It’s not often that I see software that really changes my world. It’s even rarer that I see software that I know will change the world my sons live in. I can count those times pretty easily. The first time I saw an Apple II in 1977. When Richard Cameron showed me Apple’s Hypercard. Microsoft’s Excel. Aldus’ Pagemaker. And something called Photoshop, all in his West Valley Community College classroom. Later when I saw Marc Andreessen’s Netscape running the WWW. ICQ and Netmeeting which laid the ground for Skype.
Like I said, these things don’t happen often.
Yesterday was one of those days. Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay, researchers at Microsoft, fired up their machines and showed me something that I can’t tell you about until February 27th. I’m sure you’ll read about his work in the New York Times or TechCrunch, among other places. It’s too inspiring to stay a secret for long.
While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change. While listening to Wong I noticed a tear running down my face. It’s been a long while since Microsoft did something that had an emotional impact on me like that.
Why torment you with a post like this? Because it’s my way of making sure that stuff that really is extraordinary gets paid attention to. And because I wanted to get down the emotional impact of what I saw before that feeling totally wears off. I also wanted to get down some lessons that others at Microsoft might learn from so that they can have this kind of impact in their own work. Imagine if Microsoft did 10 things a year like what Curtis and Jonathan showed me yesterday? If the innovation engine at Microsoft were working that well there wouldn’t be any pressure to buy Yahoo. Heck, and if there were a constant stream of stuff like what I saw yesterday Yahoo wouldn’t be resisting going to Microsoft. They’d +want+ to go to Microsoft. Yesterday is the first time since leaving that I wish I were back working at Microsoft.
Now, I can hear Christopher Coulter in my head. The thing these two guys did won’t have a business impact the way, say, Microsoft Office did. There isn’t a business model here. But does every damn thing need a business model? Does a scientific paper that changes the world need a business model? Does it need more audience than just the other 50 scientists in the world who care about that topic? No.
But back to that tear.
Note that it wasn’t a team of 100 people who did it. Two guys with a supporting cast of maybe a dozen. I’ve noticed a trend at Microsoft: that the coolest stuff is done by small teams without a ton of resources. Down the hall from Wong and Fay was researcher Andy Wilson. When I walked into his lab he was working on another cool surface computing technology for Microsoft’s upcoming Tech Fest (which happens March 4). He, and another researcher, were playing with a cool round screen. You might know of Andy’s work: it was his research and demos that convinced Microsoft to build the Surface device which you touch with your hands.
No need for big teams. I never sense a lot of bureaucracy or politics in either of these two guys’ offices.
Back to Wong and Fay’s work.
Could they have done this at a Silicon Valley startup? I doubt it. Venture Capitalists won’t see enough business value in what they are doing. Plus they would need to build a team around them, work out a business plan. Invest their own capital and time building a prototype so that people “get it.” If I told you today what they were doing, without showing you the video we’ll have up on March 3, you’d tell me “that’s lame Scoble.” But when you see it face-to-face everyone I know who’s seen it say they’ve had an emotional reaction to it. Buzz Bruggeman, CEO of ActiveWords, was the first to tell me about it and said it was the best thing he’s seen in years from Microsoft.
Maybe it could be done, but they’ve been traveling all over the world working with researchers from other institutions and getting data for their new thing. It’s a lot easier to get access when you say “I’m a researcher at Microsoft” than when you say “I’m building a startup.”
Other lessons? Keep up to date on the latest things happening in your industry. In Wong and Fey’s work you’ll see techniques that lots of startups are using and, even, that the Google Map team is using. This isn’t stuff that was possible in 1995 so it requires 2008-style Web services and data centers.
Anyway, I’m getting all geeky on you (today Rocky and I are heading to Amazon to talk with Jeff Barr of the team that built its S3 and EC2 services, among others, so that’s probably why I’m ramping up my geek level) but that shouldn’t take away that these two guys got me to cry yesterday.
And that was a good thing. Two guys working inside a big company still can change the world. Can’t wait to talk more about what they’ve done. They’ll have a bunch of press on February 27 and our video will be up on FastCompany.tv on March 3.
UPDATE: I’ve updated this post with a few additions here.
[...] some may recall, this was the same product which brought a tear to Robert Scoble’s eye when he did the interview with Curtis Wong. Scoble finally has his exclusive video up, and [...]
[...] TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is a conference that brings together some of the great minds in all three of those fields and runs talks, showcases and demos. I’d love to go someday! Until that day, over on http://www.ted.com they put up some of the highlights for free viewing and that will have to do me! When you’re finished here pop over there and have a look at the biggest item on the front page right now… I can’t believe I nearly missed this; thankfully Claire Dillon pointed it out on her blog and I got the heads up on the thing that “made Robert Scoble cry“. [...]
