Microsoft's Treatment of Google Defectors 572
Miguel de Icaza (Note, this Miguel is not the Ximian developer, just someone whose small life is fulfilled by trolling under someone else's name) writes "Here is a story revealing just how threatened Microsoft is by Google. While senior partners can expect the full chair experience, some lowly staffers who are putting in their notice are being escorted off campus immediately. Why? Because they've put in their notice to join Google. In Microsoft's eyes, Google is Enemy No. 1. Anyone leaving Redmond for the search leader is a threat. Not because they'll scurry around collecting company secrets — as if Google's interested in Microsoft's '90s-era technologies. Departing employees, however, might tell other 'Softies how much better Google is. If an employee is leaving for Amazon.com or another second-tier employer which doesn't make Microsoft so paranoid, they'll probably serve out the traditional two weeks of unproductive wrapping up. So if you're planning on leaving Microsoft for Google, pack up your belongings and say goodbye to friends ahead of time. There'll be no cake and two weeks of paid slacking for you."
not that uncommon (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're leaving these days it's not uncommon to get escorted to the door... and it's not uncommon to be a perp walk, which sucks. It undermines the fabric of trust in the workforce generally and damages individual psyche specifically. Microsoft isn't unique in this regard, though the article does seem to indicate it is Google-specific.
If it is Google-specific it underscores Microsoft's pettiness, and maybe a little stupidity. They should enforce a consistent policy. Unless an employee has shown himself to be a bad seed, treat him (or her) with respect.
I experienced the perp walk (layoff) after 21 years with qwest. It has garnered nothing but ill will since. The net balance of this kind of treatment is surely negative. You can handle this kind of policy with dignity. Most don't.
While I doubt too many Google employees are leaving for the crumbling Monarchy that is Microsoft, I wouldn't be surprised if Google has similar policies and procedures.
what's the big deal? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
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I agree with this...even with gigs that had some pretty secure stuff, never given the bum's rush out the door...actually in last gig, was asked if after being gone a week if there was any way to come back for
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:4, Interesting)
In the typical over-simplification of slashdot, in only ten posts this issue has become either total trust by employers (your point of view) or an insulting perp-walk (OP and other's view). In reality it IS standard procedure in many companies to pay resigning emplyees through their notification period, but to ask them not to report to work during that time. It isn't insulting - I've had it happen to me, and I prefer it.
I've also had an employer who tried to wring every last drop of work out of me by making me work to 5:00 PM on the last day of notice. I found the second approach much more demeaning - as if I were some sort of rental human. To show how insulting that can be, they docked me two hours of pay when I left early at 3pm on my last day of work even though I was a salaried professional.
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It doesn't work that way because I am a professional, not an hourly worker. Employers don't rent my time, they pay for my skills and work-product. I was expected to work whatever hours it took to get my projects completed, and I didn't get extra pay or overtime if I worked weekends or nights. However, with all my work finished, docking me two hours for leaving at 3pm
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Informative)
Everyone who intends to take anything with them is probably smart enough to make copies before telling you they're leaving. Likewise, any damage they might do can already be set up.
The only situation where being escorted off is when the company fires someone, or when he resigns surprisingly (including to himself) in a fit of anger. In any other situation, anything you're trying to protect yourself from has either already happened, or won't happen even if you just let him go peacefully.
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)
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Well, you have to admit she's acting like one.
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Well, if the last few backups were blank, it's clear she had been planning it.
Even if paranoid procedures had been in place, she would have trashed the systems just as well, only a minute before resigning.
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Damn, if only you had made security escort her out like a criminal without dignity....absolutely nothing would have been different! You had no idea she wasn't making backups, rent-a-cops wouldn't change that. You had no idea the other admins were incompetent, rent-a-cops wouldn't change that either.
She left you a mountain of evidence against her,
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
So you really don't want to leave them alone with their PC or phone.
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
By escorting someone out, it could be an intentional signal to the other employees that you take this rivalry seriously. Or by letting them work the two weeks, it could be a signal that you are employee-friendly and there are no hard feelings. But the main concern really needs to be about how the remaining employees feel. There should be little concern about how the departing employee feels - except that it's often not a good idea to make enemies.
