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Microsoft Research Shows Off New Projects On College Recruiting Tour
In a recent college recruiting tour, Microsoft's Craig Mundie was able to showcase some of the experiments coming out of their Research division. Among some of the interesting projects were another pass at the Minority Report interface, eye-tracking, intelligent data sorting, a global carbon-climate model, and several other software and hardware experiments. A video and supporting slideshow are also available via Microsoft's press site. "Mundie also will discuss the kinds of computers students will soon be using – machines that will respond to gestures through new natural user interfaces; deploy the power of new microprocessors; migrate data to the cloud; and use live data to drive new simulations and visualizations. He’ll center on an environmental theme to show what it might be like to be a research scientist working on zero carbon energy in the future using new interactions with data and computers to increase insight."
Microsoft's hardware research division ages back demoed a mouse that was akin to a bar of soap. You held it up in the air like a remote control, and rotated around in your hand. It could be operated from a couch or another location where didn't have a traditional hard surface. I thought it was a great idea.
Whatever happened to it?
http://blindscribblings.com - Tasty pop-culture in conceptual fashion.
Microsoft released a product that does not suck. Unfortunately, it is a vacuum cleaner.
I love posts like this, and must admit that I've been guilty of the same thing.
"In it's current state, this technology is clearly outclassed by other technologies on the market. They're wasting their time. I'm not buying it."
Yeah, in it's current state, it looks retarded. But what will it develop into?
A lot of people thought the Eyetoy was stupid and motion control video games would only be a passing fad. Further development of motion sensing technology pointed to using a controller rather than a camera, which was then masterfully executed by Nintendo. Did the tech suck when it first came out? Absolutely. Was it worth forging ahead into the arena of motion control? Indeed.
Actually, now, there's a renewed interest in using cameras to control what's going on in the game.
In review: Yes, new technology is often outclassed by other alternatives before it matures. If you give it time, though, it can develop into something really cool.
But then I realized the cable was blue, so I only gave it one star. I hate blue.
The video can be found at UWTV.
Exactly what truly innovative stuff from Microsoft Research has seen the light of day?
Yes, I know that such research is expected to produce remarkably few results in the real world. But the closest thing to innovation I've seen is the ribbon toolbar in Office 2007.
First off, I wouldn't call it a recruiting tour. Nobody was taking resumes. Nobody from HR was present. There were no references to internships or other openings. Heck, I spoke to Mundie in person before the talk, attended the talk, and attended the reception afterwards, and nobody (Mundie or anybody else) made any reference at all to recruitment.
Second, the people who were laid off were not Microsoft's engineers and programmers, but instead were people in fields such as marketing and legal affairs. They've never stopped hiring new programmers, a fact which has been made clear on every occasion that the layoffs were discussed.
There's no place I could be, since I've found Serenity...