This is very clever, especially given that R&D was cited in articles as being in the crosshairs.

There's a stereotypical Microsoftie that only knows MS tools and doesn't care to expand their horizons or stay educated on new trends in the larger industry. However, there's a lot of talent locked up in Redmond that could really innovate if not bound by MS corporate strategy. Getting your entrepreneur-centric product in front of these eyes is a brilliant idea.

I'd love to see this happen in the Valley too. The amount of companies who have been bleeding the wrong people because of management politics is astounding. I'd love to see some of those people use their packages to bootstrap some startups.

If you par down your lifestyle a few months at corporate pay is probably at least half a year of "ramen living".

I'd argue that Silicon Valley is already doing this, on a larger scale, completely decentralized and free-form.

If you got laid off and are even remotely curious about startups, there are at least two meetings a day you can attend to brainstorm with fellow entrepreneurs.

Office space and access to computers are not the issue (it's nice because it's a way for people to meet in person, which is a great boost to the entrepreneur spirit). Connecting with the existing entrepreneurs and joining one of the many projects is the key.

I'm used to getting cursed for Outlook - not so much for SharePoint (in my defense, I left SharePoint after V1 - there's lots I'd change - especially cross-browser support and build a real framework architecture).

When people swear at me for my other products, I bring up that I was one of the original Excel developers, and that usually absolves me of my subsequent sins ;-),