I don't gave up an idea to find a job which is more related to math. (AMS site contains a lot of interesting info, but almost all is US-oriented. Some advices look funny at the context of Mediterranean culture: I imagine how I send a letter to somebody expressing gratitude for consult interview...) Anyway, browsing recently in search of some relevant info I occasionally found the following piece: Mike Freedman to Join Microsoft Research. Holy shit! I sat a few minutes in front of display dumb and deaf, trying to understand what I just red! These half-year old "news" really struck me! Well, some great Computer Science guy joining Xerox's Palo Alto, or Bell Labs, or IBM - this is possible to imagine, but pure mathematician Mike Freedman? Microsoft?

I have three explanations (more likeable goes first):

1. They stupidly desided that Freedman's work have something to do with their business, and desided to put it under control and/or eliminate it by their usual method - buying it.

2. Microsoft is not so simple as many (including me) think of it. This is quite complicated organization, with many parts (contradicting in their methods and goals to each other), not just plain software "Evil Empire". Yes, there is a part which produces Microsoft Office and Windows 95 (God forgive for mentioning such things), but there is a part which deals with four-dimensional topology. Just for evident reason the broad public acquainted with the former part and not with the latter.

3. Let me describe in several words the contents of science fiction novell by brothers Strugatsky, "Milliard years before the end of the world". Some scientists and engineers experience obstacles in their work - ranging from annoyng behaviour of local authorities, to promotion to prestige and highly paid but administratrative positions not allowing time for scientific work, to visit of red-head dwarfs claiming they are representatives of the "Mysterious Court of Seven" which monitors human civilization and orders him to suspend his work, etc... As usual in the Strugatsky's books, there are no explicit explanation what is going on, but one of the versions is: there exists so-called "Homeostatic Universe" (the part of which we observe as our usual physical world), which as everything acts according to the laws of Nature, and one of this law is preservation of itself in the current state and resistance to all actions which may modify it, so all this disturbing activity is just side effects of this law visible in such a way in our physical world... So just one more time "Homeostatic Universe" law in action...