Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Yahoo R&D Chief Joins MSN Search

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the where-do-you-want-to-work-today? dept.

sriram_2001 writes "In a major hiring coup, the MSN Search blog announced that Yahoo's head of Research and Development, Dr.Gary William Flake has now joined MSN. According to Oshoma Momoh, General Manager, MSN Search, Dr.Flake will be 'responsible for bridging the innovation happening between Microsoft Research and MSN and for setting the technology vision and future direction of the MSN portal, web search, desktop search and monetization engine.' Dr.Flake is also the first person to be directly hired as a Microsoft Distinguished Engineer, an elite group that has Dave Cutler and Anders Hejlsberg among other luminaries"

112 comments

  1. Yahoo by indigeek · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I doube hiring the project manager without a technical team will bring any changes to MSN.
    Quite different from google where each of the employee is handpicked

    1. Re:Yahoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Google are quite adept at marketing and acquiring firms with complementary offerings, but according to this analysis, Yahoo actually have a larger database of web pages than Google (who apparently inflate hit counts to make their database look larger than it is).

      I still use Google as my primary search engine, but the more I read about the company, the less I like it. If Yahoo had a Usenet database, I'd probably switch to it.

    2. Re:Yahoo by Timesprout · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Right, just like prising Anders Hejlsberg from Borland didnt bring about any changes because MS hire these brilliant people with no intention of actually getting them to do anything.

      --
      Do not try to read the dupe, thats impossible. Instead, only try to realize the truth
      What truth?
      There is no dupe
    3. Re:Yahoo by smittyoneeach · · Score: 1

      No, those MS guys see sharp.

      --
      Get thee glass eyes, and, like a scurvy politician, seem to see things thou dost not.--King Lear
    4. Re:Yahoo by tgd · · Score: 1

      The problem is not their motivation for hiring those brilliant people, the problem is the iron lock they've got around their hiring process that prevents those people from hiring their kind of employees.

      MS's hiring practices are designed to continue hiring the status quo there. They tend to get very technically strong engineers with a lot less vision. The only way around that is through their strategic hiring program through the office of the CEO, which engineer grunts don't get hired through.

      I've had a few very interesting conversations with one of their very high up architects there about that problem. He was ready to snap it drove him so nuts.

    5. Re:Yahoo by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's not the size, mate, it's how you use it.

    6. Re:Yahoo by ad0gg · · Score: 1
      "Quite different from google where each of the employee is handpicked"

      So your saying MS doesn't do interviews? They just hire without even seeing a resume?

      --

      Have you ever been to a turkish prison?

  2. rofl by Digital+Warfare · · Score: 3, Funny

    Micrsoft has a 1337 group ?
    whats their CSS tag ?

    --
    "Sweet llamas of the Bahamas !"
    1. Re:rofl by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

      It's <CSS 2.x NOT SUPPORTED>.

    2. Re:rofl by hdparm · · Score: 1

      That's just to keep backwards compatibility with support for CSS 1.x.

  3. innovations by coolcold · · Score: 1

    Seems like microsoft starts to feel competitions from all around (google and yahoo) and will start to create something. However,I think the best bet is to at least make their website compatible with "standard" browsers first though (referring to previous problem with opera)

    --
    I am harvesting funny/good quotes. Please help by putting them in your sigs :)
    1. Re:innovations by wheelbarrow · · Score: 0, Troll

      Opera is not a "standard" browser. Why do you still use it?

    2. Re:innovations by coolcold · · Score: 2, Insightful

      na, I don't use it but there was some "news" about opera and msn's site a while ago. Just mentioning.

      --
      I am harvesting funny/good quotes. Please help by putting them in your sigs :)
  4. Ye Gods... by vilms · · Score: 0

    "monetization"?

  5. Am I the only one ?? by ThomasFlip · · Score: 2, Funny

    That thinks Dr. Flake is a really goofy name ?

    --
    If the dollar is an "I owe you nothing", then the Euro is a "Who owes you nothing." - Doug Casey
    1. Re:Am I the only one ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So can we say that he Flaked out on Yahoo!?

