Maybe Microsoft gives jobs to smart people and lets them work on whatever they want just to prevent those people from working for its competitors and possibly c

Maybe Microsoft gives jobs to smart people and lets them work on whatever they want just to prevent those people from working for its competitors and possibly changing the game unpredictably. Microsoft has nowhere to go but down. It's probably worth it for Microsoft to pay them not to work for anyone else even with no intention of productizing their research activities.