David Briddock discovers where Microsoft employees build their crazy ideas
Under the leadership of Satya Nadella Microsoft is undergoing radical cultural change.
Since Nadella but took over the CEO position from Steve Ballmer there have been many well publicised indications of internal change, and one place in particular showcases the company's new way of working.
This place is called is the Microsoft Garage.
Background
Founded in 2009 within the Office Labs group, Microsoft Garage acts as a hub for grassroots innovation at Microsoft, a safe place for Microsoft employees to build their crazy ideas. Consequently, it has an entrepreneurial spirit, as opposed to the more academic focus of the Microsoft Research teams.
A free-thinking, hands-on approach has helped grow the Garage into a community of more than 10,000 Microsoft employees, who operate in 36 Garage chapters spread around the world. This community involvement extends to hackathons, science fairs, and general maker-style tinkering.
The wide diversity of Microsoft Garage projects help connect people and dissolve the traditional boundaries of geographies, organisations and disciplines.
Opening Up
Until recently the Garage was a Microsoft-only domain, but that started to change when the forward-thinking Nadella began his extensive internal reorganisation.
When it came to Garage projects, Nadella wanted to the public to get involved too, so now we can all download and evaluate for ourselves whatever wild projects the Garage members have dreamt up.
Nadella realised that by opening up Garage to the public Microsoft would discover how we respond to all these apps. This feedback will come in two forms: explicit feedback from sources like social channels and app reviews, and implicit feedback from actual app usage - each app is internally instrumented.
Feedback pattern analysis helps Microsoft figure out what works and what doesn't. For example, if it finds a high proportion of users are struggling to find a particular feature, it could re-engineer the app's interface.
And if you're not a Microsoft Windows user, you needn't feel left out. Garage members are keen to support a range of alternative platforms, so in addition to Windows and Windows Phone apps, there are also projects for Xbox One, Google Android and Apple iOS - as we'll see later.
Buzzy Environment
Jeff Ramos, Microsoft's manager of the Garage, doesn't really have much of a recruitment problem. The buzzy, innovative nature of the Garage environment has proved attractive to so many Microsoft employees.
As technology architect Sam Trim says, "There are so many creative people here from all walks of life, and a wide distribution of talent."
And the infectious sense of community spirit was expressed by senior program manager Ed Essey when he said, "Great ideas are easy. The magic happens where execution meets data. The Garage focuses on connecting people with diverse perspectives to quickly bring an idea to life, share it and learn from that experience."
Microsoft developers Milind Solage and Soniya Khoja, who created the DevSpace app, put it more simply when they say, "The Garage converts ideas into realities."
And there really are no rules. Some projects like the 'Forgotten Attachment Detector' for Microsoft Outlook end up being incorporated into production code, but others, like Mount Maker - a massive sheet metal volcano parked in the middle of the room that erupts helium balloons by remote control - are simply fun-filled flights of imagination.
Such is the attraction of the Microsoft Garage environment that even on a weeknight it's chock full of people: hackers, makers, artists, tinkerers, musicians and inventors - each one grafting away on projects at various stages of evolution. In many ways it's a scene reminiscent of the dawn of the personal computing age when hackers (including Bill Gates himself) regularly coded through the night, for fun and for profit.
And the Garage isn't just about software. There's also the Garage Maker space. Here you'll find a comprehensively stocked workshop area for hardware hacking, complete with workbenches, hand tools, design tools, laser cutters, 3D printing technology, soldering stations plus electronic circuit boards and components.
First Wave Of Incubation Apps
October 2014 saw the initial wave of incubation app launches.
Mouse Without Borders was one of the original Garage projects. Once installed you can control up to four Windows computers from a single mouse and keyboard setup.
The Developer Assistant app is aimed at the coding community. It provides a guide and simple way to find and reuse millions of code snippets and sample projects from within the Visual Studio environment.
This first launch wave also included some Android apps. Picturesque Lock Screen brings Bing home page images to an Android lock screen, but that's not all. You can also see missed calls or text messages, today's weather, news headlines, regional calendars and even initiate a web search.
Another popular Android download is the Torque app. Here the device's built-in accelerometer is used to turn a particular motion into a specific action - for example, to voice search the web, make a phone call, text a friend, launch an app or take dictation notes.
Latest App Wave
The latest versions of all the above apps are available on the recently revamped Garage website's Workbench page.
In February 2015 a new wave of projects appeared on this website. Some are already available to download from the respective app stores, depending on the target platform, while the others should be downloadable soon. Below is a little taster of what's on offer, split into various categories.
