Alias said:
More like understated.
They consider each and every customer to be a thief until they prove
otherwise. That's disdain towards their customers, not "caring more
about profits".
The two notions are not mutually exclusive. The profit motive is what
drives their disdain. Like it or not, Microsoft is simply playing by the
rules. You might not like the rules (which may favor oligopoly and
monopoly), and neither do I. The answer lies in changing the rules.
Criticizing Microsoft, even if it is justified, doesn't change the
situation. This means that people who live in representative democracies
need to elect more people to government who care about the issues you
and I care about. It means that elected officials who are usually also
running for re-election and rely on campaign donations from companies
like Microsoft exercise more independence. Will we see this behavior in
our lifetimes? I don't know. But the real problem is the political
economic system. It's not too different from the sad state of access to
health care and health care insurance in the United States. The problem
has already been diagnosed. A solution has been proposed (Single Payer
health insurance). Of course the mainstream media haven't been including
this idea in any debates (not that there are that many to begin with) on
this issue -- probably because of where they get a lot of their
advertising dollars. Again, as upsetting and distasteful it is to see
these corporations make their profits and manipulate the media to
continue to do so, the problem lies more in the system that allows them
to do so in the first place.
As soon as a corporation starts holding their paying customers with
disdain, it is the beginning of the end for them. Without paying
customers, no profit, no shareholders, no corporation.
And we are nowhere near that tipping point. Lots of people will put up
with what they see as minor inconveniences (WPA, WGA, etc.). For the
time being, though, the amount of perceived disdain is nowhere near as
high as your perception, so profits will continue, I am sure. I suppose
you're hoping to stir up enough discontent so that a butterfly effect
will take place eventually culminating in real change (assuming there is
a significant number of others who will also complain and convince
others to come around to their way of thinking). That is your right, and
good luck. I won't disagree. (But I won't hold my breath, either.)
Depends on the MVP. Some do, some don't.
From what I've seen, the overwhelming majority do.