If you’ll remember, a few months back Microsoft laid off 1400 employees as part of some cost-cutting and downsizing measures.

News today let’s us know that some of the employees affected by those layoffs were a little overpaid in their severance while others may have been underpaid. Microsoft sent letters to the affected ex-employees and asked for the overpayment of money to be sent back to them within two weeks.

I can understand why Microsoft would want this corrected, but I can’t imagine why they’d want to endure the more than likely ridicule and bad favor by the affected employees and public at large for this move.

I don’t know any of the specifics, but it doesn’t appear that every employee was overpaid since some were also underpaid. I don’t think anyone was overpaid a significant amount of money (5 figures?). If I were Microsoft, I would just absorb the loss of money and quickly take care of the underpayment to the other laid off employees.

If employees pay back the money their "reward" is an adjusted tax form so that aren’t taxed on the additional income. Again, I’m not sure about you, but in this economy I’d be keeping the money and taking the hit on the additional tax payment.

I still think the "cost" of this becoming public with Microsoft asking for the money back will "cost" them more in additional bad press, than any amount of Seinfeld ads may have done for them to try and improve their image.

This actually happened to me once with a previous employer. I was overpaid due to some kind of clerical error and when I noticed it I brought it to the attention of my manager. They let me know they were also aware of it and that I wouldn’t be asked to return the money. It was their mistake and they would pay for it. The economic times were much different then than today, but I’ve got to think if there’s any company that could absorb this accounting oops it would be Microsoft.

Image: flickr image from dslrninja

Post from: EveryJoe

Microsoft’s Money Oops!

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During the recent Technology, Entertainment, Design Conference (TED) being held in Monterey, California, Bill Gates released a jar of mosquitoes and stated that malaria shouldn’t just be the only ones to get malaria.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has contributed significant amounts of money to fight malaria and he used this opportunity at TED to further illustrate and highlight his efforts.

Source: ‘There’s no reason only poor people should get malaria’: The moment Bill Gates released jar of mosquitoes at packed conference

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Bill Gates Releases Mosquitoes At TED Conference

Here’s a funny video I found recently about Microsoft’s Bill Gates. Audio quality isn’t very good, but pretty funny anyway.

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Bill Gates Video Mug Shot

Here’s a really old video of Bill Gates praising Apple machines. Just how old was he in this video? Does anyone know?

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Early Bill Gates and His Opinion of Apple

He is now employed as a Tech Evangelist for Microsoft. In his post he shares his employment experiences and adventures leading up to his time with b5media. He also shares the thoughts and challenges he worked through as he interviewed and was eventually hired to work for Microsoft.

I think it’s a very interesting read for anyone that may currently be unemployed and trying to determine the best decision to make for their employment.

Image: flickr photo by Mark Jaquith

Post from: EveryJoe

Joey deVilla On Becoming a Microsoft Employee

First the general thought was that you should turn your computer off every time when you’re done. Now the generally accepted rule is that your machine should remain on and let software manage the power consumption through "sleeping" and "hibernation".

Now we’re looking at shutting down your computer more again and following immediately behind is another software application to assist in saving more power and turning that beige box of yours into a green computing machine.

Verdiem’s Edison is a free energy-monitoring application for eco-conscious consumers. You can use it to more actively control your PC’s energy consumption — and subsequently your household’s carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

That’s all nice and good, but how does it do it? What’s the application do for me to really help me save computer energy?

• Scheduling. Identify work and non-work schedules to optimize power schemes based on when your PC is in use or on standby.
• Settings. Choose from among several options for power savings and settings.
• Estimated Savings Reports. Find information that shows how PC power settings correlate to money, kWh and CO2 savings.
• Intuitive User Interface. Drag easy-to-use sliding bars to choose settings and instantly see the power and monetary savings. Clearly marked tabs make the interface easy to navigate.

If you’re interested in reducing your carbon footprint and saving some energy in your own little corner of the world, or cubicle. Visit the Edison website and download the application today.

