i like microsoft, most of their stuff anyway. sony makes some good products, but generally their ht stuff seems pretty cheap and overpriced. some of the receivers are nice from what ive experienced, but their speakers arent very impressive.
my friend bought a 1200 dollar in a box system from the sony store, and it broke within 2 weeks. he replaced it and it did the same thing.. after the 3rd one broke he just got his money back.
it might be trendy to dislike sony, and bose for that matter.. but they are both understandable.