Slashdot Mirror
Another Microsoft Exec Joins Google
SirClicksalot writes "CNN is reporting that Vic Gundotra, a 15-year veteran general manager at Microsoft, has left the company to join Google. Gundotra worked at Microsoft as general manager for platform evangelism to get software developers to use Microsoft's software and online offerings. The function he will perform at Google is not yet known, but he will need to wait one year before starting his new job because of a non-compete clause in his contract."
the sound a chair being thrown?
More people leaving MS and oining Google means more google greatness :)
Your only young once, but you can be imature forever.
More jokes about flying chairs.
dot-sig.
"We are uncertain what precise role he will play when he begins working for Google, but he has a broad range of skills and experience which we believe will be valuable to Google," Google spokesman Steve Langdon said in an e-mail statement.
Soo... the guy is going to take a year long vacation and then Google might know what job they're giving him?
Either Google is lying or they're poaching MS execs just to be dicks.
[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Not a bad deal. I'm sure Google will end up paying him for the 1 year vacation.
developers developers developers developers
Back in '45, gestapo members were taken into then newly-forming cia. The next 40 years have been a period where cia was run like a watered-down gestapo.
Google has to watch out that the microsoft ex'es do not spoil the formation of 'do no evil' they got going on at google.
Read radical news here
"Vic Gundotra ... has left the company to join Google. Gundotra worked at Microsoft as general manager for platform evangelism to get software developers to use Microsoft's software and online offerings."
Hehe. I wonder how devoted he was to the job of "platform evangelism" given his willingness to defect / commit apostasy.
Uttering logically derived and empirically supported truths to the disciples of the orthodox establishment.
The link seems down here is the CC Mirror. I can grab directly from the front page (I use Slashdotter, the firefox extension).
Rock and Roll
I would think you'd rather have a chair that is so heavy Mr. Ballmer couldn't HIRE someone big enough to throw the thing...
I'm thinking 100lb cinderblocks replacing each of the wheels... You definitely don't want the wheels, because you don't want him to be able to roll the now 500lb+ chair at you.
Karnal
You get modded a troll when you correct your own post.
Well... one can dream, right?
I mean, are there more executives leaving MS because they don't have a chair to sit on? It can get hard on the feet.
Racist? But he's a black guy, right?
that Google will still be around in one year? Hm.
This comment is printed on 100% recycled electrons.
The Fine Summary sayeth:
That drives me insane. I had an employer once who tried to "get" me regarding a non-compete agreement, to wit he accused me of going after his customers. The problem was that no one could be excluded from that group -- he believed everyone on the planet was his customer. That's what I see when I read this. Google does not make operating systems or desktop software, they are a freakin' search company, and MS is not a search company. Yet MS identifies them as a competitor, just like they identify every company in existence as their competitor.
Our intelligent designer has never created an animal that we couldn't improve by strapping a bomb to it.
Um ... excuse me Mr Ballmer ... um ... can we move to an office with no chairs, or lighter chairs please
No, you won't need to move, 'cause I'm going to fscking KILL YOU NOW!
I have nothing to say.
Aren't those are unenforceable in California?
Company policy all of a sudden not allowing him to be evil must be quite a thing to adapt to after Microsoft.
Nerf Lazy Boys.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
like rats jumping ship :)) (i'm not saying she is a rat btw)
http://chimpbox.us
No, no. "fsck" is a *nix command. Ballmer wouldn't say that.
Corrected quote:
No, you won't need to move, 'cause I'm going to chkdsking KILL YOU NOW!
Chairman Mao's mordant quip notwithstanding.
No.
Power comes from the perception arising in the brains of others that you've got power.
Even more so, it comes from the perception that you are gaining more of it in the future. It's almost as if the human mind projects the trends outward and tries to jump on the right bandwagon. I experienced this in the 80s and early 90s as people began to abandon other platforms for Windows. There was almost a sense of panic, that if you didn't get in soon enough you would be crushed.
It follows that if the perception starts that you are losing power, you will lose it, and people will think about the consequences of tying themselves to you for too long. Lenin captured an empire pretty with little more than an audacious show of confidence in the face of deflating imperial fortunes.
Microsoft's mind share survived the massive storm of the antitrust suit. But that was easy. But a steady trickle of news of people going over to a competitor with growing mindshare and momentum hurts them far beyond whatever those individuals could posisbly to them working for the competition. In the context of the Vista delays, a trickle of executives jumping ship tends to look the vanguard of the proverbial rats.
Post may contain irony: discontinue use if experiencing mood swings, nausea or elevated blood pressure.
The correct phrase is don't be evil. Check Google's site yourself. It is surprising how many people can get a simple phrase like this incorrect.
