Matt Miller (5/5/2008)Still - I have to say I'm surprised that he would begrudge anyone their good fortune. Hiring the top talent has always been the purview of those with the deepest pockets, and to be honest - the types of "top talent" they're looking for wouldn't necessarily need "real-world experience": they're looking to land the next Einstein, Stradivari, etc...(someone right off the normal charts, heading for that huge next breakthrough).
The rant stinks of sours grapes IMO (something like what Wayne picked up on).
That's what it feels like to me. The problem is, regarding the first part of Joel's rant about clouds and synchronization, is that MS and Google have to invent "the next big thing", and no one knows what will be (and if they aren't the one to invent it, then jump on that bandwagon ASAP). There may be some indications as to what it might be, but we don't know until it arrives and only then do we know if it will sink or swim.
I don't think data clouds are "it", nor do I think Amazon's "data center for anyone with $$$" is it. It's a very cool thing, and if I needed horsepower on demand, I'd certainly consider it. And if clouds are it, I won't be participating, just like I don't (and won't) have a Facebook profile or a MySpace page.
Frequently we find that the next big thing is going to be someone having a flash of inspiration and a clever implementation to make it real. And that may or may not be a top CS grad, it could just as easily be a *nix hacker mucking about with PHP open source freeware.
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[font="Arial"]Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves or we know where we can find information upon it. --Samuel Johnson[/font]