Microsoft expands research and development
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft plans to increase its research and development budget by 20 percent and hire 5,000 new workers in the coming year, Chairman Bill Gates said on Thursday. Gates, speaking at Microsoft's annual meeting with financial analysts at its Redmond, Wash., headquarters, said the company's R&D budget will grow from $4.3 billion last year to $5.2 billion in fiscal 2003, despite the stagnant economy. "Because of our optimism (over) what the software can do in the decade ahead, we are increasing our investments," Gates said. Microsoft's employee base is "50,000 strong and growing," he said.
On the operating system front, Jim Allchin, group vice president at Microsoft, said Windows XP has now sold more than 46 million copies in the nine months since its release, making it the fastest-selling version of Windows ever. Microsoft says that XP has sold 230 percent more copies than Windows 95 and 160 percent more than Windows 98 for the same time period after their debut.