In my view this is one of the things people in this discussion are not realizing. Microsoft Research is not R&D, it's R. The rest of MS spends a lot in R&D too, but MSR's work and goals are distinct.

Of course transferring tech into products is part of their goal, but it's the product teams that continue from there (R passes the ball to R&D).

Regarding publications, as other pointed out in this thread, MSR does publish a huge percentage of their work.