Some Vista, Office innovations spring from MS Research
eWeek | at | by Mike
A number of innovations in the upcoming Windows Vista and Office 2007 products were initially conceived of in Microsoft Research, whose teams then worked closely with the individual product groups to make these technologies viable for inclusion in shipping products.
Among the contributions made by Microsoft Research are the new desktop search, Sidebar and SuperFetch features in Vista, and the new ribbon-based user interface in Office 2007.
One of the new features that has been widely touted by Microsoft executives, including Jim Allchin, the co-president of the Platforms and Services division, and CEO Steve Ballmer, is desktop search, which was conceptualized some five years ago by Susan Dumais, the principal researcher of Microsoft Research's Adaptive Systems and Interaction group.