Despite the kindler, gentler Nadella in charge, Ballmer&#x27;s damage will never be undone.<p>Microsoft, while (maybe even genuinely) trying to embrace free software and open collaboration, has still tried to cling to their now-lost ability to dictate direction and standards. You can&#x27;t have that cake if you want to eat it too. Either developers refuse to use free software outright due to political biases, or they use and don&#x27;t contribute, because they&#x27;ve never learned how to be good neighbors in the free software community.