>I had to step in here. When I was bench testing for Borland (Visual dBase), I received PR that MS had "acquired" Borland's lead dBAse architect.
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>The story was that he had to leave immediately - I heard that he had a wedding planned - and wanted to stay in SF for the wedding and to say goodbye to his team at Borland - the rumor was MS upped his sign on bonus as an incintive to leave immediately.
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>We could conclude from that - that MS clout - was the downfall of dBase.
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>I don't know why - but I think is was Stewart! Hopefully someone will correct me!

The two high profile guys I remember Microsoft pinching from Borland were Paul Gross and Anders Hejlsberg. I think Hejlsberg was their Delphi architect, so Gross is probably the one you are thinking of.

Mike