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Access to some sensitive information, use of copiers and fax machines etc. could be restricted starting immediately, and then the mgmt may decide a few days (weeks) before the perio
Company burning bridges (Score:4, Interesting)
The management didn't quite see it that way. He was asked to wait in a conference room while they conferred. They had security put his personal possessions into a box, turned off his access, had HR come review all his NDAs and threaten him, and then made a public announcement (over the paging system) that he was no longer an employee and was being escorted out. And then gave a 2 security guard escort to the parking lot, and followed him until he drove off the lot.
He tried to keep it all in perspective -- he was a bit shocked at how he was treated since he thought he had a good relationship with the company, and had wanted to leave on good terms. His new employer was happy to let him start early.
Funny enough two weeks later the old company called him. Could he help fix a problem a very important customer was running into? They said if he came in and helped he could pick up his final paycheck at the same time (nice veiled threat). He was cool about it. He said that his new job was taking up all this time and he didn't have any time currently, but that he might be able to offer some advice to the current staff over the phone. Oh, and they could mail him his check. Yeah, that went over like a lead balloon. Lots of threats, cursing, and such. Wish he'd recorded that. His new company gave him Group Legal as part of his benefits, so last I heard he was using that to attempt to get his final paycheck. And he's incredibly happy at his new company.
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Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Informative)
And most of the time, you'll spend this time wrapping up your work. It's HIGHLY unusual to be suspended immediately - usually only if you stole company goods or something like that.
When i've switched jobs, i always spent the time productively, completing documentation, instructing my follow-up, etc. pp.
American working culture always looks very strange to me
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Funny)
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It used to be required on a lot of the employment contracts that I had, but now that at-will is around, the company tells you that they can't put wording like that into your contract.
However, they do request the "courtesy" of a two week notice. If you don't give one when you quit, you are being unprofessional. However, when they fire you with no notice, supposedly that is not unprofessional. In my opinion,
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Informative)
Note that in all countries I'm aware of that have longer notice periods a) it can be waived by mutual agreement, b) you can usually remove it from contracts as long as you provide sufficient consideration - typically that consideration must be greater to the employee as it's assumed the employee negotiates from a position of weakness unless it's a very high level position, c) it's mutual - that is, you have legal protection to ensure you at the very least get paid for the full notice period even if you get fired, and often to guarantee you actually is guaranteed the right to go to work during that period (though it's getting more common for workplaces to negotiate for some types of employees to leave immediately while still paying them).
In Norway the typical notice period is 3 months, and an employment contract that says elsewhere needs a LOT of care to be valid unless it's part time/fixed term contract or seasonal work. Basically, the employer would need to offer to compensate you for it, and just offering to pay for it regardless likely wouldn't be enough, as you have right to work during the notice period, not just to get paid.
And while certainly some of the motivation is gone while serving out your notice period, I've personally never seen someone be unprofessional about it - people do stick around and do their jobs properly, because it's what they were contracted to do. As the other poster I find US working practices completely bizarre.
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Informative)
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Comment removed (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:what's the big deal? (Score:4, Insightful)
The job I'm in now, I should get "perp-walked" when I put in my notice (I have way too much systems access), but I doubt I will be, because they'll be desperate for me to train someone, and catch up my documentation. It's a trust position, though a number of people over me probably don't trust me...If I were them I wouldn't trust anyone, due to the amount of backstabbing they've been dealing in.
They're not always rational...It'll be interesting to see.
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No, it's not. When I was about to quit my last job, I spent two weeks copying files (my personal files) and removing my personal things from the office. (As well as working late every night wrapping up my current projects.) Then I gave my notice and said goodbye. (Until the court case when I claimed my three months of overdue salary
Why give notice, then?Resign effective immediately (Score:5, Insightful)
>>If you're leaving these days it's not uncommon to get escorted to the door...
Then, if this is standard practice at your company, do not provide notice. Just quit, walk out, and never look back.
Clean out your office over the preceeding week, then simply say to your manager on the last hour of your last day "I quit, effective immediately. I'm not coming back tomorrow, and I did not give notice because of the poor way this company responds to those who resign (e.g. "perp walk"). Goodbye and good luck." Or just send them an email over the weekend. It might sound harsh but if they truly respond this poorly to resignations, you have nothing to lose anyway.
