Poll: Has Microsoft replaced EA as "The Most Hated Company in America" for you?

[Basement Cat]

I've noticed over the past few months that the anti-EA rants have been replaced by anti-Microsoft rants.

Personally I am really, really sick of Microsoft because the laptop I bought with Microsoft Word etc never accepted the registration code I had to enter into it after 25 or so uses and now the software's locked down. I had to download OpenOffice to do my writing and I can't load any Microsoft Office attatchments (such as the screenplays for a movie series my sister is making---I'm the script editor) and do anything more than read them--I can't even copy/paste thanks to being locked out.

EA has made a huge number of mistakes--I'm particularly sore about them rushing Dragon Age II and ruining it--but they don't make the hardware/software that is so universal for PC's that problems like mine (above) become major hassles.

So...do you think EA will lose it's top spot to Microsoft next year at the "Worst Company in America" Awards?

 

[Chairman Miaow]

Ea has made some moves as though it's trying to change. Microsoft is unrepentant. Either way, I don't really care. I don't like either of them but I don't like any EA games anyway, and I don't have the time to learn how to use and set up Linux.

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

Can't say I have outstanding issues with either of them. I've never had any trouble with Microsoft concerning my computer, and that's the extent of it all. I've never touched an Xbox, so the whole recent backlash and bullshit is amusing to me, nothing more. The only thing I've ever had to do with EA, is Mass Effect. While the DLC practices annoy me greatly, the biggest problem I had was the requirement to use Origin to play Mass Effect 3, but that really is no different than needing Steam to play Skyrim, and I could simply uninstall Origin when I finished the game, so it didn't bother me too much. That's more or less my history with either company.

Colour me indifferent, I guess.

 

[Supernova1138]

If MS didn't backpedal on their Xbox One policies, they might have had a shot at getting the Golden Poo next year. As it stands now, I think EA may still be in the running for a third year in a row unless they manage to stop doing at least half the dickish things they are known for. I don't think MS will be more hated than EA unless they decide to backpedal on their backpedalling on Xbox One, or they do something absolutely horrible with Windows 8.1, aside from the horribleness that is already in Windows 8.

Who knows, maybe we'll have another financial crash or massive oil spill, and EA will get superseded by a bank, or oil company next year.

 

[staika]

I think that Microsoft has a chance at it but it'll be hard to unseat EA. That being said I hate the way Microsoft is going with their software and gaming console. I hate Windows 8 and as an IT guy I'll have to learn it eventually so that'll be fun. I still won't forgive the Xbox for what it was trying to do and have already planned on either getting a Wii U, PS4 or stick to my gaming computer. I won't touch the Xbox one at all though.

I do have to say that I don't think that Microsoft can unseat EA YET. This Microsoft slide is not as long or as vile as the amount of stuff EA has done. Also the Windows OS usually tends to be crap every other release so who knows maybe Windows 9 will be awesome. I have more faith in Microsoft to right the ship but if they continue the way they're going then I do think they will unseat EA as the most hated company.

 

[Andy Shandy]

For me, personally? I've never hated either of them. I've called out some of their decisions as woefully idiotic, but never hated them.

As for the wider internet, possibly. EA have been trying to change their image recently (with varying degrees of success) and people seem to hate MS no matter what they do at the moment, so quite possibly.

There are still plenty worse companies in America mind, which makes the whole thing idiotic.

 

[madwarper]

Other. (Bacon)

I get the impression that Microsoft made their blunderous mistakes of the Xbone announcement from the best of intentions, that they thought this was the future of gaming, but their execution was such an egregious failure.

EA, on the other hand, seems to still be putting their bottom line above their consumer. Project $10 may be ending, but I have no doubt that they're cooking up another scheme to nickle and dime us to death.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Most hated company? Because some of their products don't work very well?

Yeah, there are plenty of companies directly responsible for deaths, injuries and manipulation of politics and laws. That sorta tends to get more of my hate.

(Now, not saying a company can't make a frustrating product and kill people doing it, but one of those is much worse than the other)

 

[Basement Cat]

Most hated company? Because some of their products don't work very well?

Yeah, there are plenty of companies directly responsible for deaths, injuries and manipulation of politics and laws. That sorta tends to get more of my hate.

(Now, not saying a company can't make a frustrating product and kill people doing it, but one of those is much worse than the other)

Such...logic...is this the internet? I thought that I was on the internet.

Your cold, hard, brutal logic reminds me of the EA president's sarcastic comments about EA being given the Golden Poo award 2 years in a row. There was a news story on this site about it--I'd link it but I don't know where to look for it.

Seriously, thaluikhain, you're going to give the internet a bad name if you keep interjecting--

*shudders*

--LOGIC into such discussions!

Tsk-tsk-tsk!

 

[DoPo]

I didn't see Microsoft doing anything they haven't been always doing, I'll go with "other" - Microsoft have just been Microsoft, not suddenly went and turned evil or anything. EA on the other hand have been...well, EA. They did do some dumb stuff, so they've lost some respect from me over the years but I can't say I hate them.

I do have to say that I don't think that Microsoft can unseat EA YET. This Microsoft slide is not as long or as vile as the amount of stuff EA has done.

