Comment innovation doesn't just mean UI development (Score 1) 365
uh, are any of you aware of Microsoft Research? i'm not a fan of Redmond, but i do have colleagues who do real research, something a "technical evangelist" doesn't know/get educated about/understand, since it's not directly part of the marketing for their flagship products.
there is serious cash being put into R&D at Microsoft for years.
they also promote research in Academia; for instance Bill Gates donated 20M to MIT to help start the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory at MIT. http://www.csail.mit.edu/index.php - egad, a building is even named after him!
don't hate if you don't know the whole story...
http://research.microsoft.com/