I'd give Microsoft more of a chance, but the way updates and the UI are handled in Windows really puts a sour taste in my mouth. I've heard many good things about stuff like WSL2, PowerShell, and other things that can make Windows feel more accessible for power users, but I'm still looking at a Windows 7 machine without a TPM. I'll be able to update to W10, but after that I'm hosed and have no choice but to 'upgrade' to a chip that has a nanny CPU in it.
If Microsoft provided a Developer's Edition of Windows -- without telemetry and ads -- that also came with access to a knowledge-base of best practices for Windows-based software, and why you want to use each major Windows component, for a flat, one-time fee, I'd strongly consider building things for that environment.
I feel like Microsoft's current approach of buying their way under the free software world via GitHub is kinda scummy, and all that code's now under Copilot and other LLMs. If they were a bit more upstanding and had a clean, mutually respectful business model, I might consider buying their products.
In the mean time, I'd rather use something written by a random hacker, because I can at least read their code, or even hit them up and have a conversation about their project.
