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Comment by sarvesh | Hacker News Reader

A better idea for microsoft would be to get back into writing great software. Their main business as always been software. If they can do this they don't have to buy anyone. Buying these companies doesn't mean they'll get all talent with them.

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To write great software though you have to be able to move fast and iterate. I don't think they can do that with the vast number of staff they have.

It'd probably be a good first move to get rid of half the staff - should speed things up a bit.

It depends on what you consider great software. I agree the Office programmers could do with being cut in half or into two departments, one with a majority of senior programmers and one with newer programmers; one produces Office and one runs through all the code and tests the sucker to death.

However, writing an OS I don't think fast is necessarily good. The biggest improvement (IMO) microsoft could make to windows would essentially be a completely error free XP. I've tried Vista and I've seen no appreciable improvement and just a huge pain in the ass for doing absolutely everything I'm used to.

I think if they could make XP survive anything that can be thrown at it and virus proof the sucker to hell, I think it would be the best product MS ever made.

Have you tried Windows 7? You might want to, I was really pleasantly surprised.

The problem is that in any large company, accurate evaluation of an individuals ability/contribution is nearly impossible. Deciding which half of the staff to axe would be better performed by coin toss than by any method a company is likely to employ.

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