I'm sure Chris has matured a lot in the past few years, and I'm sure he's treating canvas in a very different manner. Does it do good to rehash this old drama?

This is really cool. Kudos, Microsoft.

It is admirable that Microsoft has a research department and that they are willing to publish their work. Not many companies can say the same.

They are run by the same management, the money for MSR really comes from sales of Windows and Office, and most research done is to explore future features of MS products

> This is Microsoft Research; I believe it's not really the Microsoft behind Windows and co.

I'm curious as to what you mean with this statement, given that Microsoft Research is a part of Microsoft.

Well, I just meant that 'is part' is different than 'is'. And that I think the freedom that enjoy MSR is not exactly related to the creation of future consumer software.

It is generally accepted to make a difference between, for instance, the marketing communication and the work quality accomplished by the engineers. I think it is as important to make the distinction between Microsoft and its Reserach part.

>And that I think the freedom that enjoy MSR is not exactly related to the creation of future consumer software.

Where do you think the funding for MSR comes from? Who do you think decides to allocate that funding?

Untrue, compared to both previous decades in the US, and other nations today.

You would need to show incredible evidence for this -- the distribution of America's wealth has fluctuated greatly over the last century, and can be clearly linked to government policies, social trends, etc., and certainly has not been constantly shifting towards the wealthy, nor were the 40s to 70s devoid of technological development. (You could argue the last three decades eclipsed them, but I would have to see that argument.)

More generally, throughout history, the growth of the middle class has clearly been a key driver of consumer technology.

Surely credible evidence would be better?

Start with the Forbes 400 and look at how they each got their money.

Hayek and friedman are certainly among the more outspoken proponents of socialism

I may be an Austrian, but I don't agree with everything that any Austrian ever wrote. And I am definitely not a Friedman fan, although he is preferable to many alternatives.