The funny part is, I'll bet the clueless executives have had at least one profanely expensive "retreat" this year where they listened to expensive consultants's opinions on boosting employee morale and/or commitment.
Re:Why give notice, then?Resign effective immediat (Score:3, Insightful)
Then, if this is standard practice at your company, do not provide notice. Just quit, walk out, and never look back.
That's dumb. If I was at a company where the standard practice was to walk someone out the door as soon as they gave notice, I would give them 6 months notice. After all, maybe they would walk me out immediately and pay me for the next 6 months. If they didn't walk me out, I would always have the option of changing my mind and giving a shorter notice.
In my last company, the standard practice was to immediately walk you out if you were going to a direct competitor. If you were not doing that, then you s
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Personally, if I was leaving to a direct competitor I'd want to take steps myself to ensure I didn't any longer have access to informati
I don't think so... (Score:3, Informative)
I'm sorry, what planet do you live on? I assume you're in the US, right? Your employer would be exercising their right to fire you for no reason at all as an "at will" employee. At most you might qualify for unemployment. But 6 months free money? I don't think so, unless you have
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Don't Burn Bridges (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Why give notice, then?Resign effective immediat (Score:3, Interesting)
I did this at my last job. They lied to me about giving me stock in the company and raises. Then they fired about 8 of my best friends with no notice. I figured that a company that would do that deserves no notice. But they had the last laugh. They sai
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You might get a second opinion, depending on how your vacation time is defined in your (former) employment contract. Earned compensation is an entitlement that can't be hand waved off, even by a slick lawyer.
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This presumes that there is any actual trust in the workforce generally. When I was doing computer security consulting work we preached to anyone that would listen that the biggest danger to your security comes from employees, not outside aggressors. This is because IT IS TRUE. No, it isn't nice, but it's not a nice world. If someone has informed you that they are leaving the company, the first thing that should happen is that your manager shou
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> the first thing that should happen is that your manager should
> push a red button that instantly removes all access you have to
> computers and badge-access doors (or get that process started),
You got that (partly) wrong.
The problem is not that it doesn't get done on day one, the problem is
that people don't do it at all and leave accounts open for months
after people have departed.
Freaking out when an employee leaves and calling "De
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Agreed, but still a violation of trust (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Agreed, but still a violation of trust (Score:4, Interesting)
A sense of trust and loyalty between company and employer used to be common. It was a recognition that the relationship was mutually beneficial and voluntary. But that has been lost with many large companies recently. The relationship now is closer to that of master and servant.
A couple years ago I left the Siemens leviathan, for a small fifty man company. I've never been happier. Better pay, better respect, interesting work. My work takes me inside lots of other companies, and I see the same thing there. Smaller companies have happier employees doing more interesting work, while large companies are full of melancholy drones.
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Re:not that uncommon (Score:4, Insightful)
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That's a pretty damned big "probably." If Microsoft does let those people serve out two weeks, then this article is actually making a point. If not, then this article is worthess trash. Does the author bother to find out which it is? Nope! Wild speculation all-around!
For all we know this is standard practice in all
Microsoft is simply bland.. (Score:5, Insightful)
I have never worked for Microsoft and to be honest, I'd probably never want to. I think the key problem for Microsoft is that nothing they do is exciting anymore.
I think Vista has really damaged Microsoft. Not in terms of revenue, since a sale of Windows XP is still a sale for Microsoft. No, the damage is in morale. Vista was an absolute disaster for morale. They worked for a couple of years only to ditch it and start again from the Windows 2003 Server source-code. Nothing they put in to Vista was in anyway something you can get developers energised about. Every feature had nightmarish committees which destroyed any hope of motivation. They even developed anti-features like SecurePath that nobody cares about.
I read somewhere that Microsoft developers write something like 1,000 lines of code a year. Last-year, I contributed around forty times that to our source control at work. When you're paid so much to do so little - that has to destroy morale too. Most developers I know like to work.
Vista is a symptom of a much deeper problem. Microsoft doesn't know how to be sexy. it doesn't now how to to be secure and it doesn't know how to please it's users. Worst of all, it doesn't know how to make it's huge base of developers happy!
All of this makes Google a very attractive place. If all your talent walks right of your door, it isn't too long until there is no way whatsoever to fix any of the problems I've just mentioned.
