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The cost of R&D
To give you an idea - in FY 2006, Microsoft invested around $6.5Bn in R&D alone.

Understand that R&D is not performed in a vaccuum. Don't assume that researchers are just locked in a room with a bunch of PC's and fed pizza under the door and 2 years later out pops a whole new idea. It just aint done like that.

Research is a collaborative process where ideas are formed, examined, shredded, re-formed, tested, modified, re-tested, etc., until - hopefully - the idea bears fruit.

This often takes a lot of time and certainly takes a great deal of effort from some of the brightest minds around.

In order to carry out such research, an organization has to fund the bodies themselves with packages sufficiently lucrative to retain the talent. Then you have to add machinery & equipment - particularly for those exploring hardware related subjects. These people must also travel to attend conferences, workshops and other events, must write-up their work which must be protected with legal, copyright and patent services (and as we all know, nothing legal is cheap!). Plus housing these researchers, keeping them supplied with access to other research, funding their own workshops, conferences etc. Building one-off equipment ... often several times over.

It all adds up.
Posted by: de-void   Posted on: 07/24/06 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use
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