Text 7210, 67 rader
Skriven 2005-09-16 17:22:56 av Mike '/m' (1:379/45)
Ärende: Troubling Exits At Microsoft
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From: Mike '/m' <mike@barkto.com>


http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_39/b3952001.htm?chan=tc

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Once the dream workplace of tech's highest achievers, it is suffering key
defections to Google and elsewhere. What's behind the losses?


When Microsoft Corp. (MFST ) hired computer scientist Kai-Fu Lee away from
hardware maker Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI ) in 1998, the move underscored how
thoroughly the software giant dominated the computer industry. Not only did it
monopolize PC operating systems and hold an edge in Web browsers, but it was
also vacuuming up the world's brightest technologists. Lee's expertise was in
speech recognition, considered one of the next big leaps in computing. With
people like him flocking to Microsoft's labs, it seemed that the digital
world's reigning champion had a lock on the future.

Things didn't turn out that way. In July, Lee bolted from Microsoft for Web
search king Google Inc. (GOOG ), and once again his personal journey is
emblematic of a shift in computing's balance of power. These days it's Google,
not Microsoft, that seems to have the most momentum. Microsoft sued to stop Lee
from working for the upstart, citing his noncompete agreement. But on Sept. 13
a state judge in Seattle ruled that Lee could work for Google, with some
restrictions, pending a January trial. Microsoft said it was happy the judge
limited the type of work Lee could do. Yet when court adjourned, Lee smiled
broadly and threw both arms in the air. "I feel great," he said outside the
courtroom. "I can't wait to start work tomorrow morning."

Contrast that with how Lee felt about Microsoft. During the two-day hearing he
painted a distinctly unflattering picture of the company's inner workings. Lee,
who opened Microsoft's research lab in China in 1998 and moved to headquarters
in Redmond, Wash., two years later, fretted over what he saw as repeated
missteps. In court he detailed how the more than 20 product-development centers
in China tripped over one another, duplicating efforts and even fighting over
the same job candidate. Lee called the company "incompetent." After the ruling
he praised Google, noting, "the culture is very supportive, collaborative,
innovative, and Internet-like -- and that's bottoms-up innovation rather than
top-down direction."

For most of its three decades, Microsoft has faced intense criticism. But in
the past it came from the outside world. Rivals complained about its
heavy-handed tactics. PC makers griped that it was hogging the industry's
profits.

Now much of the sharpest criticism comes from within. Dozens of current and
former employees are criticizing -- in BusinessWeek interviews, court
testimony, and personal blogs -- the way the company operates internally. This
spring two researchers sent Chairman William H. Gates III a memo in which they
wrote: "Everyone sees a crisis is imminent" and suggested "Ten Crazy Ideas to
Shake Up Microsoft." Many workers, like Lee, are in effect saying: "I'm outta
here." More than 100 former Microsofties now work for Google, and dozens of
others have scattered elsewhere.

It's not a mass exodus. Microsoft has 60,000 employees, and many of them are
undoubtedly happy with their jobs and the company's culture. While Microsoft's
annual attrition rate rose one percentage point from fiscal 2003 to 2004, it's
still just 9%, a bit lower than the industry average. Microsoft says it
receives 45,000 to 60,000 job applications a month, and over 90% of the people
offered jobs accept....
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 /m

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