Put more succinctly, Microsoft sucks and Google rocks.
Simon.
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Re:Microsoft is simply bland.. (Score:5, Interesting)
I forget if it was here on
I would love to find that article again. It was very interesting reading.
Re:Microsoft is simply bland.. (Score:5, Informative)
The Initiating Story: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/items/2006/11/21.html [joelonsoftware.com]
The Inside Story: http://moishelettvin.blogspot.com/2006/11/windows-shutdown-crapfest.html [blogspot.com]
Slashdot Coverage: http://developers.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=06/11/27/1728231 [slashdot.org]
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Strange, I know most people that are exactly the opposite. They want to do as little as possible and get paid 10x more than they currently are and I watch them sit at their desks spending more time surfing blogs, iTunes and news
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When I was nearing university graduation in 1999, and my school was preparing the the annual job fair, I got a call from the Microsoft contingent offering to set up a programmer interview at the fair. I told the caller that Microsoft's business practices were so unacceptable that I would never be able to ethically work for them.
I graduated, got a shitty temp-to-hire corporate programming job for six months, quit, went unemploy
Microsoft do more than that (Score:4, Interesting)
Take a look at this for instance - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ECPOXUQB5k0 [youtube.com]
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The people who are going to Google are going there presumably because Google is offering them something fun to work on or a new environment for them. I originally left Microsoft in 2000 to work at a startu
Re:Microsoft is simply bland.. (Score:5, Interesting)
Anyway, I'm no Microsoft apologist but if you want to work on technology, they can offer that. As for endless meetings without getting much done. Here's some news - LOTS of places are like that. My first job at a government contractor, I think I wrote one PERL script of about 20 lines in a year. There are pros and cons, you career shouldn't just be a "Microsoft sucks" knee-jerk reaction.
Re:Microsoft is simply bland.. (Score:4, Insightful)
But even then you can drill down. I said I was impressed that the Office division completely re-designed their UI-- then again, look at Office Live. They're putting out a product that virtually nobody wants, and selling it in a crummy way. And I'm sure you could go down another level and find a group within Office Live that's really kicking ass if you did the research.
Point is, Microsoft has 70,000 employees in the Redmond/Seattle area alone. They're freakin' huge. If you read an article saying IBM printer sales were down, you wouldn't assume that iSeries midrange computers are going to tank also. Remember the same applies to Microsoft.
If you were working at Microsoft Games, you wouldn't think your job sucked based on how Windows was received.
Writing code is easy. Debugging it is hard (Score:5, Insightful)
1. IIRC that was a flawed metric anyway. That was final number of lines of code, divided by developpers, divided by time. It just isn't the same as what you seem to think it means. E.g., lines of code changed or refactored or whatever, would not be counted in that number.
Judged by that kind of a flawed metric, my contribution to some projects would actually be a negative number of lines of code per time unit. E.g., each time I moved someone's copy-and-paste code to its own method and replaced it with a call... well, let's say it was in 3 places, 20 lines of code, replaced with a method and a call each. That's minus thirty-something lines of code in a quarter of an hour by that metric. Am I the worst programmer ever, or what?
I'm sure CVS counts them for yours, though. So you're not comparing the same number.
Now I'm not saying that that alone accounts for that kind of a difference, but it's a start.
2. Just writing code is easy. It's debugging it that takes a lot of time. So the limiting thing is really how well you want that code to work. Going from, say, 90% caught bugs to 95% can easily double your development time on the whole... and thus halve your average lines per year.
Yes, I know, it's MS, but they still have a policy to not ship with known bugs. (Though obviously the unknown ones are more than enough in their own right.) So they'd inherently have less lines of code per year, compared to, say, Google which is officially a perpetual beta.
3. Lines of code / time doesn't scale linearly as the program complexity and team size grow. In other words, you can't just add man-months.
I thought I was so smart too in college, when I could write a program or module of several hundred lines of code in a day. But then that was the whole program, that was the whole complexity, and I was the whole team. That's the easy scenario.
Now move to something the size of Vista and it's just not the same thing any more. Now you suddenly have to deal with stuff like how your code works together with Tom, Dick and Harry's, what they want from your code, and what you need from theirs. There's a lot of overhead just to synchronize it all, document it all, learn other people's APIs, and deal with the increasing level of mis-understanding each other's interfaces.
