Have only worked for MS and other tech companies as a consultant, never as an employee, so I wouldn't know how things were/are behind closed doors. But the company has openly admitted in the past that is using a consumer PCs for beta-testing Windows 10 updates (https://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonevangelho/2018/12/12/microsoft-admits-normal-windows-10-users-are-testing-unstable-updates/?sh=334f3b934f6f) so it would not surprise me in the slightest if there was/is a mentality of this kind permeating many MS groups still.

Funny thing, it didn't even have to be this way. MS achieved market dominance with Windows 2000 or even 95/98. There's no "it ain't complete if it runs 1-2-3" excuse for more than two decades now. All MS had to do was consistently bring out quality versions of Windows and everyone would be happy.

But no. They have to do it in such a way that they also exert some form of power or influence over consumers so as to extract more from them. First it was locking them into Office. Then gathering personal data. Then selling them services. The list goes on and on. Meanwhile, the product that people put up with this behavior for, Windows, is not getting meaningfully better. Just marginally at best.

It's a sad situation. As a Windows user since the 3.11 version I am often surprised that billions of people have tolerated all this for so long. Apple macOS may be a viable alternative today that we do so many things inside a browser, but for the longest of times MS enjoyed the kind of monopoly that only proves to be harmful for everyone (including them!).

I am under the impression that this will not change under Satya. MS will just try to direct its dominance of the desktop to services, it has already began actually. If Windows 11 is not absolutely PERFECT, and it will not be, I may be switching to Mac at some point, fully knowing what that means for my day-to-day workflow. But the Windows situation is getting really, really old.