My #1 Complaint About Microsoft Is.....

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.....we don't spend enough time talking about all of the really cool, innovative stuff we do.  We really don't and because of that Microsoft is often portrayed in the press as an aging monolith.  There are some very creative people that work here and I want to encourage you check out some pretty neat things we got cookin'.

  1. FUSE Labs - fuse.microsoft.com - I've talked about FUSE Labs before with respecit to Docs.com, but take a look at what else they are doing:
    1. Montage - Montage is a flexible web-based service that makes it fun and easy to create and share a visual album of the web on the topics you care about. You can design your Montage around any topic you can imagine by adding content that pulls information from a variety of sources, including RSS feeds, Twitter, Bing News, and YouTube. Montage is an expression of you.
    2. Team Crossword - Start a puzzle, invite your friends, and work together to complete the puzzle of the day.
    3. Project Emporia - Sifts through ever-evolving news streams to identify hot news stories, categorizes them into topic areas and ranks them, and then presents them to you in a friendly and easy-to-use UI. With Project Emporia you get relevant stories on topics of your choice. You can influence how future stories are chosen for you, one vote at a time. There's also a Windows Phone 7 app as well.
    4. Spindex - Spindex brings you an overview of your entire social world in one page. With Spindex you can connect to Facebook, Twitter, Evernote, RSS, and Bing – with more services on the way.
    5. Kodu - A visual programming language made specifically for creating games. Accessible for children and enjoyable for anyone.
    6. Bing Twitter - Find out what topics are hottest on Twitter in real-time and get quick links on that trend.
    7. Bing Twitter Maps - Tweets Around the World - See tweets in the context of a map and for specific subject, place or person to quickly see what is happening where via Twitter.
    8. SocialGadgets - Dynamic visualizations of real-time Twitter data that you can embed on your site or blog.
  2. Speaking of Bing:
    1. Bing Images - Top Image Searches
    2. Bing Videos - Videos from all over the web
    3. Bing Shopping - Connect with Facebook and get gift ideas for your friend's upcoming birthdays.
    4. Bing News - Headlines from everywhere
    5. Bing Maps - Play around with the mapping tools, but also take some time to explore the Map Apps. Bing Twitter and Bing Twitter are just two of the many apps you can use. If you want to create your own Map App, please visit https://www.microsoft.com/maps/developers/mapapps.aspx.
    6. Bing Travel - I love Farecast!
    7. Bing Entertainment - Movies, Music, TV, Games, etc.
    8. Lastly there's a new Bing Facebook app. Try it out at https://social.discoverbing.com - Learn more about how this works at the Bing Blog.
  3. Photosynth - I was prepping for an event next weekend and a co-worker turned me on to this. Photosynth is a powerful set of tools for capturing and viewing the world in 3D. You can share these views with your friends on Facebook, publish them to Bing Maps, or embed them in your own Web site.
  4. Mediaroom - Did you really believe that Microsoft TV was a failure? Mediaroom powers set top boxes all over the world.
  5. WorldWide Telescope - WorldWide Telescope (WWT) enables your computer to function as a virtual telescope, bringing together imagery from the best ground and space-based telescopes in the world. Experience narrated guided tours from astronomers and educators featuring interesting places in the sky.
  6. Mouse Mischief - For all you teachers out there Mouse Mischief can transform teaching and learning in the classroom. Mouse Mischief integrates into Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 and Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007, allowing teachers to create interactive presentations that engage and excite every student in the classroom.
  7. Microsoft Tag - Microsoft Tag is a new kind of bar code that connects almost anything in the real world to information, entertainment, and interactive experiences on your mobile phone. Tags are free to create and use. You can add them to your ads, posters, product packages, display it on your website, billboards, clothing…the list is endless. When you scan a Tag using the free Tag Reader application on your mobile phone, it will automatically open a webpage, add a contact to your address book, display a message, or dial a number – there are no long URLs to type or SMS messages to send.

That's a lot of info to digest, so get to using these applications. Oh and tell your friends too.

Lastly, how 'bout them Bulls!