Gates: Microsoft products 'need more than a tune-up'

Microsoft workers say, 'We need to take a little risk and do some new stuff,' Gates tells Rolling Stone Microsoft's software is due for major changes in order to transition effectively into the era of cloud computing and mobility, the company's co-founder Bill Gates says in a Rolling Stone interview.

“Office and the other Microsoft assets that we built in the Nineties and kept tuning up have lasted a long time,” he says. “Now, they need more than a tune-up. But that's pretty exciting for the people inside who say, ‘We need to take a little risk and do some new stuff.’”
Microsoft would have been willing to buy [WhatsApp] too.
— Bill Gates

+[Also on Network World: Snowden advocates at SXSW for improved data security | Satya Nadella and Bill Gates's apron strings | Facebook buying WhatsApp for $16 billion +

He says Facebook’s founder Mark Zuckerberg took such a risk in buying WhatsApp for $19 billion and that he thinks it was a sound move. “I think his aggressiveness is wise – although the price is higher than I would have expected,” Gates says.

Microsoft was interested in WhatsApp, he says, not just for its technology but for its user list. “It's software; it can morph into a broad set of things – once you're set up communicating with somebody, you're not just going to do text. You're going to do photos, you're going to share documents, you're going to play games together,” he says. “Microsoft would have been willing to buy it, too. . . . I don't know for $19 billion, but the company's extremely valuable.”

He says Microsoft rival Google is in a similar situation where it has enough cash to pursue many varied technologies at once. “And when you have a lot of money, it allows you to go down a lot of dead ends. We had that luxury at Microsoft in the Nineties,” he says. “You can pursue things that are way out there. We did massive interactive TV stuff, we did digital-wallet stuff. A lot of it was ahead of its time, but we could afford it.”

He says that despite other factors, innovation is healthy in high tech. “Innovation in California is at its absolute peak right now,” Gates says. “Sure, half of the companies are silly, and you know two-thirds of them are going to go bankrupt, but the dozen or so ideas that emerge out of that are going to be really important.”
GATES TAKES ON SURVEILLANCE

Gates says that in light of revelations about NSA surveillance of U.S. phone records brought to light by Edward Snowden, use of surveillance should be better regulated. “There's always been a lot of information about your activities. Every phone number you dial, every credit-card charge you make. It's long since passed that a typical person doesn't leave footprints. But we need explicit rules,” he says. “I actually wish we were having more intense debates about these things.”

As for Snowden himself, Gates thinks that if he wanted to spark discussions about privacy, the former NSA contractor went about it the wrong way. “If he wanted to raise the issues and stay in the country and engage in civil disobedience or something of that kind, or if he had been careful in terms of what he had released, then it would fit more of the model of ‘OK, I'm really trying to improve things,’” he says. “You won't find much admiration from me.”

He says defining when surveillance is appropriate needs to be better defined. “Should surveillance be usable for petty crimes like jaywalking or minor drug possession? Or is there a higher threshold for certain information? Those aren't easy questions,” he says.

“Should the rules be different for U.S. citizens versus non-U.S. citizens? There is the question of terrorist interdiction versus law-enforcement situations. If you think the state is overzealous in any of its activities, even if you agree with its sort of anti-large-scale-terrorism efforts, you might say, ‘Well, I think the abuse will outweigh the benefits. I'll just take the risk.’ But the people who say that sometimes having this information is valuable – they're not being very articulate right now.”

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If you haven't retired Windows XP and haven't been fired yet, get busy

Security comes first, with a premium on speed upgrading to a supported Microsoft operating system

CIOs who haven't moved their companies from Windows XP by now ought to be fired, some people think, but those who haven't and are still on the job have options for saving their bacon.

“Start,” is the first piece of advice from Shawn Allaway, CEO of Converter Technology, which specializes in migrating businesses to new versions of Windows and Microsoft Office. Even if the project isn’t completed before Microsoft ends support for XP on April 8, it’s important to minimize the window of exposure during which XP runs unsupported on corporate networks.

Those who haven’t started yet probably should be fired for leaving their businesses open to the impending threat, he says. “This is not like Microsoft dropped this on you six months ago,” he says. “You’re putting your organization at risk.”

That threat is that vulnerabilities discovered after April 8 will never be patched by Microsoft, leaving Windows XP open to an ever expanding range of attacks. In addition, many applications will no longer be supported when running on Windows XP, Gartner warns.
It’s possible and even desirable to sign a custom support contract with Microsoft that provides continued upgrades after the end-of-support date, but it is also expensive, says Directions on Microsoft. If that’s not possible, the main goal is to minimize risks caused by using unsupported XP, which means a review and possible beefing up of security.

Isolating XP machines on corporate networks and limiting what devices they can communicate with is essential, and there are tools for this. For instance Unisys Stealth can limit a machine’s access to other machines and hide it from attackers, says Unisys CIO Dave Frymier. A Stealth shim in the IP stack of XP machines sits between the link and network layers to decrypt IP payloads if it can and drops packets when it can’t. A machine can talk to another only if it is a member of the same community of interest as defined by Active Directory, he says.

