– Microsoft – friend, foe or other?
Both. Linux sucks for games, and Mac is not far ahead. Yes, they could be good if the vendors supported them, but at the moment, they dont, so Microsoft is the only alternative.
One thing I do NOT like about Microsoft is that developing apps for that platform means that you are locked into only that one solution.
But the development packages are generally easy to use, and the end product is pretty smooth. I learned C++ under some of the early versions of Visual Studio and it has only gotten better. I do think their version control systems are lame though, (Open Source) SVN and GIT are much better, and integrate nicely into Visual Studio.
I have used and administered so many different Windows products:
- MS DOS
- Windows 3.0 – 3.1 for workgroups
- Windows NT (3.x – Windows 2000)
- Citrix (Remote)
- Windows 95, 98, ME
- Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7
- Windows Server 2000 – 2008
- Windows CE (Mobile)
I have not yet tried Windows 8, but I am hearing interesting things.
Andy Dingfelder 