Microsoft Sets Up Internet Lab to Jump-Start Innovation

Microsoft announced Jan. 25, 2006, the launch of Microsoft Live Labs, indicating a big push to increase the pace of innovation in the company in the area of Internet products and services.

The news release's emphasis on Internet services, search technology, distributed computing, data mining, and "disruptive technologies" suggests to me that Microsoft is triggering a strong innovation effort to combat the Google threat to Microsoft's platform dominance -- as well as potential threats, I would argue, from less-obvious quarters, such as iPod and Salesforce.com -- and probably others not yet on the radar but sure to emerge in the future.

The Live Labs name is a reference to Microsoft's Windows Live offerings, a "set of personal Internet services and software" launched in beta in November 2005. Microsoft says Windows Live is "designed to bring together in one place all the relationships, information and interests people care about most, with enhanced safety and security features across their PC, devices and the Web." The Windows Live web site provides downloads for the beta offerings, which include applications for personal portals, web mail, security, favorites, customized mapping, mobile search, and the next-gen Windows Live Messenger enabled for voice and video communications. One of the missions of Live Labs is to improve and accelerate the Windows Live suite.

Yesterday's release describes Live Labs as an "agile environment for fast-tracking research from the lab into people’s hands" and "the incubation of disruptive technologies." Described as "a research partnership between MSN and Microsoft Research," Live Labs will draw on resources and personnel from both groups as well as academic research organizations. Microsoft is encouraging its Live Labs researchers to collaborate openly with the academic community and publish their findings. In addition, Microsoft is announcing increased funding for academic research efforts, especially in the areas of "data mining, discovery and analysis as they relate to Internet search."

AB -- 1/26/06