Difference between Google and Microsoft....
You know it's funny to watch and try and be impartial to all these comments. Google has done a wonderful thing - commercially I mean - it's kinda like the old adage about Satan - the greatst thing Google has ever done is convince the world that it's not about the money.
And Money is the root of it all - we just seem to believe that Google isn't making it faster than the average mint. (the one with money, not the strong taste). Google is our "friend".
Everyone hates Microsoft - and why - is it the bugs, is it the exploits, is it the poorly written software... no. It's not. All software has bugs - the exploits come as a result - not of the quantity of bugs.... but the exposure those bugs get. Poorly written software - some of the Linux releases I've seen have been terrible... hard to use, hard to configure, hard to learn - but we accept it because it's free - thank you world for such a wonderful free tool.
Google (our "friend") has built a whole mythology on this concept - and good on them too. Google starts by creating a search engine better, more friendly and seemingly more accurate than the rest. They give us that for nothing - free - gratis - out of the goodness of their hearts. Google is our "friend".
Now when you search they show paid adverts - but never mind - they are somethimes helpful, and well targeted - so we don't mind them - even like them - Google is our "friend"
The best (arguably) free email client (concept stolen from Hotmail - which didn't used to be MS anyway)... same but with a cool new organisational method and almost limitless (and growing!!) space. All this for free - Google is our "friend".
and more... free apps, utilities, toolbars (Hey MS - We'll beat you to one of your best loved Vista features by stealing the concept), local search tools .... and of course the best mapping and planet visualisation tools (noone wonders where all the money comes from to buy that data....) Google is our "friend"
How is this paid for - well those friendly adverts on almost any site you visit these days - as intrusive as most banners and popups (more so in some cases), and they analyze and chop and shape (and use and ultimately in some form or other sell) our demographic and web use data - but we don't mind this - they give us so much for free - they are our friend. But still the money (ultimately OUR MONEY!) rolls in - just not quite as directly.... and we welcome it.
People hate Microsoft because they see paying for the products as a tax. Everyone hates the licensing model, and everyone hates Microsoft.... but do they invade your life a sneakily and underhandedly as our "friends" - that's an exercise to the reader.
I use all three technologies in the areas they work best (Ie MS, Google, Linux) and others too.... and I hate paying the MS tax on everything as much as you do... but that alone isn't enough to consider everyone other than MS to be holier.....