You know what I think funny? Probably 98% of the people talking about MS do it this way M$. A person in another forum told the M$ people to go to Linux or another non MS OS since they did nothing but complain about MS. Just my 2¢ worth.
You know how much I'm interested in who said what in some other forum, not one iota! If I wanted to know, I'd join, rather than have to wait for the gossip to float back here.
The last huge problems we had, were with those two fools that were banned from the Windows 8 forum, then wandered over to TS to bemoan their cruel fate. (Well that, and to deny any wrongdoing of their own).
"M$", (at least for me), is an internet meme. It isn't positive or negative, just a matter of identification. You always know who I'm talking about. I'm surely, (other than this once), going through the trouble of typing out, "Microsoft Corporation", and "MS" seems so impersonal.
I've heard similar comments about using "M$" from others. But, that usually comes from a bunch of mouthy y'uns, who think they're terribly progressive, and make a big deal of having moved past that particular idiomatic expression. Meh......
Besides, who said anything bad about M$? Steve Ballmer however, is an a**hole, who has been making some questionable decisions ever since Bill Gates put him in charge.
I think Bill put him in charge to watch him fail. but that's just speculation.
Now, did you want to know who said what about who at the music forum I belong to?
