Sailing away for Asia-grade wages

Summary: Professional Developers Conference (PDC) takes a big hit as the company no longer bases many of its activities around Redmond

IN recent years, as Microsoft cut down expenses by cancelling a lot of its events and laying off staff (especially in an "expensive" place like the US), we saw a lot of spin and explained what happened beyond it. For instance, Todd Bishop (Microsoft booster) spins the latter issue by saying that Microsoft is hiring; he just doesn't say where in particular. Mary Jo Microsoft is trying to spin PDC by naming some big number of events while admitting that "Microsoft may be limiting (severely) attendance" in Redmond (other events were previously cancelled very much around there and we provided examples).

Microsoft may be limiting (severely) attendance at its upcoming Professional Developers Conference (PDC) in Redmond, but it is adding 65 regional “mini” PDC events in the U.S. and other countries worldwide to compensate.

Over at Washington Microsoft is basing a decreasing amount of its development (except imported workforce on a visa). Microsoft, just like many other companies, is moving more of its operations to the East. It's getting hard even to pretend to be a Caucasian worker for Microsoft in Seattle. From the Seattle P-I:

Having admitted to playing the parts of a Make-a-Wish Foundation employee, a Microsoft executive and an old-money millionaire to con businesses, Richard Ruben Wakeley Jr. spent a year in jail and state prison.

[..]

On another occasion, Wakeley described himself as the operator of a ranch for disabled children. He was able to bluff his way into a room at the Roosevelt Hotel in Seattle -- he claimed to be in town on Microsoft business, dropping executives' names until he was believed -- and managed to rack up a $5,000 bill during his month-long stay.

Yes, it's off topic, but it's only amusing in the sense that criminals describe themselves as Microsoft executives. It makes proper camouflage. Remember that Microsoft got rid of Judge Jackson after he had called Microsoft “criminals”. He knew what he was talking about, he didn't just have loose lips. ⬆