There are many benefits to working at a large company over a startup. Many of the items in this thread alone are proof to that. If you have a mortgage, and 2 kids in college then working for a startup that could fold tomorrow is not exactly the safest bet.

In addition, working at breakneck speed and being completely accountable for failure is just not within every programmer's capacity. Some need more structure to be successful. Not everyone is a rock star programmer.

That being said the software industry is changing rapidly. Being a rockstar makes you more valuable as time goes on. Large s/w companies are having trouble even maintaining marginal talents and the workforce of programmers is dwindling. Us hackers will continue to be more valuable than ever.