Kamashii: The only thing I'm really concerned over is the fact Microsoft seemed to walk up to them and offer them a crap ton of money. Since they are so insanely rich. What really stops them from doing it to anyone else?
StingingVelvet: Nothing really. There are supposedly laws that maintain competition and prevent corporations from buying too many competitors, but if Disney can buy Fox when there's only a handful of big movie studios out there, I wouldn't expect that to amount to a hill of beans. Maybe if Microsoft tried to buy Sony or something, but that's a Japanese company so I don't even know how that works really.
Of course in theory the consumer has all the power in a capitalist society. They could say "no more of these shenanigans, I'm not supporting Microsoft anymore!" Enough of them do that, things change. Good luck waiting on that to happen though. ;)
One of the worst practices of MS: sloshing aroung their weight (money and the advantage of controlling the Windows platform) to buy out or smash their competitors, with superior products (some will remember Netscape, Wordperfect, Lotus 1-2-3...). The consumer is rendered powerless when the market has been manipulated into not providing viable options.
That said, there are other shady practices, like selling user data to third parties. MS is the usual suspect, but
at least they make a serviceable enough platform with every other version of their OS (with all its shortcomings and whatnot), and try to make a dime (well, millions :D ) out of people actually buying or software (or, as is being discussed, subscribing to services), not from slotting-machine-like addiction or selling every single position of your mouse cursor as it passes over this or that item on their website (even without clicking)
