Recruiting in China

RECRUITMENT at Microsoft's largest research centre outside the US will be flat next year, a senior company executive said.

Microsoft China employs around 3500 research and development staff -- more than a five-fold growth since 2005.

The work done at the China research lab is for global consumption; some of its more recent efforts can be found in Microsoft's new operating system, Windows 7.

According to Ya-Qin Zhang, Microsoft corporate vice-president and chairman of its Beijing-based R&D group, staffing levels are adequate at the moment.

"In 2005 we had about 600 people in R&D in China. Now we're at 3500 researchers and engineers but next year hiring will be flat," Dr Zhang said.

The Beijing R&D group is divided into three streams -- the product group works on existing products, incubation looks at next-generation products, and research has an eye on future products.

"The product team has the highest number of staff at around 80 per cent, while product and incubation have 10 per cent each."

Dr Zhang's research staff were responsible for a few features in Windows 7, including systems recovery and diagnosis, speech technology and multi-touch.

Microsoft US has the largest research and development group within the company, employing around 30,000 people.

Dr Zhang singled out smart devices, cloud computing, natural language, search and graphics as focus areas for the R&D group.

"We're looking at how we can extend the capabilities of a computer and put in more intelligence in devices," he said. "Smart sensors would be one area that we will see a lot of work in.

"But I personally like to keep it simple ... technology should be simple, not complex," he said, citing that as the reason why he doesn't use a touchpad smart phone.

He dismissed backers of an all-or-nothing approach to cloud computing, saying most critics tend to forget the client's role in the equation.

"I'm against talk that everything sits in the cloud and the client isn't important. The two work hand in hand -- cloud and client. How information is accessed is very important."

Microsoft is pushing its Software-plus-Services vision for both public and private clouds.

The software giant increased its global R&D budget by $US1 billion to $US9bn this year, chief operating officer Kevin Turner said during a visit to Sydney in April.

Dr Zhang was in Sydney to officially open the National ICT Australia's Techfest09 event yesterday; he has rejoined Nicta's International Advisory Group after a brief hiatus.

Dr Zhang commended Nicta for the high standard of research being conducted and said both organisations shared the same vision.

"I'm excited to see that Nicta and Microsoft share the same model of taking risks," he said.

At Techfest09, Nicta unveiled a new software component dubbed sel4 that ensures an operating system will "never" crash has been developed in Australia. It has the potential to earn billions of dollars in royalties.