MS Hires The Salesman Who Won Munich For SUSE

ron_ivi writes "In a move reminiscent of the 1997 MSFT/Borland Lawsuits, Microsoft has hired the SUSE sales guy who won Munich for SUSE. So if you want a job in this tough job market, just be wildly successful at your current job and Microsoft will come recruit you. (Another interesting Microsoft hire is the chair of the ISO C++ standards body as their VisualC++.NET architect.) Personally I think it's great that they recognize talented individuals and reward them well."

Comments

Is Linux doing well in Munich?

[jaf]

Anyone know if they're happy with Linux in Munich?

Good job offers

[DrWhizBang]

I wonder how many good job offers MS has floated by Linus?

Re:Good job offers

[AKAImBatman]

Probably none. I don't want to burst anyone's bubble, but Linus doesn't *care* about Microsoft or taking over the world. He just wants to hack his kernel. If Microsoft removed him from the process, the Linux community would have to reorganize. In the process of reorganizing, they'll probably make several decisions that will make Linux more competitive in the marketplace (e.g. allow binary kernel modules).

I have nothing against Linus, but he makes decisions for Linux primarily based on the idea that it's a "hacker's OS". Givin Linux's rising popularity, anything that makes it more market focused is a bad thing for M$.

Re:Makes Sense

[Kainaw]

Microsoft is well known for their great hiring practices. I think you mean hiring choices. When I interviewed through their hiring practices, I went through two phone interviews and then an in-person interview on a golf course (I don't play golf, but the two interviewers do). I was told that I would be considered if I agreed to quit college and to never attempt to get a degree. I stuck it out, got a degree, and now I'm making about $30k less a year than if I had went with Microsoft. I feel that I learned a lot in those last two years of college - a lot more than I learned in the first two. A hiring practice that asks college students to quit school just seems like a bad practice to me.

Re:BORG!

[macrom]

First off, Herb Sutter joined MS over 2 years ago. He freely admitted that people would think weird of him to join such a company, but Visual Studio .NET's C++ conformance has greatly increased to the point of almost leading the industry. The current C++ compiler is missing a few esoteric language features and the 'export' keyword, but otherwise it compiles complex C++ just fine. This is a massive improvment over their previous offerings and is no doubt attributable to Mr. Sutter's involvement.

So your statement is completely misguided, and I assume that you aren't a C++ programmer that uses MS tools. Otherwise you would laud their efforts to bring the development community a solid (and partially free) tool for use under Windows.

Re:BORG!

[Zathrus]

Am I the only one that sees this as buying out the competition?

Which is a long held tradition in the business world. With the caveat that you cannot always do it -- there's that irritating little bit about freedom of choice. If someone doesn't want to sell their business to you (or, more particularly in this case) work for you, they don't have to.

And some guy is making the world better by furthering a standard. Let's hire him so that our C++ becomes the only stardard the world must follow.

Of course, the reality here is that VC++ was close to rock bottom when it came to meeting the ISO C++ standards (particularly in regards to the STL). Since Herb Sutter was hired by MS they have drastically improved compatibility with the standard, both in the compiler and in their STL. I don't think they're the most compliant, but they're a damn sight better than a lot of other compilers, GNU g++ included.

As for changing the standard for MS's benefit -- by merely stating that it proves that you have absolutely no clue how the ISO committees work, particularly when it comes to languages.

Oh, and in case you're wondering -- no, I don't use MS VC++. I code in Unix with g++. But I'm not a clueless moron.

Typical MS Mentality

[tritone]

MS seems to assume that they lost the sale because the Linux side had superior marketing instead of a superior product.

Re:it's war

[carlos_benj]

Yes, and all ___________ people are alike.

When I was in marketing I developed a good rapport with my customers by being honest. When the Account Executive would try and blow smoke my customers would ask me if the claim was true. If it wasn't I told them so, but I also tried to show where their needs could be met through creative use of an existing function. I wasn't popular with management, but sales never suffered.

Meaning of $$$ in Company Names

[sepluv]

Wildly off-topic (and FYIW IMO parent and grandparent are childish), but I think the $ sign is supposed to represent bribery and corruption (rather than just having lots of money). I don't know if they started it, but it was popularised by Greenpeace's use of "Stop E$$O"*.

I must admit in view of recent behaviour of the EC (in relation to Microsoft, software patents, and other things), I have started abbreviating them to €C sometimes.

[*Incidentally, although this was allowed under copyright &c because it is a parody, Esso attempted to claim that it was illegal in France because the dollar looks like an (illegal-in-France Nazi) inverted swastika. Needless to say, Esso's case was eventually thrown out of court (after Esso succesfully got a preliminary injunction banning the use of E$$O)]