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Then rephrase it as how many "cool" products existed under the Microsoft brand.


Cool as in "geek cool" or as in "general cool"? As in "geek cool", there were many. Even Windows for Workgroups was cool because it offered Mac-like networking for PCs. MS Access was cool. Even VB was cool (before it a Windows hello world was 100+ lines). My Softcard was cool - it allowed my Apple II to run CP/M programs. Microsoft's mice, keyboards and joysticks were always top-notch.

As in "general cool", I can't remember a single one. Perhaps the Xbox 360 makes the cut, but only in the 25+ gamer scene.

There would also be some "fashion-victim cool": those who just need the latest shiny toy. Those were the ones who jumped into Vista, Office 2007 and then to 7 and 2010 just because there is a newer version, disregarding whatever feature they needed. Obviously, they are not restricted to the Microsoft space - and I have pushed my PPC iMac well beyond its last supported OSX version (the G3 runs 10.4, but is not very snappy). These people also swap hardware like crazy, often having 8-core, 64-bit desktops where they check their hotmail accounts and zip through Facebook at speeds unheard of.




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