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Head of MS Research On Special Projects, Google X and Win 9

Posted by samzenpus on from the listen-up dept.

Velcroman1 (1667895) writes "Microsoft Research finally earned some long-overdue headlines last week, when ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley reported on a 'Special Projects' group that would tackle disruptive technology and ultimately Google X. Peter Lee, head of the division and its 1,100 researchers, told Digital Trends he's not frustrated by all of that glowing press for Google's researchers and the lack of attention for MSR. 'Frustrating is not quite the right word,' Lee said, in an interview ahead of the ribbon-cutting ceremony for MSR's New York City office. 'I like Google X. The people there are good friends of mine. Astro [Teller, "Captain of Moonshots" with Google X] took classes from me at Carnegie Mellon, he's a great guy doing great stuff. But the missions are different. We want to make things better and ship them. That will always be primary for us. It will be secondary for them.'"

5 of 71 comments (clear)

  1. Special Projects? by TechyImmigrant · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Does the author know that "Special Projects" is corporate speak for "Taken off of primary responsibilities prior to being fired".

    --
    I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
  2. Is this the team that... by oic0 · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Is this the same team that killed the start button and moves all the options and settings around in a seemingly random manner for every version change of everything? At work users ask me "whats different in office 2013 vs the 2010 I was using?". They moved crap around so you have to find it again and they made it look a little different.

  3. finally earned some long-overdue headlines??? by QuietLagoon · · Score: 3, Insightful

    And those headlines were about vaporware? Decades go by and Microsoft never changes, ~~trying to compare Microsoft vaporware against the shipping products of competitors.....~~

  4. A bit condescending by jgotts · · Score: 3, Insightful

    A bit condescending of an attitude for someone that is working at Microsoft, a company that is clearly on the wane. People don't go to Microsoft to create anything great. They go there for a stable income for their family and mortgage.

  5. Well, ship them then. by the_other_chewey · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "We want to make things better and ship them." – That's an interesting quote.

    Over the last decades, I've seen some really amazing demos of things being worked
    on at MSR. Has any of it ever shipped? As a real product, I mean, not as some half
    done and by now abandoned proof of concept?