Gary William Flake
Our Vision The Internet operates in a manner fundamentally unlike anything that has ever preceded it. In particular, it promotes "democratization" of information, tools, and resources that combine to empower more people with increasing capabilities. As democratization progresses in multiple domains (e.g., content, commerce, community, code) the aggregate impact of the many small participants (i.e., individuals and small companies) can eventually surpass the impact of the larger participants (i.e., companies), changing the manner in which online entities cooperate, compete, and form a richer digital ecosystem.
These new dynamics set the stage for the literal evolution of innovation. Startup costs and barriers to entry diminish; opportunities for creating entirely new value increase; human muscle no longer gates scalability; transactions are not bound by time, distance, or size; and something intangible - a better algorithm - can massively increase global utility and welfare. 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, economic transactions, and, yes, even software. This is not Web 2.0. It's World 2.0.
Charter & Mission Inline with our vision, Live Labs' near-term charter is to bootstrap a positive and virtuous cycle in three parts: (1) empower Microsoft employees to more rapidly create great Internet technologies; (2) sponsor higher bandwidth exchanges of ideas and innovations between our internal partners, academia, and the Internet community; and (3) foster a community of people and projects which will inspire others to join us in this mission. Since success in any one part requires the others, our primary reason for existence is to cultivate the existing seeds of the virtuous cycle within Microsoft.
The long-term mission of Live Labs is far more ambitious, may take decades to realize, and necessitates that we extensively partner outside of Microsoft. We wish to generalize the virtuous cycle to the rest of society: empowering people to create in whatever domain they chose, facilitating the exchange of any digital artifact, and cultivating communities of all forms to the benefit of all.
Philosophy & Strategy Ostensibly, the charter of Live Labs suggests a dilemma: How can we simultaneously be small and agile but also influential enough to have a meaningful impact? Indeed, this is a dilemma that all organizations face as they grow and mature. Our answer is embarrassingly simple: We are a perpetual startup within Microsoft, which carries three important implications.
First, we will deliberately not do many things that are already well-established within Microsoft. Instead we will seek to connect complementary efforts or to fill existing voids, so as to maximize impact for effort. Our bias will be to focus at intersections: between science and engineering, tactical and strategic, users and businesses, vertical and horizontal, short-term and long-term, internal and external, but above all - between problems and solutions. Like a startup, we seek to create entirely new value by making new combinations.
Second, all of our teams will be small, but with sufficient resources to make a modest level of success something that is completely within their own control (which, of course, implies minimizing some dependencies).
Third, when appropriate, we will opportunistically partner with other Microsoft groups to amplify their efforts as well as our own. We aspire to being positive agents of change across the company, helping to break down barriers, and expediting innovations - but on a scale that can only be realized by multiple teams working in concert.
Structure & Function Live Labs is analogous to a confederation in that it is made up of many subgroups, loosely coupled, but united by a single cause - to enable rapid innovations of Internet technologies. MSN and MSR are the two primary co-founders of Live Labs. MSR is adding 30 positions to its ranks for Live Labs, and MSN is creating over 100 new positions to start the effort. New Live Labs groups within MSN will focus on:
- Sandbox infrastructure - facilities that allow rapid deployment and data gathering without risk to existing product teams.
- Research platforms - technology investments made that reduce the incremental costs for performing more ambitious applied research.
- Rapid prototyping - small teams that produce functional and conceptual prototypes outside of the normal product development process.
- Incubations - thoughtful investments of emerging technologies that are potentially disruptive.
- Applied research - self-directed teams with a mandate to connect science and technology to users and businesses.
- Internal and external community programs - efforts that connect Live Labs with internal partners, external academics, and the larger Internet community.
We intend for and anticipate that other parts of Microsoft will join Live Labs by either directly funding new positions within its formal structure, or by aligning the mission of existing teams to Live Labs' larger mission.
A Call to Action As we launch, expand, and evolve Live Labs, we will need many partners to succeed. Whether you are an engineer, scientist, product designer, leader, or are merely just curious, there will be ample opportunity to collaborate. If our vision for the evolution of the Internet, its impact on society, and Microsoft's role in this process resonates with you, then please join us in what we believe is a historic time for Microsoft and the world. See , post launch, for more information.