The whole Oracle-Google fiasco made me realize that the tech landscape has really changed a lot over the past few years. Microsoft is no longer as dominant as it was and in effect not anymore considered by majority of people as the most evil tech company. Stealing the limelight (in a bad way) from Microsoft is Apple, a company that is extremely successful financially nowadays that they are dubbed as being too greedy. On the Internet, giants Google and Facebook have been heavily criticized on how they handle privacy issues. Meanwhile, Adobe has been lambasted for its pricing practices among other things.
To our dear readers and visitors, we would like to know which tech company do you think is the most evil these days?
You may also share with us the reason behind your vote via comment below.
Most dangerous: Google (all that data... *shiver*)
Most suspicous: Facebook (their policies and practices and intentions are IMHO less clear than Google's)
Most greedy: Oracle (it's about money)
Most potential for turning "good": Microsoft (their old business models are becoming obsolete, they need to change, and the chance could theoretically be towards good.)
Oracle is the real evil these days, evident by its serial assaults on the air supply of a significant part of today's important open source projects. Legally wrong? Probably not. Morally wrong? Definitely very yes.
Oracle and Apple are doing evil things, but I do not have any of their products.
I think this poll is broken, someone is voting Google several times.
I don't believe Microsoft is any less evil than it was 10 years ago, just a little less relevant and a bit less competent. The world is moving beyond Windows and Office. They'll have a lock on the business world for a long time to come though.
That said, I don't believe that any company that becomes a traded corporation can hold virtue. They're bound by law to be fiduciary responsible - morality virtually never works its way into the equation.
Other company's can act nasty and bad, but they are not especially on a "mission to destroy that communistic Linux" like Microsoft.
Sure - Microsoft acts friendly lately, but it is the simile of the shark - ready to rip your flesh away in a bloody cloud...
It seems that Oracle is actually out to make a quick buck for the short run and seems oblivious to the fact that everyone will hate them for it.
They are killing all projects that might compete with Microsoft.....seems like they (Oracle) are almost helping them (MS) to get back their monopoly...dirty dealings perhaps?
MS still owns the IT world (at least closed source). Other software vendors exists only because MS lets them. MS can replace them when it likes to because MS owns the platform (and collect taxes).
If Google did evil, you can always change to ping (hope not though). With MS you can only turn the other cheek an pay.
Yes, other companies make life hard for some of us sometimes, including Oracle, Adobe, and yes, even Google. But they'd basically have to run down the street with a chainsaw massacring random people for a year before they'd even catch up to Microsoft at the #1 pole position.
But M$ is still the most evil company though not so succesful anymore as people are getting wiser.
And with the recent Anti-Apple and Anti-google hype I even wouldn't be surprised to find another Microsoft Astroturfing campaign at the root.
I don't like Apple for its business methods but they have to do a lot to catch up with MS.
Second kind of companies they stayed with humankind and still supporting Open knowledge irrespective of their business interests.
Third is "direct attackers" they were always enemy of spreading the knowledge. never bother about them. they will perish.
Forth kind, they makes use of mankind to get their jobs done and wants to ditch mankind when time comes. they are the biggest evil all the time.
Examples are: Being able to shut down your phone based on pictures and heartbeat information that makes it seem like it might be stolen(what if you let a friend borrow it? they need to wait for a report, at least), and being able to freeze your device's functionality and make you interact with ads(this is at the OS level).
There's more, but you can find them around.
I'd also add Sony but for different reasons not related entirely to software.
Same goes with NDS.
All of those companies have done equally a lot of good and not so good stuff.
Of the less evil on the list I'd say Adobe, since they continued Macromedia's legacy even if they screwed up quite a bit of their software. Most dangerous now is Google.