metamerist

Friday, September 03, 2004

Microsoft--; Google++

Joe Beda of Microsoft's Avalon team leaves Microsoft for Google.

Frankly, I was disappointed with Ballmer's decision to cut benefits rather than people, as this sort of thing has a tendency to ripple through the industry and affect non-Microsoft employees (like me) as other companies follow Microsoft's suit.

If productivity per employee can't justify the benefits, perhaps that doesn't mean it's time to cut everyone's benefits--perhaps that means it's time to let some of the least productive employees go.

Three cheers to Google for its defiant commitment to its benefits program in its IPO statement. If I were Google, I'd consider doing Schumpeter proud by opening a Redmond office. There's probably a lot of intellectual fruit ripe for the picking in the hitherto well-tended Gatesian garden.

On a related note, if you can get to it, check out Howard Anderson's "Why big companies can't invent" in the April 30, MIT Tech Review.

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