Really? The way I've heard it...yeah, it was. Only it was away from the average customer's sight, so people tend to overlook it. But let's see - we can be grateful that the Internet works despite Microsoft. It's an easy target but I'll go for it - IE. IE 6, 7, and 8 (let's not even mention the ones before) are not standards compliant which makes it a ***** to make websites. And to top it off, each of them has different quirks and different stuff don't work on it. i think my favourite one is how in 6 or 7 z-index is just completely broken. But other than IE, we have the time when Windows just decided it didn't want to play by the "rules" these network protocols thinks they have, so Windows PCs just blindly ignored them and followed their own twisted logic. Or there was that other time in...I think Windows Millennium, when due to a slight misconfiguration of the networking, Windows didn't use, like, proper DNS, it just went straigt to the root DNS nodes. Effectively DDOSing the Internet. Well, true, it didn't break anything, as the root DNS nodes can take traffic, though seeing the big spike did worry pretty much anybody aside from Microsoft.

I'd say releasing some same-y mediocre games isn't as vile as attempting to break networking through negligence and incompetence, but what do I know.

 

[Basement Cat]

I'm honestly surprised that no one has voted against EA on the poll, yet. <_<

EDIT: GOT ONE! ^_^

 

[FalloutJack]

EA is evil and stupid, making them embarassing and horrible. It's more the stupid than the evil, trust me, like Dilbert management.

Microsoft is is populated by the the kid at school who copies off of everyone's sheets and then wonders why he gets a failing grade.

However, Microsoft decided not to stay their course and change their plans, which EA never does. EA isn't going to lose its title anytime soon. Microsoft isn't much to write home about anymore, but they're not complete dullards yet.

 

[Lilani]

Microsoft made one very big error over a short period of time. EA makes many moderate to major mistakes, and it's been going on for like the last three years now and doesn't look to be stopping soon. I would say EA is the worse of the two.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I've never thought of either of them as the worst company in America, especially if we're only talking about Microsoft's Xbox division. It just seems a little too non-consequential in the grand scheme of things to really get worked up about either of them the same way I would a company like Bank of America or ExxonMobil.

If I had to choose, though, I'd go with Microsoft. Even when they're backtracking on one issue, they seem determined to screw up in another area. At least I still haven't heard anything to make me hate EA even more since they announced they were getting rid of the online pass (maybe I missed something?). Not to mention, my experience with Microsoft products in general has never been very good, and I often find myself going to their competitors, no matter how easy to hate and ridiculously over expensive their competitors are.

 

[Zhukov]

I don't particularly hate either of them.

I've never really been able to get all that angry about businesses the way a lot of people do, especially when those businesses are selling luxury goods. If they try to offer me what I consider to be a shitty deal, then I just don't buy their stuff. It's always seemed like a simple enough concept to me.

Console has shitty DRM that I don't like? I don't buy it.

Game is generic and flavourless pap that does not appeal to me? I don't buy it.

Something is priced above what I am willing to pay? Don't buy it, or wait for a price drop, or get it second hand.

If Microsoft were the only computer/console producer or EA published every single video game then I suppose I would get grumpy about it, but in the current environment I just don't see the point. Just take your business elsewhere. Boom. Problem solved.

 

[Ed130 The Vanguard]

Ever since MS decided that a tablet OS was what everyone needed rather than something serviceable and their Office BS (seriously, non-transferable licencing to one PC or monthly fees?) they have been on my personal shit list.

Mind you I've had a dislike of them for years due to my fathers dislike of their products and detailed explanations of just how annoying/stupid/evil the various versions of Windows have been over the years.

 

[Ryan Hughes]

Well, I dislike both companies, but to say they are the worst in America is a bit of hyperbole. There are so many companies that are worse than those two it is sick. HSBC, for example, which through ignorance or complicity allowed Mexican drug lords to launder money through their bank, resulting in untold deaths along the Mexican/American border. How about BP? not an American company, but it operates in America and caused the worst environmental disaster in history off of the American coast. Not American enough? Exxon then, who made the second-largest oil spill of all time, then 20 years later killed their own commitment to funding the clean-up. Good thing I will not even mention Royal Dutch / Shell. How about Walmart? systematically paying their female employees less over a period of decades, only to have their case thrown out of court because it was too broad and too sweeping, not because there was no legitimate complaint.

 

[Canadamus Prime]

I don't know. I'd say they're pretty much neck and neck right now.

 

[Colonel Mustard]

Microsoft has had a fair amount of cock-ups in their history over the years, but by and large they can generally be chalked down to incompetence rather than malice. EA, on the other hand, spend a lot of time pursuing business practices that seem designed to screw over customers for EA's gain rather than just making mistakes

I appreciate Microsoft have recently made moves in that direction in regards to the Xbone, but if we're keeping score of this sort of thing then EA ranks way higher.

 

[MCerberus]

Of the two, I just consider Microsoft incompetent. EA has a record of hating people. Their employees, independent studios, their own studios, gamers who like used games/rentals, gamers that don't like bland "me too" games, gamers who think monopolies lead to stagnation re: sports games, gamers who keep track of the legal stances ESA member companies take, gamers in general who don't like the way their advertising portrays the media.