Super Volatile

"It's a culture that actually awards the political assassins," said a software engineer who thought he might be one of the exceptions -- an outsider able to thrive despite moving to Redmond mid-career.  He was well aware of Microsoft's reputation for being hostile to those hired into senior positions from the outside but he was flabbergasted just the same when a top exec showed up in his office one day to spell out the facts of life inside Microsoft shortly after he arrived on campus.

"He's standing there telling me, 'I can have your team broken apart any time I want, just remember that,' " he said.

Or why the company that's doing so well is in such a bad shape.