    2. Re:Am I the only one ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Dr Evil's backward australian cousin?

    3. Re:Am I the only one ?? by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      Is that some kind of Flip remark, Thomas? :^)

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    4. Re:Am I the only one ?? by chrish · · Score: 3, Funny

      There is (or used to be; it's been a while) a Dr. Fear at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Ontario.

      If I had a name like that, and worked at a kid's hospital, I'd be dressing up like a super hero when I had to go to work.

      --
      - chrish
    5. Re:Am I the only one ?? by woginuk · · Score: 1

      I have seen a Dr. Cholera in Mumbai

    6. Re:Am I the only one ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We have a Dr Kum, a gynecologist.

    7. Re:Am I the only one ?? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      and Dr. Ow is my dentist.

    8. Re:Am I the only one ?? by gary.flake · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just for the record: I agree. That's why I often pronounce it as "Flakenstein" a la Mel Brooke's Young Frankenstein. You gotta have fun with a name like mine.

      -- GWF

      --
      The Computational Beauty of Nature
    9. Re:Am I the only one ?? by GunFodder · · Score: 1

      In a related story Microsoft announced that their search results "are going to be much Flakier going forward".

  6. Yoda sez... by Quixote · · Score: 2, Funny

    Begin, the search engine wars has.

    1. Re:Yoda sez... by deutschemonte · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Also...
      Hmm... fallen to the dark side, young Flake has.

      --
      The preceding message was based on actual events. Only the names, locations and events have been changed.
    2. Re:Yoda sez... by gary.flake · · Score: 1

      ROFL. Thanks, you made my week. I've always wanted to be the Darth Vader of the Internets, if just for a day,
      -- GWF

      --
      The Computational Beauty of Nature
  7. Goof up by MS by indigeek · · Score: 4, Funny

    The MS blog points to the yahoo webpage and yahoo bio of the guy
    If Yahoo wanted to have fun, this is an excellent opportunity for them to replace those pages with something else. For example "Mr.So and So was born in 1980. After a mediocre education he joined Yahoo where he plays for the Crocquet and bridge teams."

    1. Re:Goof up by MS by Erwos · · Score: 1

      That would also be called "libel" in some countries. It would also be grossly unprofessional.

      -Erwos

      --
      Plausible conjecture should not be misrepresented as proof positive.
    2. Re:Goof up by MS by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      they could take down the page and cite msn wasting their bandwidth.

    3. Re:Goof up by MS by Synkronos · · Score: 1

      But could very easily be blamed on a hacker or a techie who has subsequently been disciplined or dismissed or whatever

      --
      Playing poker with a joker and some Uno cards
  8. What is a monetization engine? by Just+Jeff · · Score: 1

    ...and who's money does it monetize?

    1. Re:What is a monetization engine? by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      Impressionist currency by Monet would be interesting. Still, wouldn't a Surrealist be a better fit for money?

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:What is a monetization engine? by yerM)M · · Score: 1

      Just like microsoft in general, it tries to make things monotone.

  9. Who says... by Capt+James+McCarthy · · Score: 0

    It isn't sometimes good to be a 'Flake.'

    --
    There are no loopholes. It's either legal or it's not.
    1. Re:Who says... by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      But in this case, Dr Gary is a Bill Flake (in two different ways).

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    2. Re:Who says... by gary.flake · · Score: 1

      I beg to differ: Bill Flake is my father.
      -- GWF

      --
      The Computational Beauty of Nature
    3. Re:Who says... by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      Yeah well, I'm RMS, but somebody else got there first.

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
  10. Microsoft's way... by BJZQ8 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Microsoft's recent way seems to be hiring what they consider "key" people from other, successful companies, hoping to transplant that success. But as one poster said, they're taking one very large black marker, and leaving the dozens of colored pencils that can produce a beautiful picture. Yahoo's search leaves much to be desired anyway; they should be hiring swaths of Google employees if they are serious.

    1. Re:Microsoft's way... by bersl2 · · Score: 1

      Why do you thing they hired Cuttler?