Plan 9 from Bell Labs.
Yeah, it is nice to see the rats abandoning the hopefully distressed capitol ship known as Microsoft, but does Google really benefit from hiring rats? Does Google really benefit, and does Google's userbase benefit, from an influx of ex-Microsofties and the kind of corporate mentality they will bring with them? Just wondering...
"You're young, you're drunk, you're in bed, you have knives; shit happens." -- Angelina Jolie
Yeah. Oh, so now blacks can't be racist? Man, people are fucking stupid.
That's amazing. Many companies use this 1-year non-comp clause in their employment agreements that are usually nothing more than a way to lock employees into working for their company and effectively holding them hostage to whatever salary range that they originally agree. Only those select few individuals that make god-like salaries have the ability to quit a job, wait a year, then start with a new company.
Attack of the Killer Klowns from the Planet Redmond.
I officially love slashdot's tagging system. It's really accurate and descriptive.
~= scwizard =~
Dear Steve Ballmer,
At the rate Microsoft is losing executives to Google, you might be wondering how Microsoft is going to fill its ranks in the near future. Have no fear. I represent a client who have decades of managing large scale operations. His track record of coming up with complex plans for achieving great goals and his resiliency after failures speak for themselves. Most importantly, I can guarantee you that he will never, ever join Google because, like Microsoft, he too is inherently evil and hellbent on world domination.
I give you, Dr. Evil.
Best wishes,
-Headhunter Inc.
EvilCON - Made Famous by
What I want to know is this-- is Gundotra gonna get paid for the year that he's outta work?
Earn a % of cash back from Newegg, Tiger Direct, Walmart.com, and more: http://www.mrrebates.com?refid=458505
They are quite tricky to enforce if it can be shown that the change in careers was not completely voluntary, however. (Either being let go for reasons beyond the employee's control, he was under duress, constructive dismissal, etc...).
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Could also be the sound of hundreds of thousands of Slashdot geeks rushing to quickly type out a housand variations (there will be dupes of course) of the "Ballmer Tossing Chairs" jokes. Each starting with "And in Redmond...".
Sounds like someone is throwing a chair because he didn't get the to post the first chair joke.
I'm gunna ****ing kill those chair jokes! I've done it before and I'll do it again. I'm gunna ****ing kill those ****ing chair jokes!!
Good. Cheap. Fast. Pick Two.
Cast your votes now!
No sig for now.
developers developers developers developers
developers (clap) developers, developers developers (employ, beg) developers developers!! (Breathe) developers developers developers developers... developers developers, developers... developers developers!!! WOOOOOOO!!! GIVE IT UP FOR ME!!! COME ON STAND UP STAND UP!!!
Yes. No.
I'll probably be modded down for this...
For competition purposes it would make perfect sense for them to do it just to be dicks. They could probably just pay this guy to wash cars in a tube top for all they care (that won't happen though because they treat their people right).
;)
Google is genius. I think people may forget that sometimes. This guy leaving probably wouldn't affect MS products very much. I'm sure they'll replace him with a just as highly skilled person. However, it makes Microsoft look like fools. This is bad for public persona, consumer confidence, and stockholders. Whether it's true or not, in the public eye there looks like there's a mass exodus of employees from MS to Google. This is the type of sensationalism that tends to make CNN Money, CNBC, etc, etc. Google is extremely smart for understanding this.
I applaud google for kicking Microsoft in the groin where so many other companies have been unable to. Way to understand the media
On a side note... does anyone know the actual count of employees who left MS for google?
If an officer ever threatens to taze you, say you have a pacemaker.
In other news, the suppliers of office chairs to Microsoft have recently become millionairs.
that's why MS has a hard time in Japan with their xbox 'cause the Japanese don't use chairs...
He could always outsource the chair-throwing to India.
No chairs will be thrown over this departure. The dude was a bullshit master. And not just that, but he was managing other bullshit masters, which kind of means he didn't have much time to spout bullshit outside MSFT. There are millions of bullshit masters in the US, especially if you pay them Gundotra's salary. Chairs will be thrown if senior engineering staff (of Bosworth and Lucovsky level) departs. Those folks are harder to replace and Google should start targeting them instead if they want to piss off Ballmer.
Google has to watch out that the microsoft ex'es do not spoil the formation of 'do no evil' they got going on at google.
When they went public, they sold their souls. Inevitably, they will have no choice but to do evil.
... what? Chair throws you?
Or should that be Soviet Redmond?
/ducks
Ignore this signature. By order.
I didn't know WGA could throw chairs. The more you know!