Now I'm not saying that MS is necessarily the paragon of efficient coding anyway, but I am saying that a lot of people waving that number around... just aren't qualified to make that judgment. They've never actually worked on something that size, and that total team size. I've seen teams hit a wall and get bogged by the fact that each time one guy changes something, it broke some other guy's code, long before being anywhere near the size of MS or of Vista.
4. Well, I also don't like that metric because I've seen people actually abuse it. Not all lines of code are born the same.
E.g., my good coleague Wally would have topped that metric easily, because the guy just copied and pasted everything in sight to make it look like he's doing something. Not only he had whole open source projects pasted into his code tree, but also such surrealistic stuff as: a Swing (standalone GUI framework) file chooser dialog hidden deep in the source code of one of his EJBs (server-side thing.) That thing didn't serve any purpose. It was just there to inflate the number of lines of code he supposedly produced.
Replacing that monstrosity with something smaller and simpler, not only cut down the size (hence, less average lines of code per year for the team, ya know), but also made it run around 40 times faster.
You can also inflate the number of lines of code arbitrarily by just liberally mis-applying patterns. Just have everything get packed in a decorator, made by a factory, which is a singleton, register it with a manager, etc, etc, etc. The number of lines of overhead can be grown arbitrarily, without actually adding any functionality. And past a size wit
Paid slacking (Score:5, Insightful)
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No Cake? :( (Score:4, Funny)
There is no cake! (Score:2)
NOT Miguel de Icaza (Score:5, Informative)
Who is this guy anyway? (Score:2)
I play a pivotal role in a grand conspiracy to cripple the free software movement from within, by covertly embedding an unnecessary, yet seductively useful, patented technology at the very heart of the linux operating system's second most popular desktop environment.
Umm, who the fuck is this guy and is he for real?!
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Lets be realistic... (Score:2)
Two weeks of paid slacking? Gee, sounds like Microsoft is really missing out there.
If someone has turned in their resignation why would you want to keep them around for two more weeks anyway? Their work should already be documented and "two weeks of paid slacking" doesn't sound like valuable work to me.
"Put in their notice" (Score:5, Interesting)
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That information is embedded in your "You guys can suck it, I'm going to ______.." speech.
Larfs aside, you raise an interesting question.. how exactly does MS know where an employee is heading, when they're on the way out the door? Do MS employees have some contractual responsibility along these lines?
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"I am going to work somewhere else."
"oh, where?"
I mean, how do you not ask "where" right after someone says that to you?
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Easy (Score:2)
The last job i left to move on/upwards i was *not* asked out of courtesy, i was wished well.
Wanna really make 'em think? (Score:3, Funny)
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While that is the right thing to do, why on earth would you tell your current employer where you are going next?
In this case, either A) a two-week paid vacation, or B) two weeks of double paychecks. Also the opportunity to twist the knife a bit as you jump ship to their biggest competitor (as of now).
I hadn't checked for a while, but GOOG's market cap is now 2/3s of MSFTs. No wonder they're getting cranky.
This is an excellent example of... (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:This is an excellent example of... (Score:5, Insightful)
What makes you think it was a rational decision? Not all business decisions are rational. Far too often they are driven by a desire to control, frighten the employees and/or stroke the egos of managers.
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You can't have your direct competitor's employee walking around your R&D (or any other) department while they work out their notice with you. Not that people in general are going to steal anything, or even use company confidential knowledge, but if they did it would be questioned why you let it happen.
Any company would do this (Score:3, Informative)
And since when is Amazon a second tier company? I've been there and know people that work there, it seems like a great place and from what I hear the compensation is very competitive with MS, Google, and whatever other company you think is a trendy "first tier company".
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So!
Totally useless attempt at damage control (Score:4, Insightful)
If I worked at MS, gave notice that I was going to Google, and was immediately escorted out, I'd be much more inclined to e-mail my former co-workers and let them know what happened. I'd also willingly give them details about working at Google if they asked.