    2. Re:Microsoft's way... by bheer · · Score: 3, Informative

      Microsoft's recent way seems to be hiring what they consider "key" people from other, successful companies

      Heh. Ironically Google's been doing this to Microsoft -- they've poached quite a few Microsofties recently: Mark Jen, Joe Beda, Adam Bosworth (via BEA), Mark Lucovsky...

      --
      Go somewhere random
    3. Re:Microsoft's way... by ddrichardson · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Of course the cynical reader may view "hoping to transplant that success" as "not fussed if the transplant is successful - as long as the organ is removed from the competition".

      --
      A thistle is a fat salad for an ass's mouth...
    4. Re:Microsoft's way... by Mr_Silver · · Score: 1
      Microsoft's recent way seems to be hiring what they consider "key" people from other, successful companies, hoping to transplant that success.

      That is actually most companies "way".

      The people who are rubbish and aren't responsible for (generally sucessful) key products and services don't tend to find themselves approached by rivals. If you are good and you have a proven track record then you will get offers - thats just how it works.

      I'm not really sure how this is news, people move from one organisation to a rival all the time (even the very senior people).

      I can only assume that it is on here because it has Microsoft in the title and gives the editors a chance to whip out the (frankly stupid) borg icon.

      --
      Avantslash - View Slashdot cleanly on your mobile phone.
    5. Re:Microsoft's way... by BJZQ8 · · Score: 1

      I was thinking more along the lines of this: Microsoft, an organization headed by multi-millionaires and billionaires, sees a few "key" individuals as the true strength of an organization, not the underlying masses that actually do the work. So rather than hiring teams of people, or people that can accomplish something, they hire "visionaries" and "leaders." That's my point, rather than "Microsoft hires other company's people."

    6. Re:Microsoft's way... by baadger · · Score: 1

      From what I've read, I don't think I personally would want to leave leave a cool workplace like Google to work for Microsoft.

      I have no doubt many MS engineers are equally as brilliant as Google ones, but maybe they just aren't given the same level of creative freedom.

      I'm too lazy to pull up the link just now but there was a story recently mentioning an ex-MS employee who was a bit peeved off I think at how long OS code was sat in the pot.

      Of course it's all hypothesis and case-dependant. We don't get to hear much about the Microsoft work environment and so I think generally the average /.ers POV is biased.

      I don't think anyone can say Microsoft are trying to hatch an evil plan to steal steal other companies success. If they want to keep up, it's logical that many skilled and experienced prospective employees are going to be from the opposition.

    7. Re:Microsoft's way... by AndroidCat · · Score: 1

      Even better, hopefully the remaining members of the competition's team are infected with toxic envy. It might cost a lot to hire one guy, but if you can wreak a team and spread long-lasting poison, bonus!

      --
      One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
    8. Re:Microsoft's way... by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1
      I'm too lazy to pull up the link just now but there was a story recently mentioning an ex-MS employee who was a bit peeved off I think at how long OS code was sat in the pot.

      Might be this one. Not so much peeved as wondering what kind of job satisfaction you can have at Microsoft compared to companies that put their product out as fast as Google.

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
    9. Re:Microsoft's way... by jxyama · · Score: 1
      >But as one poster said, they're taking one very large black marker, and leaving the dozens of colored pencils that can produce a beautiful picture.

      more like MS is hiring an artist who can draw a beautiful picture. MS has enough colored pencils, if you will.

      if a university pulls a nobel laureate away from another, would you say "he won't accomplish anything since there are no grad students"?

    10. Re:Microsoft's way... by sixpaw · · Score: 1

      Actually, those 'colored pencils' get hired all the time; they get hired by Microsoft, and they get hired away from Microsoft. (And hired away from Google by Yahoo, and hired away from eBay by Amazon, and... etc, etc.) That you don't hear about it isn't a sign that it isn't happening; all it means is that they're not the sort of people that get press releases issued about them.

    11. Re:Microsoft's way... by gary.flake · · Score: 3, Funny

      I can only assume that it is on here because it has Microsoft in the title and gives the editors a chance to whip out the (frankly stupid) borg icon.

      And here I thought that this morning's edition of slashdot had been personalized just for me!

