When it comes to Microsoft bashing, partners have heard it all.They've heard prospects gripe that Microsoft products cost too much. They've heard customers complain about frequent bug and security patches. They've heard tirades denouncing the company as Byzantine or a behemoth, difficult to navigate and glacially slow to respond to complaints and calls for help. They're well aware that some people view Microsoft as the biggest monopoly since Standard Oil. And they occasionally still hear snide remarks about Microsoft's founder, who, despite his generous donations to charity, remains the world's wealthiest individual.Of course, some of those sentiments are unfounded, unfair or outdated, and channel partners whose companies depend upon Microsoft's success do their best to counter them. At the same time, even executives whose companies deal solely in Microsoft solutions understand what's behind the negativity. As one veteran partner puts it: "Sometimes I hate Microsoft myself."Therein lies one of the biggest challenges of representing the world's most famous corporate name.From Hate to RespectTrue, Microsoft has come a long way since the mid- to late-1990s, when it battled antitrust allegations and crushed Netscape in the browser wars. Back then, the Web was littered with sites with names like Microsoftsucks.com, Boycott Microsoft and The Official Microsoft Hate Page. A particularly virulent subset targeted Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, depicting him as a dictator, a devil or the Antichrist and inviting visitors to punch out, blow up or behead an animated effigy. Technology magazines ran editorials with titles like "Time to Break Up Microsoft" and quoted spokespeople from organizations such as The Committee to Fight Microsoft (which, at one point, announced plans to open a national headquarters in Washington, D.C.). The phrase "evil empire," which, during the Reagan era, referred to the Soviet Union, became a synonym for Microsoft. Relentlessly forwarded e-mail messages spread anti-Redmond humor all over the planet. (Remember this one? Q: How many Microsoft engineers does it take to change a light bulb? A: None. Bill Gates will just declare Darkness the new industry standard). In 1998, author Po Bronson told The New Republic that Microsoft bashing was so prevalent in Silicon Valley "that it's like talking about the weather in Minnesota."