[...] Telescope? I first became aware of this via a mysterious post by blogger Robert Scoble titled Microsoft Researcher’s make me cry. In his post he talks about a secretive Microsoft project which readers correctly guessed in the [...]
[...] even made Scoble [...]
[...] it is only right I follow up on my previous posting about the speculation of what would have made Scoble cry. Well, FastCompany.tv has launched and with it the video footage he promised. Having taken the time [...]
[...] de journée pour aller voir la démo que j’attendais depuis quelques semaines et qui a fait tant de buzz sur le net pour prendre le temps de regarder et d’échanger avec les chercheurs: The World Wide [...]
Hey Robert,
I was wondering if you could please tell me how much Microsoft paid you to write this blog entry, and if so can I have some contact details. I’ll write up a good review for Windows Vista and watch my bank balance rise up with joy.
- Dwayne Charrington.
http://www.dwaynecharrington.com
Hey Robert,
I was wondering if you could please tell me how much Microsoft paid you to write this blog entry, and if so can I have some contact details. I’ll write up a good review for Windows Vista and watch my bank balance rise up with joy.
- Dwayne Charrington.
http://www.dwaynecharrington.com
[...] seguida, Robert Scoble revela o World Wide Telescope, o projeto da Microsoft que o fez chorar. O serviço web ainda está em teste interno e apresenta em uma interface esperta as imagens do [...]
[...] RobertScoble cried when seeing this demoed…he blogs about it here [...]
Did Microsoft researchers actually make anybody cry on February 27? I failed to find any announcement.
Did Microsoft researchers actually make anybody cry on February 27? I failed to find any announcement.
ah, found
ah, found
[...] March 13, 2008 · No Comments Wow. I just watched the TED video of Jill Bolte Taylor’s talk. It’s absolutely incredible. After she describes her background in brain research, she describes her experience as she progressed through a stroke. It’s scary and fascinating and may make you do a Scoble. [...]
[...] all 5 labs around the world include Music Steering (Microsoft Research Asia), WorldWide Telescope (The demo that made Scoble teary) and your comments on the TechFest Live! [...]
[...] taking part were instantly famous. Recently though, the trend has been increasing with a post from Scoble or Mike or someone else every other week getting caught in blogosphere and getting tossed around. [...]
[...] Des que nous en savons plus nous vous tenons inform??s; en attendant plus de d??tails sur le blog de Robert Scoble [...]
[...] Microsoft researchers make me cry « Scobleizer — Tech geek bloggeremotion is what motivated this post – it’s pretty damn intriguing… [...]
[...] is not enough to make me cry, I am looking at you Scoble, but…it doesn’t look as smooth or detailed or as educated as what Micosoft was showing, [...]
[...] Cela donne cela! [...]
World Wide Telescope
World Wide Telescope
Spring WWT Beta is ‘launched’. My wife will be happy to see that didn’t remove Pluto. She was really pissed about that
Spring WWT Beta is ‘launched’. My wife will be happy to see that didn’t remove Pluto. She was really pissed about that
[...] Yes, this is the product that made Scoble cry [...]
[...] para muchos bloggers. Yo lo sigo desde hace unos meses y hace poco hubo un gran revuelo cuando Scoble dijo que había visto algo en Microsoft que lo había hecho llorar. Bueno, a mí Microsoft me hace llorar también, pero en mi caso es de rabia (por Windows Vista). [...]
[...] technology that brought Scoble to tears is now available for everyone to play [...]
[...] on 13,May, 2008. After years of thinking and months of internal testing (and occasional tears), Microsoft Research is releasing its WorldWide Telescope software for the public to download and [...]
[...] launched the highly anticipated (if you’re following Robert Scoble’s blog, this is what made him cry) Worldwide telescope. Get it now! The WorldWide Telescope (WWT) is a Web 2.0 visualization software [...]
[...] The WorldWide Telescope made Robert Scoble cry. [...]
[...] om dette temmelig spennende prosjektet fra Microsoft da überblogger Robert Scoble proklamerte at han hadde sett noe hos microsoft som fikk ham til å gråte. Det er snakk om et program man laster ned og bruker for å se på universet. Man vil fort tenke [...]
[...] Endlich der offizielle Launch. Das World Wide Telescope aus unseren Research Labs ist nun online (http://www.worldwidetelescope.org/). Wie in der “Blogger Szene” bekannt war, ist dieser Dienst der Grund, warum der “Scobelizer” Robert Scoble wieder mal geweint hatte (http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/14/microsoft-researchers-make-me-cry/). [...]
