In the olden days, Microsoft was accused by the federal government of using monopoly power to solidify its towering dominance of software and internet browsers.
But neither the feds nor its harshest critics in Silicon Valley ever blamed “the beast of Redmond” for helping Russia swing a presidential election or undermining democracy through the spread of lies to hundreds of millions of people.
Microsoft didn’t manipulate the personal information of users, adopt a casual attitude to the security of users’ personal information or engage in a sophisticated, scorched-earth campaign to cover its tracks and stifle criticism.
No, that had to wait a few years. For Facebook.
Compared with Mark Zuckerberg’s social-media monster, the beast of Redmond — which today is the one member of Big Tech to have achieved respectability among former critics — was a mere lamb.
But neither the feds nor its harshest critics in Silicon Valley ever blamed “the beast of Redmond” for helping Russia swing a presidential election or undermining democracy through the spread of lies to hundreds of millions of people.
Microsoft didn’t manipulate the personal information of users, adopt a casual attitude to the security of users’ personal information or engage in a sophisticated, scorched-earth campaign to cover its tracks and stifle criticism.
No, that had to wait a few years. For Facebook.
Compared with Mark Zuckerberg’s social-media monster, the beast of Redmond — which today is the one member of Big Tech to have achieved respectability among former critics — was a mere lamb.
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