Micro$oft make fantastic hardware ... i have the MS ergonomic (curved) keyboard, the MS Sidewinder Force Feedback joystick and the MS Intellimouse Explorer (optical) mouse. cant complain about any of them. infact i would recomend them to anyone! but the software ... i can say, with my hand on my heart, that 80% of my 'Blue Screen of Death's' have been with MS software (MS Combat Flight Sim .. Starlancer .. Direct bloody X (should be called Direct $#!T!!) .. the list goes on) and MS drivers conflicting with other MS software and drivers. and thanks to Mr. (Dollar) Bill Gate$ we seem to be stuck with dirty windows. what a pane (pun intended)