril. In particular, be very suspicious about “free” Microsoft offerings such as VSCode or their other free applications. Their only intention is to entice you into the cult so that they can own your digital life. A little skepticism will serve you well.