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Welcome to the thirty-seventh issue of De Programmatica Ipsum, opening our fourth year of publication, and dedicated to Microsoft. In this edition, Graham explains how programmers have perceived Microsoft and its success through the years; Adrian reviews 45 years of Microsoft history and finds patterns, anecdotes, and some lessons; and in the Library section, Graham analyzes Microsoft's books about computer security.
When I started in the world of professional computing, it was popular to spell MS as micro$oft or micro$haft or micro$loth. Or, if you were feeling particularly snarky, micros~1. Windows was invariably spelt windoze. What did they do to deserve that reputation?
In May 30th, 2007, Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg interviewed Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in a now widely cited D5 conference panel. At the beginning of that session, both were asked about what they thought was the greatest contribution the other made to the computer industry.
Yes, you read that correctly. Microsoft. Writing on information security. They may be the software company who have done the most writing on information security, including many security software companies.