      -- GWF

      --
      The Computational Beauty of Nature
    12. Re:Microsoft's way... by theborg1of4 · · Score: 1

      The typical Slashdot ABMer double standard is quite funny: if Microsoft hires someone away from another company, it's not that a big deal and it won't really benefit them. If, however, another company hires someone away from Microsoft, it's a major coup and creates a frenzy that the end of their dominance is nigh upon us. Ya gotta love hypocrisy.

    13. Re:Microsoft's way... by Badly+Configured · · Score: 1

      Companies that have money in the bank and potential to grow on a market will always poach talent from each other. This happens on every level, not only on the top. Search is such a hot area now that anyone working on a remotely related field is being approached by head hunters. Universities have been drained of information retrieval researhers and there simply aren't enough knowledgeable people around to fill the openings in the key companiess. Only the top names make it to the press releases, though.

    14. Re:Microsoft's way... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      They got Cutler from the Digital surplus shop. "One bitter, UNIX-hating architect. slight hangup on the good old days. Mostly house-broken. Whines a lot. Cheap"

  11. What no one from Google? by i_want_you_to_throw_ · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I would be much more impressed if they had hired someone from Google. MS needs some different thinkers and if they had hired someone from Google that would have been a coup and probably better for them as a company. They do appear overall to be changing for the better all be it at a glacial pace.

    Someone from Yahoo! is fresh blood from outside the MS culture so at least it's a beginning.

    1. Re:What no one from Google? by ttys00 · · Score: 2, Funny

      Would you move from Google... to Microsoft?

      [humor]
      I don't know about you, but if the devil came up to souls on their little floating clouds in heaven and offered them all expenses paid trips to hell, I'm not sure he'd have much success.
      [/humor]

    2. Re:What no one from Google? by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1

      I think everyone there was at some time from "outside the Microsoft culture", but it sure seems to overwrite their code quickly.

      A long time ago John Dvorak wrote a column about how impossible it was for Microsoft to hire talent from MIT, CMU, and other top notch CS schools. Their recruiters show up on campus and all those smart young people would cringe at the thought of writing the next Word icon or some other trivial thing. Fast forward to today and you find out Microsoft can throw buckets of money to recruit with and they have no trouble picking up people.

      There probably is some observation about the personal motivation of younger people or a generational shift in there somewhere, but I haven't had enough coffee yet to make it.

      The amazing this is how little impact it seems to have had on their product or their business approach or their customer relationships. They still add functionality by acquiring innovative companies, they still piss off their partners by encroaching on their business, and they still piss off their customers by charging us for the same undeveloped crap while sitting on the worlds biggest pile of cash.

      --
      Sleep is for the Weak
    3. Re:What no one from Google? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Only, if you were working for Google,
      what would Microsoft have to offer you
      to change over?

  12. all in a name by realkiwi · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does that make MSN search Flakey?

    --
    realkiwi
    1. Re:all in a name by Synkronos · · Score: 1

      It certainly means Dr Flake is living up to his name =P

      --
      Playing poker with a joker and some Uno cards
  13. Hiring coup? by catdevnull · · Score: 1

    You're not hired by The Borg, you're assimilated...resistance is futile. Accept this eventuality.

    --

    I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
    1. Re:Hiring coup? by Stormcrow309 · · Score: 0

      Of course, within 5 years, he will most like be a millionaire. The Borg pays well, has great insurance, and even good dental.

      --

      In God we trust, all others require data.

    2. Re:Hiring coup? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      microsoft distiguished engineer. A really long way to say "sellout"

      we don't want your stinking money , billy bathgates!

    3. Re:Hiring coup? by catdevnull · · Score: 1

      The power of the darkside is very seductive, young Jedi.

      --

      I might know what I'm talkin' about, but then again, this is Slashdot...
  14. More on Yahoo! chief! scientist! by value_added · · Score: 2, Interesting
    From a Register article on the subject:

    In stark contrast to some of his peers, Flake recently reminded us that "data is not information; information is not knowledge; knowledge is not wisdom." Asked by Gary Price if the internet would replace librarians, he replied,

    "Search engines can give you more data than you'll ever need, and a lot of valuable information as well, but they aren't even in the running when it comes to knowledge and wisdom."

