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Microsoft’s Newest Blog
Geek In Disguise —
The Microsoft Corporate Affairs team launched the Microsoft On The Issues blog today which covers legal and policy issues related to Microsoft. Okay so it’s likely to be fairly dry stuff compared to Engadget but with Brad Smith penning the first post it promises to be interesting. Having seen Brad speak a number of times I’m adding it to my feed. His initial post is a is promising for me with this part in particular In ...
New Blog “Microsoft on the Issues” Needs Some Sassier Issues (BoomTown to the Rescue!)
BoomTown —
... With a new administration coming into power, it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to launch its new “Microsoft on the Issues” blog this week. ...
Competition and Collaboration
The ArtLab —
At the Microsoft policy blog (Microsoft On The Issues) Horacio Gutierrez makes a good point about the economic value of intellectual property. Collaboration on interoperability holds a great deal of promise, especially for companies running both "open source and proprietary software". For this collaboration to be most effective, it must involve both sharing of, and competition between, the intellectual assets of many companies. All information technology solutions - regardless of software development or business models - benefit from ...
Microsoft answers senator's queries over layoffs
The Microsoft Blog —
... to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, urging the company to retain American workers. He said he was concerned that Microsoft was keeping H-1B visa holders, rather than "similarly qualified American workers." Microsoft posted its response to Grassley's letter today. Read the full letter here . Here's a summary, though, of Microsoft's answers to Grassley's specific questions. > Grassley: What is the breakdown in the jobs that are being eliminated? What kind of jobs are they? How many employees in each area will be cut? Microsoft: Because the job reduction decisions will be ...
Microsoft asks for fewer visas, still supports lifting cap
The Microsoft Blog —
... began accepting H-1B petitions on Wednesday, April 1. The government caps the number of H-1B visas at 85,000 which are broken down by 65,000 for bachelor's degrees and 20,000 for advanced degrees. If demand for visas outstrips supply which it usually does the government selects applications at random. The cap does not apply if the visa holder will work for a university or nonprofit research organization. On Tuesday, Smith laid out his company's views regarding H-1B visas in a blog post . "The number of U.S.-born computer and engineering graduates has not kept pace with ...
Microsoft Hiring 'Substantially Fewer' H1-B Workers This Year
Silicon Alley Insider —
... But even as Microsoft asks for fewer workers, he reiterates his support for the program in a blog post today, calling H-1B support "a pet cause for Microsoft." ...
Welcome To The Blogosphere, Intel
Tech Daily Dose —
... during the policy process -- such as before a vote or committee hearing. And officials can go in-depth on select issues when we think it's more relevant to readers, Sewell said. "We're encouraging all of our individual policy staffers to blog at-will, with minimal filters. And we're intending these to be brief, timely, conversational postings. No dull treatises," he wrote. Some potential topics on the blog, Sewell offered, could include energy, healthcare and immigration. Hot links: Microsoft blog; ...
Linux Foundation joins Microsoft in opposing software defect warranties
Betanews —
... But now, Microsoft's principal competition in the operating system field has joined sides with it in opposing the latest efforts by a panel of prominent judges and attorneys to reform the protocols for developing software sales contracts and warranties. The Linux Foundation is now on record as opposing changes to warranties, and has co-authored a document with Microsoft to that effect, as Microsoft revealed last Sunday. ...
Microsoft to Red Hat: We'll Defend Our Intellectual Property.
Microsoft Watch —
... Apps compelled it to partially transform Office 2010 into a (somewhat limited) online service, the continued prevalence of Linux and other open-source entities within both the consumer world and the enterprise is continuously nudging Microsoft to open up select parts of itself.
There must be debates within Redmond over where to draw that particular line in the sand. Do you release those 20,000 lines of device driver code to the Linux community and leave it at that? Once you've released the Microsoft Live Services Plug-in to integrate Microsoft's Live@edu services with the ...
Microsoft alters sweetheart housing deals for execs
The Seattle Times: Brier Dudley's blog —
... lately Microsoft has cut jobs and suspended construction on its own real estate in Redmond.
In response to grumbling and catcalls, the company altered the benefit for execs, but didn't eliminate it.
Microsoft added a clause saying it will recover these real estate losses if an executive quits within two years of joining the company. That's up from the previous one-year binder.
Here's how J. Ritchie, vice president of compensation and benefits, explained it on the Microsoft on the Issues blog today:
We've also received constructive input ...
