A 17 Gigapixel Image

I wouldn't normally like to something that requires a plugin, but it is the Microsoft Research HD View Plugin and I trust those guys. The plugin allows you to view the mountains on yosemite-17-gigapixels.com. A site that had five mountain photographs that will amaze you because of their size. It's like having your own spy satellite.

Microsoft Could Have Done Natal Earlier

This is a clear example of management not getting an idea. Years ago Microsoft Research was doing a load of camera research and when the XBox Vision Camera was leaked I got all exsighted and wrote a post called Two Cameras Not One for the XBox360 where I talked about the stuff that Research was working on. I was excited because I seen the potential of what they where showing and how that could be worked into gaming. The videos in that post have all been taken down and the best I could find was a small image of GWindows Here, but what they where showing in 2005 was components of what Natal is.

I know that they could have done Natal in 2005, but didn't and I suspect the cause of this was short sighted management, as soon as the Wii was proven to print money, Microsoft called up Research and they made Natal.

This makes me annoyed because I know of a dozen other cool technologies that MS Research has that I know now will never see the light of day until some other company blazes the way forward and creates a market for it. And then when Microsoft responds everybody calls it a Me-Too! move from Microsoft and Research doesn't get any credit for their work outside of a black cube on their windowsill (they get one of these everytime they file a patent).

Microsoft Axes Underperforming XBLA Games

Microsoft Has Stated that they plan to axe games on XBLA that are underperforming. Meaning that:

• They have been out for over six months


• They have a Metacritic score below 65


• The trial purchase rate is less than 6%

Initially I was disgusted by this because I believe all the games on the service have value to someone and have archive value. But that 6% conversion rate suggests to me that some titles might be costing Microsoft money in bandwidth and server costs. If a new title came out and nobody bought their trial version, then Microsoft would make a loss on distributing those free trial versions.

Random Fact

Windows (XP & Vista) will not allow a user to name a file lpt1.png, lpt2.png, lpt3.png, lpt4.png, lpt5.png, lpt6.png, lpt7.png, lpt8.png, lpt9.png or name a folder com, com0, com1, com2, com3, com4, com5, com6, com7, com8 or com9.

Bill Gates Stepping Down

You can watched the announcement Here and honestly I think this is a good move for Bill and a good move for Microsoft because it allows Bill to concentrate on the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And Microsoft will stop being Bill Gate's company, which it isn't now anyway.