
Microsoft researchers make me cry - drm237
http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/14/microsoft-researchers-make-me-cry/
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mhb
I'm guessing Microsoft has invented a two-wheeled gyro-stabilized personal
vehicle which will revolutionize transportation.

~~~
fiaz
I remember when I first saw Bill Atkinson's Hypercard back in 1988, when it
came bundled with my MacSE. I was 15 and it opened a world of possibilities
for me as far as creating something fast and functional. True, Hypercard was
not something that made much of an impact on the world at that time...

It was a few years before we saw a derivative of the human-computer
interaction present in Hypercard come out that changed the world in the form
of NCSA Mosaic. I'm guessing Scoble was moved to tears because he feels the
seeds of something great is going to be released on March 3 in that it will
open up a world of possibilities for some other group or individual to take
the possibilities to a higher level (in much the same way Mosaic took the
concepts of Hypercard to the next level). I highly doubt we are going to
benefit immediately from whatever we see.

I also think Scoble has hit upon a great point: today's overwhelmingly profit
driven model for creating software sometimes misses the beauty in creating
something for the pure joy of creation (probably an ironic statement given the
fact that this is a VC-based message board). Part of me is saying this because
one of the projects I'm working on frequently hits the question: "It's a nice
idea but how is it going to make money?" (so I suppose my personal biases are
showing through here in this remark).

~~~
wallflower
Hypercard was my first exposure to a Mac and to programming. I remember
thinking programming can be fun!

I remember staying up to 4am with my college roommate, the night we found
installed NCSA Mosaic for the first time. Of course, we regret not becoming
wealthy by creating a free email service or whatever (it was wide open) but ce
la vie.

~~~
dag
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C'est_la_vie>

------
Herring
A little googling later..

[http://peteremcc.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/scobles-mystery-
so...](http://peteremcc.wordpress.com/2008/02/15/scobles-mystery-solved/)

~~~
mechanical_fish
"The Photosynth technology preview runs only on Windows XP SP2 and Windows
Vista."

Scoble is not the only one who is crying.

~~~
albertcardona
They had a java applet for a while, which run on any browser. So the move is
deliberate.

Apparently Microsoft is trying to make a killer app to bring the masses back
to Windows. But IMO it's too late.

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ChaitanyaSai
Have you ever known, or heard of, anyone who has cried in wonderment at a
demo? Even as an exaggerated emotion signifier, that expression is uggh.
Scobleizer is the anti-lolchrist. He just inspired me to make that word up.

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bayareaguy
Ginger.

"The advance buzz about the then-unknown product was, at times, hyperbolic" -
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Segway#History>

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cousin_it
I think it's Photosynth. I run a similar (but open) project,
<http://openphotovr.org> , and wonder what the effect on us will be.

~~~
fdb
While playing with this project I noticed a tear running down my face.

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nkohari
Scoble, master of cheesy hyperbole. I love technology more than the average
person, but come on, a demo made him cry? You've gotta be kidding me.

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sammyo
From the corpspeak website:

Next Media's research focus spans the linear and interactive media spectrum
from television, broadband, and gaming to combinations of traditional media
forms or emerging media forms too new to have a name. The group partners with
product groups within Microsoft and select outside content partners such as
museums, and public broadcasting to develop conceptual and working prototypes
which best demonstrate the functionality or vision for media that can anchor
new businesses, services and consumer experiences.

(Thus my guess is a fullscreen handheld device with gesture input that runs
Outlook, IE and Excel ;-) (but photosynth does seen quite cool)

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mbuchanan
Here's a good post.
[http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2008/02/is...](http://blog.seattletimes.nwsource.com/brierdudley/2008/02/is_scoble_crying_about_microso.html)

I also bet it's a mix between seadragon and photsynth, that lets you scroll
thru images going back and forth in time.

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cdr
Scoble makes me cry. And not in a good way.

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initself
An extensible Windows XP with a proper CLI?

~~~
ovi256
Cygwin?

~~~
initself
...with an emphasis on the extensible - particularly the GUI.

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edw519
"While listening to Wong I noticed a tear running down my face."

A digital onion peeler that takes 5 minutes to turn on?

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redorb
I think they are releasing something new like 'online/offline' (think Google
gears) for their flash alternative silver light. The problem is having
something that users must download.

~~~
DaniFong
This is not so much of a problem with autoupdate, microsoft can just command
all (windows) clients to download the thing.

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rams
It's not just Microsoft researchers, even the developers and UI designers can
make you cry - there are millions of users who will support me.

------
wallflower
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, powered by Windows

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nreece
The word going around is that its Photosynth:
<http://labs.live.com/photosynth>

~~~
nreece
Seems it ain't Photosynth. "The thing I’m talking about is NOT anything you’ve
seen Microsoft do before." [http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/15/misreading-
scoble-on-micros...](http://scobleizer.com/2008/02/15/misreading-scoble-on-
microsoft-cry/)

