My immediate assumption is that they're just moving it to Santa Barbara, where they established a facility in 2005: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/st

My immediate assumption is that they're just moving it to Santa Barbara, where they established a facility in 2005: http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/stationq/default.aspx http://research.microsoft.com/en-us/labs/stationq/default.as... That's not so far away; it's easy for an organization like Microsoft, with no ties to SV or need for them, to relocate when real estate becomes a problem.