Re:Could someone please explain? (Score 1)

The short version is, if you discriminate against members of group X, you cut yourself off from the contributions which potentially valuable members of group X can make.

Absolutely. I agree 100%. I probably wasn't very clear in what I wrote. I didn't inted to support discrimination, which, I believe, is what you're describing. What I meant to ask was "Why is diversity, in and of itself, a good thing and important to the success of Microsoft?" To follow the stance taken in Ballmer's email to its logical conclusion, it would *seem* that given two candidates of equal technical skill, Microsoft would have to hire the one who somehow contributed to the sexual, ethnic, or religious diversity of the company, since such diversity, according to Ballmer, is important to Microsoft's success.

I'm trying to find out exacly how such diversity, in and of itself, contributes to the success of the company. I.e., if we assume that their candidate pool includes everyone on the planet, how does hiring the more "diverse" candidate contribute to Microsoft's success?