I interned with MS for over about a year and a half, and had a very similar experience. I worked on some excellent projects, and with some amazing people.

I do still hate MS as a corporate entity, but you can't hold that against the people working there. I certainly didn't have eny of the 60+ hour week / no social life horror stories that some other people seemed to have. I generally worked a 40 hour week, with an occasional 50 hour week as things were getting close to release. It really just depends upon the group you are with.

The BBQ at Bill's house has changed though in recent years. My first year there it was open to all interns. The second year though they changed the rules so that only interns who were graduating in a year got to go to his house. The rest just got a dinner with him on campus. With over 700 interns every summer, I'm amazed that they do anything like that.