Microsoft

It's a very stable and steady company, with some very interesting products and projects.

As an Engineer, you're still technically challenged every day. There are still lots of very bright people around to work with and learn from.

People are generally very open and respectful to each other.

Benefits are great and the compensation package is still somewhat competitive.

The company has spent a lot of effort in past few years in HR, which is viewed by some as red tape, but it does enforce some kind of structure and transparency and growth path for employees.

Overall, it's a good place to work, not the most exciting though.

• Does not have much growth opportunity for stock value, given the current poor suite of products (Vista, Office 2007, Windows Live, etc.).
• There is quite a bit of politics in some groups, leading to low morale as some employees feel overlooked.
• Online products are not getting any traction due to poor quality.
• Encountering some employees who are incompetent and indifferent.
• Promotion could be tough. Also, sometimes people get promoted not because they care about products and customers, but because they know how to build relationships with managers, which is bad for the company itself.
• Not an exciting place to work; low morale.

Listen to your rank-and-file employees. Open up control to encourage grass-roots innovation. Too much PM involvement stifles creativity and innovation.