Microsoft: Prepare to defenestrate!

From AP:

"Microsoft Corp. may rethink its decision to withdraw support for state legislation that would ban discrimination against gays and lesbians, Chairman Bill Gates says. In an interview with The Seattle Times, Gates said he was surprised by the fierce criticism that followed the company's decision to no longer back a state gay rights bill it had supported in previous years."

Yes, there's something wrong with that. Microsoft was once a leading corporate defender of same-sex relationships, at a time when it wasn't exactly popular to take such stances (not that it is now, to be sure, though it's becoming increasingly more acceptable to do so -- i.e., to reject intolerance). Given Microsoft's relatively liberal past, I'm not yet prepared to give up on them -- and, besides, I'm not one to boycott lightly -- but I understand that this may be yet another reason to switch to Apple (as Mac users have been trying to persuade me to do for years, despite the convenience of Windows). It's just so pathetic -- and disappointing, despite low expectations to start with -- to see the world's most powerful company, and the world's richest man, succumb to such pressure and back away from doing the right thing.