I suspect this is a more true statement.

  * C#, F#, and all of .NET
  * Visual Studio
  * SQL Server
  * DirectX
  * ActiveX[1]

You can safely add AJAX to the list, XMLHttpRequest is from Microsoft as well.

I never had much symphathy for Microsoft, but I can't help but respect some of the things they've done, both in the Gates and Ballmer eras. They used to really care about developers.

Their programming tools may be great. But I will never care. Because I'd rather hit myself with a stick than use Windows.

Famous quote from 90's:

"Anybody who thinks a little 9,000-line program that's distributed free and can be cloned by anyone is going to affect anything we do at Microsoft has his head screwed on wrong." - Bill Gates (regarding Java, shortly before Microsoft licensed Java and cancelled the Blackbird project)

Server and tools (e.g. System Center 2012 R2, Windows Azure).

Increasing profits. E.g., FY 13 profits of $26.76 billion against FY 12 profits of $21.76 billion. That 5 billion dollars of additional profit in that fiscal year. I wonder how much profit Ballmer's detractors generate?

Relevant: How Apple's profits stack up against Google and Microsoft

http://www.theverge.com/2013/7/23/4549094/apple-microsoft-go...

Active Directory (copied, but marketed better than Novell), Group Policies, Visual Studio (arguably the best IDE available today), Sql Server, .NET, Azure.

And trust me, I am no fan of Ballmer. I think this announcement is the best thing to happen to Microsoft in a LONG time.

Most hardware was not powerful enough for Vista when it was released. It's the pressed who killed it. Windows 7 received glamorous reviews. However, in hindsight, Vista and 7 are not all that different. Most of the changes that daily users would encounter are cosmetic.

Windows Phone

Microsofts primary problem was that it was late and (as one of the consequences) there are not that many Windows Phone apps. However, WP7 and WP8 were generally quite well-received by the media. Windows Phone is really a nice phone OS, what Microsoft f*cked up is the transition from WP7 to WP8.

And even if many changes between vista and 7 were "cosmetic", that's how people interact with their PCs, and things like having different UI styles all over the place is a huge dealbreaker that puts people off using it. (See also: Windows 8).

But Microsoft gave them the gun by agreeing to the OEMs' demand to create a "Vista Capable" classification, for machines that were too underpowered to run Vista well (see http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/channel-programs/206905984/tr...).

The OEMs didn't care about customer experience, they just wanted a "Vista!" sticker they could slap on as many machines as possible. MS had to know these machines would make Vista look bad; they should have resisted the demand. But they didn't, so tons of people bought machines they thought would run Vista acceptably, only to find out they did not. So they (understandably) thought Vista was just a dog that couldn't run well even on "Vista certified" hardware.

While their sales are down in the US, they are on a (very slow) rise almost everywhere else. In Latin America, WP is now ranked 2nd (http://techcrunch.com/2013/08/22/windows-phone-snags-second-...).

WP is definitely not a widely successful platform, but it is not yet a total failure, and given some more attention from Microsoft, it may yet succeed in being relevant.

edited for typos.

[1] http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/02/03/bt_vision_upgrade/

I'm still convinced that eReaders are a good future for distributing books. It isn't Microsoft's fault that the Nook is failing (Barnes and Noble need to pick up the slack), but I think its a good idea that Microsoft branches out into that distribution platform.

Its a Hail Mary pass to attempt to get into the eBooks market, but probably the best attempt that Microsoft could reasonably make. Actually, even if Nook ends up losing money for Microsoft, I'd argue it was a good move.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvsboPUjrGc

[1] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWylb_5IOw0&feature=player_de... (go to 38:59 time mark)

IIRC the deal in 2007 was at one fifth of the current facebook value, plus they got to sneak bing in the platform, and cut out google.

If this is accurate, Microsoft has been turning a profit in recent years, but not enough to make up for years of losses from the first Xbox and the first few years of the Xbox 360. They’re about to launch a new system, which probably means they’re again going to be losing money again for a while.