This is why (imo) Microsoft deserves much more credit than it gets. Especially compared to Apple, which isn't even to be found on this list.
Really? I thought that kinda made sense. Lots of cross-pollination between MS and UW. Most of my graduating class from UW CSE went to either Microsoft or Amazon (well, at least it felt that way), and plenty of graduate students seemed to have done a stint there as well.
I guess by that I mean: If you told me MSR is #1 at something, I'd suspect UW is pretty close behind.
Not to remove any credit from the undoubtedly great work that it takes to get on that list. It's just that we're kind of bad at evaluating stuff in general and scientific work in particular.
Let's not forget that more than one good paper has received the "we are sorry to inform you" letter. An article in IEEE by Simone Santini in December 2005 even made fun of that - I recommend reading it for light hearted laughs.
