What a Difference Two Words Makes

I was just reading some piece of senseless anti-Microsoft ranting, and I realized that there are two words people could use to raise my estimation of them enormously. Let me illustrate.

If you say, “Microsoft wants to lock us in to their proprietary protocols so they can rule the world,” the thought going through my head is, “OK, you drank the other team's Kool-Aid. I'm going to disregard what you say from here on in.” Even though I think the sentiment is probably correct at some level.

But if you say, “Companies like Microsoft want to lock us into their proprietary protocols so they can rule the world,” the thought that goes through my head is, “Yep.”