As long as Ballmer is at the top of the org chart, you can safely assume hiring actions like this are hostile assimilation, not a "change of heart".
Late next year, when Microsoft dips into the low 70% of desktop OSes, Firefox achieves 40% of all browsers, WinMo becomes the bottom feeder for mobile OSes ( Sony Experia to run on Android - HA! ) and the death nell of the Zune is announced, you may see some sincerity in openness...but ONLY if Ballmer resigns!
http://www.paulgraham.com/microsoft.html
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As we reported on Jobwire, OpenID thought leader Dick Hardt announced Friday that he has joined Microsoft. Hardt's hire will be added to a recent history of the software giant making controversial hires from among its presumed opponents, advocates of open source and open culture. Is this assimilation or are we seeing a company change, with the infusion of new and different DNA?
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Check out our full write-up over on Jobwire, ReadWriteWeb's site that reports on new hires in tech and media. But we'd also love to get your opinion here via this poll:
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