Microsoft & Eric S. Raymond

A Microsoft recruiter tried to hire Eric S. Raymond, one of the leaders in the Open Source software movement. The text of the letter to Eric and his response are here - although I think that his reply was a bit over the top and could have been politer while still being scathing and cutting. Read it here.

Eric Steven Raymond (born December 4, 1957), often referred to as ESR, is the author of “The Cathedral and the Bazaar” and the present maintainer of the “Jargon File” (also known as “The New Hacker’s Dictionary”). Though the Jargon File established his original reputation as a historian/anthropologist of the hacker culture, after 1997 he became a leading figure in the Open Source movement, and is today one of its most famous (and controversial) characters.

Raymond is an avowed Libertarian. He is known to have a strong interest in science fiction, firearms, is an enthusiastic amateur musician, and has a black belt in taekwondo. His advocacy of Second Amendment gun rights and support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq has nettled many, but he seems to enjoy the controversy those positions engender. He also suffers from a mild form of congenital cerebral palsy… [Wikipedia]