While growing up I only used Microsoft products as I had no need to use anything else. When Windows XP first came out I purchased it within a week of its release date. At that point you could have even called me a Microsoft Fanboy as anything Microsoft did was absolutely correct there was no other way. I felt like Apple was the root of all evil and Linux was some thing used on servers.
My first glimpse of how Microsoft really operates came with all of the security problems that happened with XP. Instead of staying on top of the security issues they stalled until the bug got into the wild. Even then they would not patch something unless they saw a finical benefit in it. I really started to see this, especially when it came to their browser, Internet Explorer.
After using XP in its default state I became tired of adware that was constantly being installed without my knowledge. This is when I first became aware of open source, or more specificly Mozilla Phoenix, now called Mozilla Firefox. All that I was looking to do was stop the bad software from being installed, what I found was much more. This project was very new at the time, but it was already far easier to use than IE.
I soon started realizing that the anti-virus industry was based on the security flaws from Microsoft. If they did a decent job at creating its products or even just fixed the problems when they got reported I would not have a problem with that as everyone makes mistakes. My real issue was the fact that they just forgot about their users, no major updates, nothing.
At this point I started looking for alternatives, not because I wanted to leave Windows, but because I was disappointed by the support from Microsoft. I soon found Linux and just the sheer number of people willing to help was amazing. Also the various options offered that can be daunting to some I found to be wonderful.
Today I use Linux, but still follow Microsoft because that is what the average person uses. For me to convert back to Windows it will take Microsoft about two years of staying on top of updates and having a secure operating system. Right now I want to believe in Microsoft, but their history speaks for them. It is hard to believe that they have changed until its proven with the test of time.
