Microsoft Research != Microsoft MSR does a lot of very wild, interesting, off the wall, crazy things. They also do a lot of incredibly practical, pragmatic, ev

Microsoft Research != Microsoft MSR does a lot of very wild, interesting, off the wall, crazy things. They also do a lot of incredibly practical, pragmatic, evolutionary things. It's a large organization, filled with researchers of an incredible range of skills and interests. Any projects coming out of MSR should not be perceived as commitment or desired focus from Microsoft. Some projects simply inspire project teams, others grow into products, but most just die on the drawing board. That said, they are a gravely under appreciated research body, especially by both the open source community and the Microsoft rank and file.