Historically, the software industry has been an industry in which it was fine to have months or years in between product cycles. That is something that has been part of Microsoft’s processes as well.

It’s a much more continuous process.

To the extent this helps us in any sort of competition, that’s great, but that’s actually a side effect. It’s a happy side effect, nonetheless.

This pattern is not merely about new applications. It’s about a revolution in how we create, share and refine anything that can be digitally encoded–be it news and information, artistic forms, scientific breakthroughs, personal communications,...

We can streamline the whole process of how we innovate.

Not all of them are going to work. Not all of them are going to resonate with users.

It will be the pre-eminent applied research laboratory for Internet technologies. This is a very exciting opportunity for researchers and technologists to have an immediate impact on the next evolution of Microsoft’s Internet products and...