Productivity Apps
The simple but clever Keyboard for Excel app replaces your Android keyboard with a layout optimised for Excel.
Tetra Lockscreen is a lock screen app for Windows Phones to help owners customise the notification experience. Individual widgets are available for agendas, current location, stopwatch and activity tracking.
Meanwhile the Android lock screen app Next Lock Screen saves you time by only displaying information and apps relevant to your location and current activity. Elements include calendar, missed calls, emails, text messages, a calendar and single swipe call initiation - all without unlocking your phone.
For those who make frequent conference calls, Join Conference is a great time-saver. Launch the app using the big join button at the top of your current meeting appointment or issue the voice command 'Join Conference' to Cortana. The app parses the meeting invite text to discover the conference system type, meeting ID and PIN codes and whether you're the meeting leader. Then it figures out the best way to connect to the meeting - say, either launching an app like Lync or GoToMeeting or by dialling the phone number and ID/PIN touch tones.
Student Planner is a Windows tool that takes course and planning documents, extracts the key information for you, then adds events to your Outlook calendar events/notifications, creates OneNote pages for classes and finally stores the documents on your OneDrive.
Team-based productivity is also addressed. With Collaborate for Windows and Windows Phone, you host or join a virtual canvases session made up of text cards and images. Everyone can write/draw on the canvas then reorganise the text and image content using pinch, drag and rotate gestures.
The Floatz for Windows Phone app, meanwhile, lets you float your idea to discover what the people think about it or join in an existing conversation.
Info Apps
The Apple iOS app Snipp3t gathers the latest celebrity news, to quickly browse the headlines while also providing a 'subscribe to famous people' option.
Developed for Android Wear, the Torque app removes the need to say 'OK Google' to ask your smartwatch a question by voice input. Instead you simply lift your arm, twist your wrist and ask Bing your question.
For Chinese-speaking Windows Phone owners, the Your Weather offers personalised air quality and weather reports for cities across China. Working closely with Microsoft Research Asia and the ChinaMeteorological Administration, the team managed to incorporate Azure data and Machine Learning algorithms into Live Tiles and the Lock Screen. It even has an artistic aspect through the use of Chinese paintings within the interactive reports.
Social Apps
There are a number of social focus apps too. SquadWatch for Windows Phone is one example. It displays real-time information on the whereabouts of your friends and loved ones, so you'll see if, say, they're stuck in a meeting or already on their way home, without having to text or call.
Journeys & Notes is another social app, this time for Android (with iOS and Windows Phone expected soon). Here you'll connect to a community of people who share journey information, and you can leave notes for others to discover, whether it's just a bus ride to work or global jet-setting.
Reach Me lets Windows Phone owners share your location and provide turn-by-turn directions. You can guide friends to your location in real time, with easy-to-follow updates as you move from place to place. Location tracking expires at the time you set, so you control how long they are able to follow.
Facebook users might like AutoTag 'n Search My Photos. This Windows 8.1 app uses your Facebook tagged photos to help you tag your own personal pictures. The software learns your friends' faces (accuracy improves the more you use the app), then it automatically tags photos stored in your Pictures Library on Windows. If you include OneDrive photos in the Pictures library and photos taken on a Windows Phone, they can also be automatically tagged and so instantly become searchable.
Games
Gamers aren't left out of the fun either. The Xbox One RTS space shooter game Voice Commander accepts voice commands and input from up to eight game controllers to defeat the attackers.
Windows Phone owners can download Nova Bacon where, as an alien armed with a gigantic claw, you must travel to Earth and fetch an Earth-bound pig while fending off humans.
And in Lost Turtle, available for Windows and Windows Phone, players help Walter the turtle find his watery home by controlling his jetpack thrusters to navigate through mountains and volcanos.
Not quite gaming, but definitely fun, the Sound Stack music creation tool for Windows Phone aims to cater to musicians at every level, from beginner to expert. Tap to play the virtual drums, press and slide over the synth pad to create masterful melodies or even use your camera-captured surroundings to play chords. Then combine all three to build a loop-based composition.
Apps For Coders
DevSpace provides fast access to work items and queries. Features include build status push notifications on the start screen and convenient access through secondary tiles. Cortana integration means DevSpace also responds to voice commands.
Designed for Windows Phone the Work Item Studio app lets you view, create and edit work project items in Visual Studio Online. It also lists all your work item tracking queries (with associated result count), which can be executed as required or marked as favourites.
With so much on offer, why not visit the Microsoft Garage website today, at microsoft.com/en-us/garage