It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. [...] But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind's darkest hour. [...] It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe's history and not Europe's present.
While Microsoft has never made anything "cool" on their first try, they have made some really nice stuff, especially for developers. While people say that Vista and Win7 are copied from OSX, it's kinda true- but there are things like jump lists and other new Win7 Aero things (which have a practical purpose) that no one's implemented before.
And at least they don't shove people into a DRM-locked walled garden of media and limited phones.
Microsoft products are infinitely more open and flexible than Apple's eye-candy-yet-in-all-honesty-not-very-useful devices. Sure Apple stuff looks nice and feels intuitive, but I love my Windows phone's functionality, even if the UI looks like puke.
New York... when civilization falls apart, remember, we were way ahead of you. - David Letterman