This is shocking for me to hear because it is the exact opposite of my experience/memory. I recall Microsoft briefly being the cool place for geniuses to work before it quickly became the big bad evil monopolist. Maybe this perception was exacerbated by my hanging out in more open-source-friendly corners of the internet.

I know they’ve changed their tune on open source but it’s really hard for me to break from my 20+-year perception that they are the evil company that makes awful software.