Why Microsoft Windows is Evil

While the word 'evil' may be a slight hyperbole, it can be argued that the existence of Microsoft's Windows operating system in its present form has made the world a worse place. This page is work in progress, for now a growing collection of links that hopefully prove my point in their own right. There is probably some unix/Linux advocacy involved as well, for apparent reasons.

Security and stability problems. It's not a computer virus, it's a Windows virus.

• The Huge Hidden Cost of Microsoft Software
• Ninety percent of IT professionals have concerns using Vista, with compatibility, stability and cost being their key reasons.
• Playing Music Slows Vista Network Performance
• After Ubuntu, Windows Looks Increasingly Bad, Increasingly Archaic, Increasingly Unfriendly (print version)
• Windows insecure until 2011, says MS
• Microsoft software caused air traffic shutdown; Someone forgot to reboot...
• Windows screwup forces Ubuntu shift
• Why does Windows still suck?

Higher hardware and power requirements than competing systems for doing the same task

• UK Government reckons that servers with Linux installed are greener than those running Windows.
• Green party slams Vista Landfill nightmare

Disregard for consumer rights and fair competition

One of my main problems with Microsoft is that you're forced to buy Windows almost every time you buy a computer. Even at zero price, it sends a message of demand which may be false. Hardware makers are reluctant to support Linux driver development, since it appears that everyone wants Windows, even if they don't really want it. In summary, Microsoft distorts the basic ideals of free market economy.

Another general problem is that Windows is rife with limitations that are political rather than technical in nature. This aspect is related to the point in my intellectual property rant about corporations and governments trying to work against the 'natural' developments in technology.

• Jyrki Kasvi warns against Microsoft's Live@edu gift to Finland (in Finnish)
• Windows Vista, Office 2007 Expelled From British Schools
• Microsoft Office 2003 Service Pack 3 disables older file formats
• Soviet Microsoft: How Resistance to Free Markets and Open Ideas Will the Unravel the Software Superpower
• Why the Unbundling Windows Sceptics are Wrong
• Unbundling Microsoft Windows -- report to European Commission
• Microsoft's 'Men in Black' kill Florida open standards legislation
• Windows Vista restricts GNU GCC apps to 32 MB
• A Cost Analysis of Windows Vista Content Protection -- "The Vista Content Protection specification could very well constitute the longest suicide note in history."
• Microsoft Media Player shreds your rights
• Microsoft is putting pressure on PC vendors not to sell machines without an operating system installed
• Microsoft is a State-Sponsored Monopoly
• Say no to monopolies, boycott Microsoft
• Opera to MS: Get real about interoperability, Mr Gates
• "As long as they are going to steal it, we want them to steal ours. They'll get sort of addicted, and then we'll somehow figure out how to collect sometime in the next decade." -- Bill Gates
• Microsoft CEO: 'I'm going to f---ing kill Google'

Miscellaneous

• How many Microsofties does it take to implement the Off menu?
• Windows Genuine Advantage suffers worldwide outage
• Microsoft threatens its Most Valuable Professional
• Iowa antitrust case: Microsoft exec called software developers 'pawns'
• BadVista
• If the man at the top and a team of Microsoft's best engineers faced defeat, what chance do ordinary punters have of keeping their Windows PCs virus-free?
• Dissecting Microsoft
• Windows nearly ready for the desktop
• What differentiates Linux from Windows?
• MS paper touts Unix in Hotmail's Win2k switch
• Largo, Florida loves Linux more than ever
• Toshiba/Microsoft Saga
• Why it's a bad idea to post MS Word files as email attachments This is in Finnish, but contains links to English equivalents.
• Microsoft displays FUD toward OpenOffice.org
• "See? Even open source has bugs/security holes! It's no better than Microsoft!"
• School Linux deployment gets pulledby MS advocates
• An open letter to Windows ;-)
• Linux users are spoiled