No one is doubting the capabilities of
Microsoft Research division. They came up with Kinect and they are also working on loads of innovative technologies. The problem is that unless they can bring these technologies to the market in time, it does not really help them at all. Kinect has been a rare Microsoft achievement in the recent years. Other than that, there has been little innovation from the company. They are too slow to evolve on the mobile front.
Nokia and other companies have to wait for Microsoft to support higher resolutions to launch devices with better displays. PC makers are now waiting for Microsoft to add support for ‘lower’ resolutions on
Windows RT so that they can launch 7 inch
Tablets powered by it. Their current attacks on
Android have been quite hilarious. They are comparing Lumia 920 with
Galaxy S III which is almost a year old model. And of course, their challenges are optimized for features which their phones have out of the box and so on. If the company had any sense, they would stop with the childish attacks on Android and focus on their own camp.
Now compare that to
Google X. Bill Gates has been talking about
wearable computers and mobile wallets for decades now. Who came out with actual functional technologies that works in the real world? Google. Driverless cars? Google. They do not blabber about their ongoing research unless it is ready for real world testing. Microsoft Research on the other hand has a dedicated website showcasing technologies they are working on but we are unlikely to see for years because Microsoft just does not have the guts to experiment outside their comfort zone.
God only knows what else is being developed under the leadership of Eric Schmidt Sergey Brin.