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jumping on the bandwagon here (Score:5, Interesting)
Well, it seems like Microsoft has really gotten itself in a bind. I think it's certainly possible for them to reverse course and right things for the company but I don't think it's plausible. Not that they're going to evaporate tomorrow, just that they've peaked and are entering a shallow and prolonged decline. Why is this? Because the very kind of corporate culture change that would allow Microsoft to get lean and agile is an affront to the power structure. I love Orwell's quote on this sort of thing: "The point is that we are all capable of believing things which we know to be untrue, and then, when we are finally proved wrong, impudently twisting the facts so as to show that we were right. Intellectually, it is possible to carry on this process for an indefinite time: the only check on it is that sooner or later a false belief bumps up against solid reality, usually on a battlefield." In this case, substitute "marketplace" for "battlefield."
The poster above nailed it when they said that Microsoft's products aren't exciting and thus the company itself is not an exciting place to work for. Why is it that Microsoft has to buy innovative companies instead of spinning off ideas from internal skunkworks? Because the corporate culture smothers innovation in the cradle.
So now we're seeing a mixture of interesting trends. Ubuntu has really made desktop Linux practical for the average Joe, I'd say 90% of the way there. That last 10% is up to the 3rd parties, bundling drivers so that a non-tech can go to the store, buy a widget, take it home and have it work right out of the box. We've got ridiculously low-priced laptops, both the OLPC and that new one from Asus. We've also got more encroachment from smart phones, PDA's, etc. These are all devices that are taking over activities that used to be wedded to PC's, big, bulky desktop machines running Windows. We've got open source office applications that can run native under Windows or Linux. They will only improve in time. Google is spitting out innovations left and right.
While making future predictions in the computer arena is a fairly silly thing to do, I'll go out on a limb and say that Microsoft is in serious trouble here. In order to overcome these dangers, the Microsoft kakosarchy will have to go away. Otherwise I think we're looking at a long, slow withering.
But *is* Google really that good? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:A project going nowhere? (Score:4, Insightful)
If you aren't part of the profit, you are part of the loss. And losses get cut.
Be thankful you are working on something people believe will be profitable. Many, many things Google is looking at have almost no hope of ever seeing light of day, much less being profitable.
What the fuck? (Score:2, Interesting)
I guess what I'm saying is that is the blueprint of a per
Headline/title is misleading! (Score:4, Insightful)
From this heading alone, I'd conclude that defection is the other way round. That is to say, the defection is from Google to Microsoft.The story suggests otherwise.
But again, I could be wrong.
this might seem obvious but... (Score:3, Insightful)
Dumb (Score:3, Insightful)
I HAVE IT!!! (Score:5, Funny)
Like... you know... when they ask you... you tell them that you are going to work for McDonald's, or that you are dieing from AIDS or something.
My favourite would be a rare form of Ebola virus. Make sure to cough from time to time.
Sshhh (Score:4, Interesting)
I've seen employees escorted out and had to escort one out at a previous job. It's a humiliating experience even under the most benign of circumstances.
why would anyone tell them (Score:4, Insightful)
Unproductive 2 weeks of wrapping up???!!! (Score:5, Insightful)
Said like a lousy manager, or one who doesn't appreciate what people actually do, or somebody who never worked in a large enough organization to appreciate the true cost of attrition, or I don't know what...
Excepting the departures of Truly Useless People, those last two weeks are somebody's last chance to find out that which you don't know about that which you are about to inherit. I am so sick of watching stupid managers and stupid successors squander that invaluable last chance because they act like scorned girlfriends or just don't understand the true value of even people who would leave, and the undocumented knowledge they carry in their heads.
I've never met a leaving person who wouldn't be helpful in his own succession. Most, in fact, are incredulous as to how little anybody seems to care about the invaluable knowledge they are walking away with, and how much more difficult their successor's lives will be for the ignorance.
Shape up, managers and everybody else. Those defectors leaving your ranks should be more valuable to you in those last two weeks than in any other two weeks of their employ.
Um... so? (Score:3, Insightful)
How many here actually have a snowball's chance in hell to work for either of these companies?
Why does Slashdot care so much about the goings-on of the elitist clique of software developers fostered by both companies? Is there any chance this will actually effect any of us, or is this simply the Slashdot equivalent of reading People magazine?
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
Where is the catch? (Score:3, Funny)
Or even better: give notice to your 65th birthday and have a job for live!
Martin