"To be is to do." -Socrates
"To do is to be." -Jean-Paul Sartre
"Do-be-do-be-do." -Frank Sinatra
No, it won't shut the computer down, it will (likely) just lock you out, just like not activating Windows does. You can still access files via network ports, you just cannot log in interactively. Microsoft could implement this and quite honestly (although misleadingly) state that WGA will not shut down your computer. There is no lie there, just a lack of the WHOLE truth. What Joe Sixpack will consider "shut down" is not what Microsoft is considering "shut down." Much like their use of the term "downtime" vs. everyone else's use of the term, except in this case Microsoft is using the correct definition while the layperson does not.
That's my guess, anyhow.
The Christian Right is Neither (Christian nor right). See: Matthew 23, Matthew 25, Ezekiel 16:48-50
Maybe it's just me, but I'm not particularly excited about MS Execs being hired by Google. Do we really want Google to turn into another Microsoft?
Please Google, for the love of $diety, please hire execs from reputable companies...
Read: Rabbit Rue - Free serial nove
if were hiring him is how will the industry change in one year? They clearly lured him away for a specific job - will it be there in a year and even if it is, how similar will it be to the position they've envisioned for him - NOW?
Google must be paying him some kind of signing bonus, either immediate or defered, otherwise why would he even consider the job? So there are some direct costs involved, in addition to opportunity cost (i.e., why not hire someone who can start that job - NOW?)
The one year downtime would unsettle me if I were hiring him. Things change even in small amounts of time. In Internet time, one year is a long, long period.
It will be interesting to see how this plays out.
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But what if Google hired him to do something different than what he was doing at Microsoft? He's an exec. They could apply him in a totally different area.
If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
If you read the Mini-Microsoft blog you should know that the plan is to ruin Google by giving them the senior Microsoft management...
They've really gotten limp. Please, lets move on.
3. Stand-in for Peter Boyle on Everybody Loves Raymond
... although they'd probably have to script in a few flying chairs, just to keep Steve happy.
Face it, Steve Ballmer is Peter Boyle's evil twin. Nobody could tell the difference
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
Did Steve Ballmer find out about this sitting down?
A one-year non-compete agreement is not necessarily a bad thing for the individual.
It's one year paid vacation that you can use to study in your field.
(YMMV, at least a Google employee I know got paid in the waiting period, split between his old and new companies)
Google hires MS executives! ... wait a minute?
Seriously, Borland tried to sue MS over this practice of luring all their good people away. Borland could not get anthing done as Microsoft's strategy was to send limo's and free lunches to Borland product managers and offer them lucrative positions at MS with cheap stock option signing bonuses. There products fell behind and Visual Studio took over.
Now the tides have turned.
I think this says alot about Microsoft as well. The people who are attracted to work at MS are hell bent on success and leading changes and being part of something successfull and new. Ms was king in the 90's and led the innovation and set the standards for computers and the future was bright and they were considered the wave of the future.
Today, Google is the new and innovative kid on the block and MS is stagnating. These same kind of people who like to make differences and be powerfull to satisfy their ego's see MS as the legacy company and google as the new innovative one. My, have times changed. This is bad news for Microsoft and morale at the company. They need to focus on something new besides upgrading windows and making yet game console.
So in the 90's MS hires your executives from YOU! Today Google hires MS executives.
http://saveie6.com/
I do not believe that sort of outcome is the norm. Once one leaves a company, in general they will stop paying that person. And in general, if the circumstances behind the departure are not entirely at the volition of the employee, any non-compete contract he signed while working there is likely contestable anyways.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
Danny Thorpe just bailed from Google and landed at Microsoft after a really short stint. Seemed like exiciting times for Google between Thorpe, Rossum, and the Java Guys. Serious brain drain over the past few years from Borland to Microsoft - getting Thorpe is a major coup.
Meanwhile, DevCo (formerly Borland dev tools as opposed to 'ALM') plays the part of stilted lover waiting for a suitor.
...that by 2012 Google won't be able to ship products on time.
Why? Well MS appears to have serious problems making things happen now, but it didn't used to. So, what's changed? Clearly not the recent defections - until very recently these folks were still at MS. I suspect that the people who actually made things happen left sometime around 2001/2002, and the folks that are leaving now might be the cause of the current problems at Redmond.
So what's the liklihood of having a severance package to go along with that non-compete clause? I wouldn't myself dream of working anywhere that had a non-compete agreement if they didn't add a severance package to the agreement.
At MS, he was a "platform evangelist", which is sort of a cross between a developer liaison and a missionary. Even though Google says they're not sure where he will fit into the company, you can be sure it's some sort of missionary position. =)
It's not offtopic, dumbass. It's orthogonal.
Don't you see what's going on? Microsoft is shedding the very people who caused Microsoft's current slump and is pawning them off to Google.
