Could somebody tell where MS's $1 billion R&D go to?
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| Author | Content |
|---|---|
| hkwint Apr 10, 2005 10:53 AM EDT |
Yeah, speaking of this, where does the $1billion R&D * of Microsoft go? I really don't know.
Or it must be that MS car-system integrated in some new Fiat cars (Fiat is an Italian autobrand in case you wonder). Great, you're driving, get a blue screen, and your car crashes...
BMW knows this, please check
http://rivarola.free.fr/humour/images/bmw.jpg
to see what I mean (Great pic!).
But more serious, can anyone tell me where the $1 billion went? *This 1 billion is an estimate I got from the Dutch weekly 'Technisch Weekblad'. They say $6.2 billion in their financial reports because of some laws, but because of that laws, anything that isn't marketing must be booked as R&D if I understood well, so according to the paper, $1 billion should come close to their real spending on R&D. |
| AnonymousCoward Apr 10, 2005 4:58 PM EDT |
I wouldn't be surprised to see it going into discounting to key customers in the guise of a study. |
| phsolide Apr 11, 2005 7:05 AM EDT |
This has been a mystery for years. I once talked to a University of Colorado CS department head - he was rueful that one of his star professors/researchers went to Microsoft Research. I've heard others refer to Microsoft Research as a "research roach hotel" - researchers check in, and nothing comes out. Which isn't entirely true. Occasionally, MSFT Researchers do publish a paper. My own theory is that MSFT has so much money they're paying everyone who they think could potentially come up with a competitive idea to gaze at their navels, research-wise. That is, MSFT pays creatively comp sci people to do research, but then subtly channels the research into venues that don't make any difference. Oh, yeah. Another theory: MSFT didn't really spend $1 billion - that's just some creative accounting. Sort of like the "cool $X million" that Mac shill Bruce Tognazinni used to talk about, with respect to research backing up the correctness of the Mac interface. It never existed as near as anyone can tell. |
| Armand Apr 11, 2005 2:21 PM EDT |
It goes to the same creative accounting process that Warren Buffet's AIG accountants use. |
| Koriel Apr 12, 2005 12:36 AM EDT |
I thought Microsofts idea of R&D was to buy other companies and their associated technology *cough* Giant *cough*. |
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