I agree with a bunch of the comments from viewers on Russell's latest entry...

Dave Winer says "But please please don't screw up the Web. He can link to you any way he wants, and you're going to get flames in your comments no matter what you do, or who points to you or how they characterize you. It comes with the turf. It never gets easy to take the abuse people give you, but it does get easier."

Greg Hurlman says "Once you pull out the ol' "M$", well... things like that just beg for a negative reaction from the MS side, and you should be ready & willing to take it."

I also agree with Russell: "I have no patience for anonymous assholes"... I actually agree with a lot more of what Russell says here, but unfortunately he is spinning it as Microsoft is full of these people.

Personally I find jerks and annoying people in every group, I try to avoid being a bigot about it. I know there are people at Microsoft that don't behave, I know there are people at Sun that don't, I know there are people at IBM that don't, etc... The key is to judge each person on their own (or even better, try not to judge, but that can be pretty hard!)