Lifted from Slashdot, but a very good article nevertheless.

-Zeke

Yes, nothing new here but it's certainly very well-written. It's the one day I wish I worked for Microsoft -- I'd love to have been in the room, especially if he actually got them to raise their hands at the right points...

Peter

So far, the most interesting thing I've read in it (which is not to say that the meat of the essay isn't interesting) is that J.P. Sousa testified in Congress (in 1927 or '28, as it turns out) and used the idea that man evolved from apes as an unquestioned fact and expected his audience to agree with him. Keep in mind that the State (of Tennessee) v. Scopes decided against evolution in 1925. (Sort of.)

Bitt: Too funny - you never cease to surprise. I thought the most interesting part was that Microsoft was willing to bring in a speaker to challenge their DRM push in the first place.

-Zeke

MS's research group always struck me as being a very different atmosphere than MS proper. The list of their projects is pretty wide-ranging and reasonably interesting stuff. They do tend to work on stuff that has a definite potential for business (not much pure research), but more interesting than you might think.