Do people within Microsoft really consider Microsoft Research to be a drain on company resources as implied by a couple of those comments?
Unfortunately, MS research is pretty disconnected from the product teams and as a result, they tend to innovate in a vacuum. As a result very rarely are their innovations integrated into the products. They therefore come off as a drain on the company.
I remember being excited about Microsoft's SenseCam just a little under 10 years ago. 4-5 years later I thought the product would never be available to consumers, and lo and behold, it's finally become technology that is available to the public... but man did that take a long time.
Fortunately I was too crap to be considered a threat if I wasn't hired :)