Will Bill Gates stop at nothing to keep Microsoft market dominance!
Sit down with your food, agree to the EULA on the wrapper, and wait for 3 hours while your lunch patches itself.
Downloading critical update number 1 of 137 for MicroDonalds Quarter Pounder with Cheese 2006
1 of 137 KB20060701x11 Critical security update for Sliced Cheese 2006... 10% downloaded
2 of 137 KB20060621x00 Critical security update for Ketchup 2006
3 of 137 KB20060620x12 Critical security update for Paper Wrapper XP
4 of 137 KB20060615x21 Cumulative update for Sesame-Seed Bun 10.0
Time remaining: 3 hours 14 minutes
Denial doesn't mean much anyways. Remember how long Steve Jobs denied a video iPod and Google denied working on an IM service.
Please, for the good of Humanity, vote Obama.
The topic is a MS executive jumping to Google. Another one.
After a year of bad news for MS - Vista slipping, Office slipping, poor reviews for Office and Vista, Ballmer called the "most uninfluential" person in business, repeated questions about whether MS can move to Web 2.0....
Petri's comment dead *on topic*. Pithy. Humorous.
Nice post, Petri.
I'm a software visionary. I don't code.
While you guys celebrate Google hiring MS execs that do nothing, Microsoft is hiring away Google tech guys that actually do something besides draw a huge salary. I refer to guys like Danny Thorpe, who grew to be a legend as a Delphi dev at Borland, went to Google, stayed for 4 months, then quit and went to Microsoft to work on their live.com stuff. (If you read between the lines of Danny Thorpe's posts to the borland.public.delphi.non-technical newsgroup (accessible from Borland's newsserver and Google Groups), you get the idea that Danny concluded that Google isn't all it's cracked up to be.)
Also, Scoble's recent blog regarding this thread's topic says that he's met many former Google employees that now work at Microsoft, but you don't hear about them (I assume because they aren't big fat salary drawing execs, but are instead actual tech guys; and Microsoft doesn't feel the need to alert the media to such hirings like Google does (Google needs to do all it can to justify its inflated stock price)).
-- "I never gave these stories much credence." - HAL 9000
Okay, I'm too late for a chair joke, so I guess I'll share my other thoughts.
Maybe Google are hiring away Microsofties in strategic positions, deliberately targeting those who have greater worth that their current compensation, partly to gain and partly to hurt Microsoft in a completely legal way?
They do have an advantage over Microsoft that they are probably playing to their advantage; ethically compared to Microsoft, Google are freaking angels.
If what we know about their different personalities from public appearances (Geek vs. Monkey Dancer) I'd say that a lot of people in high places are happy to work for the Borg under one Locutus, but not the other. Frankly I see Ballmer as a very rich sociopath, and if were in those circles I wouldn't want to work for him either. Gates would be ok, as a person, I think. But I would be terrified of working for Ballmer, and would jump ship at the nearest opportunity. Money can only go so far in overcoming fear for your life.
Do not mock my vision of impractical footwear
People from Microsoft will move to other tech companies, people from other tech companies will move to Microsoft. Microsoft has hundreds of GMs, this guy is only one man, they still have hundreds of GMs.
I'd agree with the sig... That post was hillarious.
Another developer has left us.
I guess we won't be needing this anymore... *throws chair*
(One has to be careful to leave the premises before being noticed, otherwise it becomes *throws chair at developer*)
Ever thought it would be the *hiring* company that would pay during the one year waiting period?
Cm'on folks, its not hard.
Please consider this your formal notice...
I will be appropriating and beating the hell out of that joke everywhere on the internet.
Is it just me or is Google hiring too many ex-Microsoft people for it to truly "do no evil". I mean Microsoft's "evil" tendancieis (anticompetitive behaviour for example) must have come from someone in the company.
4. Topless dancer at a very, very kinky private club.
Come on, you've all seen him do it. He's got the stuff, why not make some money showing it off too?
1. Microsoft's employees uses Google instead of MSN for search.
2. Some engineers from Microsoft moving to Google.
3. Bill Gates will left Microsoft soon.
So, may we expect OS from Google in a far future?
Hide your files and folders from others!
3. Rap video backup dancer?
Have you seen the Developers, developers, developers, developers! techno remix? The kid's got moves, man.
Hello, I don't know my name, but I am... General Manager for Platform Evangelism! Look, it says it there on my business card.
To have a right to do a thing is not at all the same as to be right in doing it
All I ask is that you credit me every time you use it.
The problem with that is that if the hiring company is paying then the person *IS* an employee of the new firm, whether they have begun their new duties in full or not, and would be in violation of any non-compete contract the employee signed if the employee freely chose to leave his old job.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'