Secret Project from Microsoft to Change the World?

Just for a minute forget about Internet Explorer 8, MinWin, Windows Vista SP1, Windows XP SP3 and Windows 7. There are other projects going on at Microsoft that the world had no idea about. And yet their impact could be nothing sort of life changing. At least, this is the promise of Microsoft Evangelist Robert Scoble
who has been granted access into the Building 99, a Microsoft Research facility located in the Redmond campus.

"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," Scoble stated, explaining that he is under a strict embargo not to reveal any details until the end of February or the start of March. Scoble did however manage to point to two Microsoft researchers that have developed the project, namely Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay.

"They’ve been traveling all over the world working with researchers from other institutions and getting data for their new thing. (...) 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," Scoble added.

Details are scarce at this point in time to say the least, but there are bits and pieces that can fit together. Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay have undoubtedly prepared a new web-based Microsoft service. But don't expect the technology to come into play anytime soon. At most, the two researchers have a working prototype, but there are no plans to made the new service available as a product. One thing is clear: the new project is nothing that has ever been seen before out of Microsoft. Still, there is one aspect that Scoble fails to mention and that could have all the importance in the world.

Curtis Wong and Jonathan Fay are both part of the Microsoft Research Media Group. According to Microsoft: "Next Media Research group focuses on exploring what new consumer media experiences are possible with the growth in computing power, connectivity and storage in a compelling, elegant and transparent way in the 3 to 10 year timeframe. The group envisions consumer information and entertainment experiences not available today and builds or combines technologies from other Microsoft Research groups and crafts intuitive user interfaces and compelling scenarios to deliver that experience. Rather than focus on old media or new media, the group attempts to develop working prototypes of the Next forms of media possible from new convergent technologies, hence the name."

So the equation of web + new service is joined by the media component. In this context, my best guess is that we will see a project that will deliver a high level of interactivity across various forms of media and content, all in a wrapper of a new broadband web service. But it is of course no more than speculation on my part.