    Zen and the Art of Search, it seems.

    1. Re:More on Yahoo! chief! scientist! by WEFUNK · · Score: 1

      Zen and the Art of Search, it seems.

      Indeed. It's too bad that most of the comments have been cracks about his name or his new title.

      Gary Flake's The Computational Beauty of Nature is a classic book that anyone interested or active in engineering or computer science should own and cherish. Not only is it the best introduction and overview to explore and link together a number of popular but often confused concepts, from Fractals and Chaos to Number Theory and Computer Science, it is a beautifully written and presented book itself - perhaps best compared in both subject matter and style to other classics like Douglas R. Hofstadter's Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid, or perhaps A New Kind of Science by Stephen Wolfram - except that it is shorter and much more accessible for even the layperson to read.

      I had no idea what he has been up to lately. That he had left NEC to join Overture and become head scientist for Yahoo! Labs and eventually over to MSN Search certainly seems to fit the billing of "News for Nerds. Stuff that Matters." better than most stories I read here. My thanks to the submitter and editor for posting this.

      --
      My next sig will be ready soon, but friends can beat the rush!
    2. Re:More on Yahoo! chief! scientist! by gary.flake · · Score: 1

      Thank you. I wrote CBofN as a labor of love with little expectation that anyone else would ever read it. Comments like yours are the best possible reward.

      -- GWF

      --
      The Computational Beauty of Nature
  15. I can't spell by bersl2 · · Score: 1

    think
    Cutler

  16. Re:Another genius bites the dust... by GbrDead · · Score: 1

    What the heck is going on in that company? Have they totally lost it?

    They've never had it.

  17. Distinguished Search Engineer by Strider_Hiryu · · Score: 1

    This is almost as exciting when IGN and Gamespy joined forces... I'm not sure what can come of this. Does this mean I'll get searches with more Mortgage offers and Free Credit reports?

    --
    You steal men's souls.. and make them your slaves...
  18. Har har by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    A "Microsoft Distinguished Engineer" ???

    Distinguisehd only by how fucking shite their OS is.

    Virus riddled, spyware infested, unreliable crap.

  19. does this mean by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    msnbot will finally respect robots.txt?

  20. Agreed, this will change little by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    As it stands, the new MSN search is actually quite good, but it doesn't seem to have changed the marketshare for the company. I think the search market is a little more mature (and over) than people think.

  21. Distinguished Engineer in Windows Performance? by Cronky · · Score: 0

    "Distinguished Engineer, Windows Performance" [snip]
    "His leadership has been instrumental in winning numerous awards for Windows products and benchmarks for best-in-class networking and server performance"

    Yeap someone would have to be pretty damn clever to create those situations where Windows performs well, doesn't BSOD and beats Linux in performance tests, whilst naturally demonstrating that it has a lower TCO......

  22. Another Flake at M$? No news here.... by slyborg · · Score: 1

    MSN Search....now Flakier!

  23. Yahoo's R&D? by diegocgteleline.es · · Score: 1

    I hope it does better than it did at Yahoo. In the latest years, Yahoo has not been exactly the "head of R & D" in search engines. They've done a few nice things, but they're far from being the leaders on that field.

    1. Re:Yahoo's R&D? by oddpete · · Score: 1

      I think Yahoo's search engine is better than Google's.

    2. Re:Yahoo's R&D? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      That's why Yahoo! recently got rid of this guy and expanded it's R&D group. This isn't the coup it's made out to be.

  24. Re:Another genius bites the dust... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Microsoft is so full of such clever people, yet produces such crap software.

    They probably don't need the new people, but they're rich enough to stop anyone else employing them in competition with MS products/services.

  25. Too late for MS Search by weeble · · Score: 1

    Many Sys Admins I know already have all incoming port 80 traffic from MS blocked owing to the poorly behaved MS Search bot.

    The search bot has slammed and saturated many Internet connections and is now blocked on every router that I configure and many of those of my colleagues too.

