They really didn't and to say otherwise is just trying to rewrite history. I was in my late teens when Microsoft enter the game and there was never this sense from gamers that they were a morally corrupt company.
Peoples issues with Google are not competition, which is what people were upset with Microsoft because they wanted to create an all in one box to take over the living room.
It might be because you were a little younger at the time that you were not aware of where Micro$oft used to fall with regards to morality. The focus on corporate evil by tech companies in the public eye was at a lower level then than it is now, but it was still there. And Microsoft had major morality questions around them.