In this short little blurb, the author expresses near shock and dismay at some Microsoft products actually did well in a recent survey of influential products. This is a dramatic example of the disconnect that many technologists have from the rest of the "real" world.

 

The plain and simple truth is that the world does not pick the technology based on "ivory tower" criteria or "alpha geek" product leadership. It's based on availability, functionality, ease of use, marketing, etc. What was more influential to the development of the Internet - Netscape's early browsers or the arrival of IE4 and its inclusion in the operating system. Debate the technical merits, legalities, whatever, all you want, but at the end of the day the ubiquitous instant availability (i.e., no download required) of a high quality browser is what impacted the Internet. Millions upon millions of people learned about the Internet via IE.

 

I could go on, but I won't. ;-) Indeed, there are certainly counter arguments that are valid, but to react to the announcement the way the author did just shows that there is often "reality distortion fields" on both sides of the MSFT/anti-MSFT fence. Yes, I readily acknowledge that MSFT has plenty of reality distortion fields in operation as well. ;-)