    --
    Slashdot Beta should die a painful death.
  26. Re:What's with these names? by R.D.Olivaw · · Score: 1

    sounds more like 'the cereal in the milk'

  27. In Good Company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dr.Gary William Flake has now joined MSN

    He'll be joining Dr. Alan U.N. Stable, Robert Bloat, Philmore Crash, Dr. Stewart Nut, and Artemis J. Clyde Frog.

  28. Coup? by Owlswater · · Score: 1

    I guess this is a coup, in a business context, but as far as acquiring a human asset that will bring actual value, how great is this, really?

    I'm a Yahoo! shareholder, and I still feel like their assets and market position is "good enough," but they've really dropped the ball in their competition with Google, as far as I'm concerned - especially in areas where Google is starting to horn in on their core market. I used to use Yahoo! as my portal, but now it's just too "loud." (It didn't help that they stopped using Google as their search engine, either.)

    If all they can do with this acquisition is improve their infrastructure (search and otherwise) to the level that Yahoo! is achieving now, "coup" might be a little too enthusiastic.

    1. Re:coup? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      jumbled, you are probably confusing a coup with a coup d'etat: http://www.wordreference.com/definition/coup

      This is both a defection (for Dr. Flake) and a coup (for M$).

  29. The real issue here... by QuietLagoon · · Score: 1
    ... is that MSN, in spite of being the default IE home page of nearly every PC that has been sold over the past several years, is still an also ran in the portal business.

    Microsoft is desperate to increase the marketshare of MSN. In hiring Dr. Flake, Microsoft thinks he will be able to bring positive change to MSN. In reality, Dr. Flake will succumb to Microsoft's culture and fall into the group-think that has made MSN the failure it is.

    1. Re:The real issue here... by maxpublic · · Score: 1

      In reality, Dr. Flake will succumb to Microsoft's culture and fall into the group-think that has made MSN the failure it is.

      I have to agree with this. As brilliant as the guy is I don't see him being exceptional in his ability to avoid the process that poisoned previous talent that MS has hired. Rather than changing the company, the company changes them...and they often fall off the map altogether.

      I hope Flake is getting paid tons of money because apart from marketing spin, after a few months working for Microsoft I doubt we'll ever hear from him again.

      Max

      --
      My god carries a hammer. Your god died nailed to a tree. Any questions?
  30. Re:Microsoft's way... to hire star engineers by neural+cooker · · Score: 1
    Hiring star engineers seems to just be for bragging rights not for what they will likely contribute to the compay. It is generally the case that top people in the sciences are the top in their field for one or a few contributions and they usually don't contribute much more to the science outside of managerial administration after they are recognized as being star people. This is pretty much the same for developers and other fields. There's not much incentive to continue to be innovative once you've had a big success and everyone is praising your old work.

    From this perspective, hiring someone as a "Microsoft Distinguished Engineer" for something that they did outside of Microsoft seems like a boneheaded thing to do and is very likely setting him and the rest of his new team up for failure. He's going into an environment where most people are right away going to think of him as some sort of uber-engineer and are not likely to challenge him.

  31. William Gibson by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Well, we've got companies grabbing each other's tech wizards.
    What's the next bit of the cyberpunk genre that's going to come true?

  32. For the next 2 years by dineshp · · Score: 1

    Seems like a compulsive job hopper. About 2 years at each of his last 4 jobs. -D

  33. "luminaries"... by FridayBob · · Score: 1

    Lighting the way for the rest of us? Yeah, right. Sounds more like they found their way to the bank.

    1. Re:"luminaries"... by Rick+and+Roll · · Score: 1
      That's the first thing I thought.

      Microsoft and others destroy great technologies. One of the best examples is streaming audio and video. Real didn't create it, MS didn't create it. But they did manange to market it in such a way that everybody uses it, and nobody can save videos anymore.

      Any person who works for MS and calls themselves a luminary really needs to just be ignored.

  34. Re:Microsoft's way... to hire star engineers by Mr.+No+Skills · · Score: 1
    From this perspective, hiring someone as a "Microsoft Distinguished Engineer" for something that they did outside of Microsoft seems like a boneheaded thing to do and is very likely setting him and the rest of his new team up for failure.