[...] Microsoft has released its Worldwide Telescope software. This software can be used by astronomers and non-astronomers alike to explore the heavens with a desktop client much like Google Earth. I have a vested interest in this after having working on some Observatory Simulation Software and my life long love of astronomy. I am excited about spending my evenings exploring the cosmos. Long Zheng has a good review of this product here: http://www.istartedsomething.com/20080513/capturing-screenshots-from-worldwide-telescope/. I am very exciting about this product. It’s one of the coolest applications I have seen in a long time. Supposedly, it a video of this product even made Robert Scoble cry. [...]
[...] Telescope. Es probable que muchos de vosotros recordéis esta tecnología como aquello que hizo llorar a Scoble pero, incluso sin recordar esa anécdota, el proyecto llama la atención por sí solo al tratarse [...]
[...] Telescope Brings the "Final Frontier" to Your Desktop In February, Robert Scoble wrote that Microsoft researchers showed him something that made him cry. At the time, he couldn’t write [...]
Yep, Robert you were right. There is a lot of cool stuff at Microsoft. I’m up here in Redmond. Good to see your still strirring up things.
Yep, Robert you were right. There is a lot of cool stuff at Microsoft. I’m up here in Redmond. Good to see your still strirring up things.
[...] Es probable que muchos de vosotros recordéis esta tecnología como aquello que hizo llorar a Scoble pero, incluso sin recordar esa anécdota, el proyecto llama la atención por sí [...]
[...] הארץ. אכן אין מה להגיד כמה רמות מעל Google Sky, אבל לא משהו שהייתי בוכה ממנו. איכות התמונות מצויינת, הממשק משובח (במיוחד [...]
[...] product I’ve seen come out Microsoft in years. Maybe ever. This is the product that made Robert Scoble cry the first time he saw a demo and now I understand [...]
[...] tech blog readers will already know that, back in February, Microsoft Research made Robert Scoble cry. Well, the WorldWide Telescope that elicited such a response is now, as of two days ago, [...]
Platforms like this are part of the reason I own Microsoft stock. That point notwithstanding, I hope (all the way down to my core) that this impressive addition to the sum of human knowledge will enable us as a species to develop a greater reverence for our planet and the fact that if we render it uninhabitable through unsustainable behavior such as the burning of fossil fuels, we will have no observation station to ponder the night sky.
Platforms like this are part of the reason I own Microsoft stock. That point notwithstanding, I hope (all the way down to my core) that this impressive addition to the sum of human knowledge will enable us as a species to develop a greater reverence for our planet and the fact that if we render it uninhabitable through unsustainable behavior such as the burning of fossil fuels, we will have no observation station to ponder the night sky.
[...] to try out for yourself what made Robert Scoble cry? Tonight, Microsoft Research has made available the Spring Beta of WorldWide Telescope. Download: [...]
[...] you spend any time in the blogosphere, you probably heard about Robert Scoble’s sob session on Valentine’s Day. He said that he was shown a project at Microsoft Research that was so [...]
[...] 15, 2008 · No Comments Microsoft researchers have made Robert Scoble cry. And not in that “give me your lunch money” way that I am sure Robert dealt with in [...]
Hello. I am so angry right now over something so tupid and I’m sorry I have to vent. Microsoft, are you stupid? I have played video games all of my life and can beat anyone in a fighting game, You pick. Microsoft has the console war in the palm of it’s hand, however you can never, ever play a fighting game on any x box because of it’s d-pad. THIS IS CRAZY. IF THEY OFFER A NEW CONTROLLER NOW THAT HAS A FUCKING PLUS SIGN FOR A D_PAD THEY WILL DOMINATE THE MARKET. I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF NOW IN A RITUALISTIC WAY TO SHOW THAT THIS RETARDATION HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON SOCIETY. OR AT LEAST THIS NEARDY PROGRAMMER!!
Hello. I am so angry right now over something so tupid and I’m sorry I have to vent. Microsoft, are you stupid? I have played video games all of my life and can beat anyone in a fighting game, You pick. Microsoft has the console war in the palm of it’s hand, however you can never, ever play a fighting game on any x box because of it’s d-pad. THIS IS CRAZY. IF THEY OFFER A NEW CONTROLLER NOW THAT HAS A FUCKING PLUS SIGN FOR A D_PAD THEY WILL DOMINATE THE MARKET. I AM GOING TO KILL MYSELF NOW IN A RITUALISTIC WAY TO SHOW THAT THIS RETARDATION HAS HAD AN IMPACT ON SOCIETY. OR AT LEAST THIS NEARDY PROGRAMMER!!
[...] 3D panorama style virtual experience, has been around for a while, gaining major attention when it made Scoble cry. We’ve written about it in the past several times, and yes: it really is a nifty app and one [...]