Microsoft Research Keeps Dreaming Big

Microsoft Research Keeps Dreaming Big - BusinessWeek: "Rick Rashid, head of Microsoft's (MSFT) research arm, oversees 850 of the brainiest people in the technology industry. But he doesn't push them to help the Microsoft groups working on the next Windows operating system or upcoming Xbox. Instead, he gives researchers wide leeway to pursue their own interests and write papers about ideas that may not pay off for 10 or 20 years—if at all. 'We're about doing things that frankly people may not want,' says the 57-year-old Rashid, tilting back in the desk chair in his modest office on Microsoft's Redmond (Wash.) campus. 'The point of a basic research group is really to do the things you don't know you'll need.'"