I have always had this question in my mind and I would really be happy to get an explanation for this.Is it only me or do you also feel the same way that it's hard to find anything on MS site.For example, every time I need to download .NET framework I have to Google it. You never know what you can download, no category for downloads. You are simply left to a search field. You never know if you downloaded the latest version of the file. The tragically true is that you have to rely on their competitor Google to find anything on their site.I know that they are a big company. But is it really that hard to have an organized way to publish information?
Why is it so hard to find anything on MS site?
websites;information;search
I think you have Microsoft confused with a corporation that cares about the free downloads.  Don't get me wrong, I have met and talked to several people from Microsoft and they are smart, intelligent, and nice people.  However, Microsoft is more like Oracle in the sense that they know how to make money.  If you make it difficult to find free stuff, people end up buying the (now) reasonably cost alternative.  In short, it's simple business.  Remember, they don't have to compete with and differentiate themselves from all the other businesses out there, so it really isn't in their best interest to make it easy for you to find the free downloads.Bottom line, the MS site has to promote a lot of different products.  If you want helpful information, you need to go to MSDN.  MSDN is a mass of information of varying levels of helpfulness.  In my experience it tends to be 100% right, and 100% useless.  But I'm trying to do things that doesn't match their API exactly--things which they've done but haven't released to the public.  MSDN is very difficult to organize, as is any knowledge base.  Marketing is easy to organize, and you emphasize what you want people to do.Your free downloads are somewhere in between MSDN and marketing, and as a result just don't get emphasized.Note about Apple's website: There's plenty of marketing (just like MS), and the downloads are pretty easy to manage.  However, if you have any kind of technical issue, they do not have a knowledge base that is nearly as useful as MSDN.  Unfortunately, that's not saying much.  You get more help from third party forums and Q&A sites than you do from Apple itself.  I'm hoping that Apple figures out how to change this.