In my opinion, Microsoft software is of poor quality. I can only conclude that they have so little confidence in their own book that they don't practice what they preach - in which case, they're hypocrites; or, they *do* follow their own precepts, in which case, they don't work.

Or perhaps that Microsoft Press is a separate entity from Microsoft (albeit under the same Umbrella) and very little in the form of conclusions can be drawn from either?

I'm not sure how Steve McConnell ended up on Microsoft's label but given the quality of Code Complete and Rapid Development it's not hard for me to imagine him landing a publishing deal with O'Reilly.

-- Argel

Update: Fixed typos