The battle between Microsoft and Google continues to heat up
Alleged comments by Steve Ballmer
Tuesday, September 6, 2005 by Frogboy | Discussion: WinCustomize News
According to a Betanews story, Microsoft's Steve Ballmer was furious when he learned that Kai-Fu Lee was leaving Microsoft for Google. According to one witness, Ballmer vowed to "bury" Google. Ballmer denies that the incident occurred as described.
Editorial:
Whether true or not, if a competitor were hiring my guys, I'd probably say more aggressive things than "bury". At the level Microsoft and Google are, we should leave the comparisons with companies behind and look at them more like sports teams. I suspect the Cowboys and Steelers have had tougher words than "bury" in the past. 
But no matter how you look at it, the battle is on between Microsoft and Google. And to think only a couple years ago there were rumors of Microsoft buying Google.
Reply #2 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:25 AM
Reply #3 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 6:47 AM
Reply #4 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 8:10 AM
They stipulated in his contract that if he were to leave for a competitor, he would not be allowed to work for them for 1-2 years after leaving MS. It is standard practice in large companies and high up execs.
Reply #5 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:45 PM
Reply #6 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 2:02 PM
| It is standard practice in large companies and high up execs |
Actually, I would say it's standard practice in the software industry in general. I've signed a "no compete" clause at every one of my jobs since I graduated from college. They are fairly un-enforcable for a majority of people, but in this case I believe the person was not only the inventor of certain technologies when he worked at MS, but he would be working on technologies that are the same as what he did for MS. So, in this case it would be easily enforcable, not to mention MS has legions of lawyers to keep him busy for years and years..
Reply #7 Friday, September 9, 2005 10:30 PM
Reply #8 Sunday, September 11, 2005 6:54 PM
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Reply #1 Wednesday, September 7, 2005 12:58 AM