    And not very different from purchasing a product and slapping your brand on it, then bragging about your innovation.

    --
    Sleep is for the Weak
  35. what goes on by 10am-bedtime · · Score: 2, Funny

    behind closed doors...

    • internal wet-behind-the-ears programmer newhires
      • overt messages:
      • "you are working w/ a former enemy who now is on our side"
      • "we have the greatest people working for us"
    • covert thoughts:
      • "why is he already distinguished?"
      • "feh, i can program rings around him any day"
      • "i have to learn to kiss ass yahoo style as well as usloth style now?"
      • "(wtf?)"

    internal manglement

    • overt messsages:
      • "you have control of a former enemy who now is on our side"
      • "we have deprived yahoo of a significant asset"
    • covert thoughts:
      • "we bought him, we can put him to pasture"
      • "an engineer, a member of the clueless class (snif, spit spit)"
      • "why can't i land a cushy internal liason job like that?"
  36. Until Yahoo brings out the non-compete anyway by bluGill · · Score: 1

    Not much to say really. Yahoo brings out their non-compete (everyone has one it seems, so I assume they do), and Microsoft can't let him work anymore.

  37. Only in America by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    In Russia, you apply M$ patch.
    In monopolist America, M$ applies for you!

  38. Re:The moral character of some people by gary.flake · · Score: 1, Troll

    Me love you long time.

    --
    The Computational Beauty of Nature
  39. Dr. Flake and Mr. Momoh by arabung · · Score: 1

    Do you HAVE to have a funny name to work at MSN Search?

  40. coup? by jumbledInTheHead · · Score: 1

    Thats not a coup its a defection, is anyone else irratated by this misusage or is it just me?

  41. Makes Sense by billstr78 · · Score: 1

    They tried to recruit away my grad advisor and the Chief Scientist of Ask Jeeves last August when things were just getting underway. I think they'd recruite Sergy and Brin if they could.

  42. No need to bring changes by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    The whole point of hiring people into Microsoft R&D is not to bring any benefit to Microsoft of the public - after all, what of any use have you ever seen come from them?

    No, the point is to place them in a "golden prison" where they cannot help OTHER companies.

    So basically it's an attempt to hamstring Yahoo, not help Microsoft.

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  43. Yahoo's new head of R&D formerly with MS Labs by bmarklein · · Score: 1

    http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2005/Apr/1133111.htm

    This was announced a few days ago:

    "Yahoo! has appointed Chief Data Officer Dr. Usama Fayyad to take on oversight of Yahoo! Research Labs. [...] He also spent time at Microsoft where he founded and led the data mining and exploration group at Microsoft Research and built and shipped data mining products for Microsoft's server division."

  44. All thoose Microsoft Distinguished Engineers by mynickwastaken · · Score: 0

    Almost all thoose Microsoft Distinguished Engineers are comming from other companies.

    Where are the Microsoft's own grown values?!

    Sleeping in the cubicle and playing minesweeper?!

  45. Something to copy by venkythegeek · · Score: 1

    Now longhorn has something to copy;)!!

  46. I'd like to see his Non Compete by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Do you think that Yahoo would let this guy work for Microsoft? I bet that if they didn't make him sign one, the rest of the people he left behind are signing one now ;)

  47. Yahoo is edging out Google by mulcher · · Score: 1

    Yahoo Search is actually improving over Google. It is very subtle, but for key information and specific information on some select topics Yahoo is now my second choice if Google loads up a bunch of crap. I remember that this is the way I use to operate with Altavista and Google.

    MSN will do well with Dr. Flake. Bring one good guy, he knows how to hire other good guys. That is how Google works, even MSFT. Secondly, the Yahoo website is quite robust.

    Web search and Bioinformatics research are hot topics for companies today.

  48. Re:The moral character of some people by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    +1, good response.

    Out of mod points, alas.

  49. Is MSFT stocks will increase? by MickoZ · · Score: 1

    Heading to http://finance.yahoo.com/ ...