As a 'softie, I appreciate the restraint in "not obviously worse" :)
Seriously now, you wouldn't believe the kind of things people say to my colleagues and myself, even though a) I work mostly with OSS tech and b) it is always completely out of context.
It sometimes feels as if we're stormtroopers or something, branded as evil at first glance.
You are not alone. I have a friend at Google. I am thinking of sending him a Stormtrooper suit for fun. Do you guys wear different versions of these suits? :-P
Real world though, this is the bad side of branding. When you taint a brand with these kind of actions then you can expect it to stick for a while.
I mean, I can't think of Coca Cola without thinking they used to sell it with cocaine. Different times of course.
but it serves me well to keep in mind they want people addicted to their drink - even if it doesn't strictly contain cocaine anymore.
With MS, it serves me well to keep in mind that just because your company is not "one of the worst" now, that doesn't mean it is out for the common good. It is out for money, like all of them. And so suspicion is warranted.
Actually, I should point out that my login wallpaper is, in fact, a close-up of a stormtrooper taking fire (a headshot from Rogue One, if I’m not mistaken).
Back when I did customer presentations on site, it was the first thing up on screen when I hooked my laptop to a projector, and it did cut down on the disparaging anti-MS commentary I got from some people (had a grand moment when that kicked in in an auditorium, everyone went quiet for a few seconds).
That and seldom leaving the terminal (except for opening some things in Firefox) were the two main drivers for zealots to stop sneering at what I presented.
Seriously now, you wouldn't believe the kind of things people say to my colleagues and myself, even though a) I work mostly with OSS tech and b) it is always completely out of context.
It sometimes feels as if we're stormtroopers or something, branded as evil at first glance.