Image: Screen Capture from Edison PC Power website

Post from: EveryJoe

Turn Your Beige Box Into a Green One

I read the following comment in a recent issue of the SitePoint Tech Times #206

…we’ve implemented every property in CSS 2.1 and are closing in on our goal of complete support for the CSS 2.1 specification by the time we release.

The quote was taken from Doug Stamper of Microsoft on the IEBlog. Bet you weren’t counting on that were you? The SitePoint editors didn’t think so either because they even stated that their readers were probably thinking of one of the other browsers instead of Internet Explorer 8.

What are we to do with this news? I know what I’m going to do. I’ll feel good for Microsoft. Give them kudos for trying to improve their product and deliver on the requests developers and designers have been asking for them to give users for quite some time.

On the other hand, I also know that most everyone else will find something else to pick at that Microsoft isn’t doing right or that they’re just lulling us into sleep before they screw us again.

File this in the can’t-win-for-losing category.

Post from: EveryJoe

IE8 Leading Efforts for CSS 2.1 Specifications

I’ve read and heard that Silverlight is indeed supposed to work in Firefox 3, even though it never appears to on my computer regardless of the number of times I try to install and reinstall it.

When I couldn’t get what I was after in my Firefox browser, I decided to open up Internet Explorer 7 so I could really check-out Tina’s blog. Still no luck there either.

What’s the deal? I’ve really liked Silverlight when it’s worked for me. I don’t know what the problem is now. I’m wondering if all of this could somehow be related to other Internet related problems I’m having with security certificates and Yahoo! forgetting who I am.

Maybe all my tubes are tied and nothing’s just not going nowhere anytime soon for me.

Post from: EveryJoe

Silverlight Now Gives Me Problems on Firefox 3 and IE7

• Employee compensation poison pill
• Yahoo managers didn’t want Google partnership

First, Yahoo made it more worthwhile for Yahoo employees to leave the company than to stay if purchased by Microsoft. It’s a poison pill that makes the company very unattractive for potential bidders. I don’t understand why anyone would want a company they worked for to act like that.

The other tool that Yahoo used during all the activities by Microsoft was to float the idea of a partnership with Google. Foley’s article states that Yahoo managers weren’t interested in a Google partnership before Microsoft’s offer.

So what these actions and others like it do for the company? In my opinion it makes it even less of a valuable purchase for anyone. Personally, if I were interested in Yahoo! I think I’d continue to sit back and let Yahoo! continue to devalue themselves. Then I’d come in get it a clearance prices.

Post from: EveryJoe

All Not Happy In Yahoo-Land

The folks over at Engadget are live blogging the Microsoft launch of Windows 7. It’s weird to think about the next version of Windows already. Vista only seems like it’s been out for a little while. I guess it’s mostly because there was so much time between Windows XP and Windows Vista.

There’s some really interesting coverage of interview with Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates:

7:08 – Swisher: Do you still get veto on company decisions? Gates: “No.” Says he’s become the junior partner when he swapped roles with Ballmer. Mossberg asking about Bill’s participation these days and going forward. “It’s a very different role” he’s taking on. Ozzie and Mundie have stepped up, and he’s looking to Steve to help pick and choose his future projects.

7:12 – Ballmer: “I want to know what [Bill] thinks.” Swisher wants to talk Yahoo! Ballmer gives the quick rundown of events to date. “We are not rebidding for the company — we reserve the right to do so, but it’s not on the docket.” Swisher: What are you interested in, in Yahoo? Ha, they’re wheeling out a whiteboard for Ballmer to diagram his explanation. Swisher: “This is like crack for him.”

Be sure and check-out Engadget’s full coverage because there’s lots of information about the early days of Microsoft and Bill and Steve sharing some of the thoughts and ideas of how things all started and what they were thinking and going through at the time.

Post from: EveryJoe

Engadget is Covering the Windows 7 Launch Live