Thieves Rob Microsoft Office, Take Only iPads

Seriously, this must hurt. Someone raided Microsoft's Silicon Valley Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., and stole five iPads, but left all the Microsoft stuff just sitting there. This happened over the Christmas break. Not a big deal, as these things go. The iPads were worth about $3,000 in total. But still, not a great publicity coup. The news showed up first in a local Palo Alto paper, The Daily Post, after Microsoft reported the theft to police. (They might be wishing they hadn't done that.) Some people thought it might be a hoax, but apparently it's true. Wow.

 

Daily Post writer Angela Ruggiero, whose byline appeared on the story, has also confirmed that the above clipping is not a mock-up.

The iPads may have been the obvious thing to steal in Building 5: that's the place where Microsoft, whose headquarters are in Redmond, develops software for Apple hardware. It's possible the thief has got hold of some unreleased Microsoft apps with his or her Apple devices. The office also houses Microsoft Exchange hosting servers, a less tempting target for a light-fingered thief.
Microsoft did not respond to a request for comment.