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Google Nabs Another MS Employee

By Ed Oswald, BetaNews

June 30, 2006, 2:56 PM

Yet another Microsoft employee has left the Redmond company for its biggest rival. Vic Gundotra, Microsoft's evangelism head will join Google next year, the two companies have confirmed. Google said it had not decided what position he will assume at the company, but said he will be a valuable asset. Gundotra had spent nearly a decade and a half at Microsoft.

Gundotra follows some other high-profile Microsoft employees who have since left for Google: Adam Bosworth, a former general manager; Mark Lucovsky, former engineer and apparent witness to Ballmer's chair throwing incident; and most notably Kai-Fu Lee, former head of Microsoft's China arm.

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By GS5

posted Jul 3, 2006 - 4:03 PM

I really hope Google doesn't start crashing. I'd hate to get BSOD when I'm searching for porn...I mean news;-) lol

Score: 0

By Planet.Of.Wounds

posted Jul 1, 2006 - 4:52 PM

Hmm... So *if*, as I read in another recent thread, "Google innovates and Microsoft follows", how come Google 'nabs' high profile MS employees ("valuable assets" heh?) and not the other way round?

Score: 0

By DJInsomniac

posted Jul 1, 2006 - 4:21 PM

Microsoft is sending in spies!

Yet another theory for all you crackheads that Google and Microsoft are planning World Domination.

Score: 0

By ladylust

posted Jul 1, 2006 - 3:23 PM

Actually this is a good move, for one this kind of thing happends all the time (head hunting), but MS is there rival, this person might have the inside track on MS and help Google with some "information".

Score: 0

By chris7uk

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 10:16 PM

Google do yo want all the msoft management?
No offence to google but to be fair can you not create your own managment with out aquiring msoft staff managment ... maybe someday... they will make there own :S

Score: 0

By Spyderloco

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 8:16 PM

Interesting story. It seems to be the trend of people leaving Microsoft to go to Google. :)

I kind of like it.

Score: 0

By deadmonkey

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:08 PM

IMHO I wish more of the long term people would leave. As xyzcb1 said, Microsoft need new people, Steve Ballmer needs to leave. They need new people with new ideas to take over and push Microsoft in the areas they are falling behind in.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 3:27 PM

It might not be a bad thing after all. MS is over 30 yrs old and needs new young blood badly. I think they should replace their executives with younger and aggressive people. Letting go all these veteran go can probably be the best thing for them.

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:26 PM

OhmyGod!

I actually *agree* with you.

I guess there's gotta be a first for everything, right?

Score: 0

By Intrusive_Rogue

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 3:15 PM

I'm going to give everyone a big "I told you so," right now.

3 years and Microsoft will own Google.

Anyone want to put a $1 Gentlemen's bet on it?

Score: 0

By rmbashir

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 5:54 PM

I WILL BET 100 SHARES OF GOOG THAT Microsoft will never own Google. As a matter of fact, in 5 years, GOOGLE will be neck and neck with Microsoft in power, lies, and corruption, not to mention market value.

Score: 0

By Joe Dirt

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 3:34 PM

I'll bet ya.

And 3 years from now if I'm still posting here and this site is still here, and you win, I'll send you a fresh one dollar bill.

I'd shake on it too if I could. ;)

For the Record, I think in 3 years that Microsoft will not own Google. :)

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:21 PM

yes, you are right ... i'd say in three years
Google will own Microsoft ...

Score: 0

By PC_Tool

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 6:25 PM

I'd prefer that, but niether will own the other. Google doesn't *need* any OS. That's it's beauty. As long as there's a popular browser supporting AJAX, Google's sitting pretty.

The fact that MS employees are jumping ship is quite interesting, though.

Score: 0

By Das mod

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:34 PM

agreed

Score: 0

By Intrusive_Rogue

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 4:30 PM

Sorry, I said Gentlemen's bet. That doesn’t include children that flame and then remove posts after the fact. ;)

Anyone else?

Score: 0

By FubarJeb

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 4:16 PM

Count me in. There's no way MS will own google in 3 years. This is one company that can't be bought out, any time soon.

Score: 0

By sn1p34

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 6:16 PM

I wouldn’t say that, Bill Gates alone has enough money to buy google out, But has putting most of his money toward charity. Besides if Microsoft were to try to buy out google that would cause huge problems The EU would be all over them. They would have nothing but Court cases!

I wouden't put a bet on something like this even if it's just 1 dollar, because life is random anything could happen, Microsoft could go out of buisness this year but highly unlikely.

Score: 0

By spongy-poo

posted Jul 1, 2006 - 6:15 AM

Did anybody notice (not just you) that Microsoft already tried to buy Google? What the heck has Microsoft buying Google got to do with the article anyway? Sound to me like some Microsoft employees see Google as being a more interesting place to work "going forward" (as Bill would say).

Score: 0

By jshurst

posted Jul 3, 2006 - 9:27 AM

I've never worked for either, but if you think about their core business then how could Google be a more interesting place to work?

Let's see Google develops web applications and...well, that's about it. Microsoft develops languages to build web applications (.NET, ATLAS, XAML), windows apps, OS's, database technologies, and just about anything else that has to do with computers. I'm not saying that every employee works on everything, but just the shear scrope of technologies would make me want to work for Microsoft.

Score: 0

By Intrusive_Rogue

edited Jun 30, 2006 - 9:48 PM

"They would have nothing but Court cases!"

This is Microsoft's problem on that...they don't buy companies and then make them sister companies etc. They need to take a lesson from Philip Morris on that and become a conglomerate or set up a holding company instead of putting all the aquisitions under one name.

Score: 0

By fxer

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 7:49 PM

Google has a market cap of $127 billion, Gates has $44 billion.

Score: 0

By xyzcb1

posted Jul 1, 2006 - 9:38 AM

Wrong. If you put the PE in line for both company, in fact, BG has enough money to buy Google out. But what's the point? And why? Google is in search business, yes, they want to be in software. Just look around it's products, other than those they bought, how many of it's own products get out of beta.

There is one major different between MS and Google, it's size and age. MS (like any big org) has a bureaucracy environment, while Google is not, at least not yet. And I think it is what attract people there.

Score: 0

By Lunacy

edited Jul 1, 2006 - 10:11 AM

How many of MS products should still be considered beta when they're released? I don't think google needs to push out new products every two years to maintain profitability while MS investors demand it so the stock will perform. That's the beauty of google, they don't need to make anything new or develop applications, they're profitable without them just as a search portal.

Score: 0

By bastion

posted Jun 30, 2006 - 11:25 PM

Google has a market share value of $107Bn US while Microsoft has a market share value of $279Bn US. I hope they remain separate companies. Share the wealth, send some my may!

Score: 0

By sina2b

edited Jul 1, 2006 - 3:26 AM

Google will eventually go down the drain, theyre growing much more than they should for no apparent reason and they will be gone once a better search technology gets into action, while its not as easy to compete with microsoft and coming up with something superior to windows considering the time, money and resources they have invested in it over all these years.

Score: 0

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