Migrating isn’t a quick process, and the larger the network, the longer it takes. The rule of thumb is that for a 10,000-desktop network with 15 offices, it will take two to three months to complete the project, Allaway says.

A first step toward the transition is testing application compatibility with a newer operating system, getting new licensing agreements and assessing the need for and buying new hardware.

Like any OS rollout, this one will be done in phases. Organizations that think they’ll miss the deadline should prioritize their applications and users and migrate the most important and most vulnerable first to reduce the risks, Gartner says.

Some of the preparatory steps can be sped up using tools. For example ChangeBase and AppDNA can help determine whether business apps are compatible with newer OSs. If not businesses may need to buy newer versions that are or in the case of custom software, recoding it, Allaway says.

Microsoft is offering a free and now unsupported version of Laplink’s PCmover Express for Windows XP to transfer files from XP machines to machines with newer operating systems. PCmover Professional ($60) also moves applications, if that’s called for.

Allaway says it’s a good time to rid the network of deadware – rogue apps installed by end users or corporate apps that are no longer used – that have avoided detection during housecleaning over the years. “There’s a sense of urgency [about the XP migration] but clean a little junk out of your network if you can,” Allaway says. Those who have waited a decade to upgrade the operating system may have let this slide.

If an apps inventory is long overdue, it is also a good time to check whether apps licenses are in synch with the number of workers actually using the software. Restructuring license agreements may produce cost savings, he says.

PC upgrades may be needed to support a new operating system, but hardware needs may go beyond that. Old printers may lack drivers for Windows 7 or Windows 8, and there may be some machines such as faxes that may not be necessary at all anymore, he says.

Like any desktop refresh project moving to Windows 7 or Windows 8/8.1 requires someone in charge, either in-house or a consultant, a plan for a phased rollout and personnel to help resolve the inevitable issues that will arise after the rollout. “Don’t resource-starve the project,” Allaway says. “It ultimately costs more and takes longer.”

One thing to remember is that on April 8. Windows XP will keep chugging along, but the risk of being successfully attacked goes up more and more after that. “It’s not Y2K where come April it’s not going to work,” he says.

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IBM workforce cuts raise questions

NY Gov. Cuomo says state has deal with IBM to preserve jobs, but questions arise about what the pact really means

IBM is laying off employees this week, a job action that began in a curious way.

IBM won't disclose the number of cuts, calling the layoffs part of a "rebalancing" of its workforce as it invest in new technologies. The company points out that at any given time it has more than 3,000 jobs openings in the U.S.

The layoffs may have begun in earnest today. The website at the Alliance@IBM, part of the Communications Workers of America union, was hard to access this morning; a union union organizer said the delays are due to high traffic to its site from IBM employees and others.

Lee Conrad, a national coordinator for the Alliance, estimates that between 4,000 to 6,000 IBM U.S. jobs may be at risk in the latest move, a figure based on previous job actions and IBM's restructuring goal of $1 billion.

Even though the latest round of layoffs was expected, the week began with an announcement by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo that IBM had agreed to create new jobs, as well as maintain minimum staffing levels in the state.

There was nothing in the statement announcing the move about a pending job action, and appeared timed to try to blunt the impact of a layoff.

Specifically, Cuomo said, the state had reached "a major agreement" with IBM to "maintain 3,100 high-tech jobs in the Hudson Valley and surrounding areas. The company has committed to increase its minimum job commitment to the state by 750 jobs, and maintain the 3,100 jobs through the end of 2016."

The statement did not disclose the number of employees that IBM now has in the Hudson Valley area.

IBM is believed to employ about 7,000 workers at its Poughkeepsie and East Fishkill facilities. That estimate is from Dutchess County spokeswoman, who said IBM is the county's largest employer.

Conrad said the governor's announcement raises some questions for workers and the region. "Yes, you're trying to protect 3,100 jobs but what about the other 3,900 jobs?" he said.

The New York governor's office did not respond to a Computerworld request for comment on the IBM layoffs and the agreement.

When asked, IBM referred all questions to the governor's office.

In a statement, IBM spokesman Douglas Shelton said that "IBM continues to rebalance its workforce to meet the changing requirements of its clients, and to pioneer new, high value segments of the IT industry."

Shelton said that IBM is positioning itself to lead in, among other areas, cloud computing, analytics and cognitive computing. He pointed to a $1 billion investment in its new Watson unit and the decision to spend $1.2 billion to expand its global cloud footprint.

In addition, IBM this week announced a $1 billion investment in boosting its platform-as-a-service cloud capabilities, as well as further investments in nanotechnology and othe rareas.

As part of the minimum staffing agreement, Cuomo also announced that the IBM and the state are jointly investing in nanotechnology, and that IBM plans to create some 500 new jobs in Buffalo.

At one time IBM regularly disclosed the number of employees it had in the U.S., but stopped doing so several years ago as the number declined.

The main source of information about IBM's U.S. employment base has been the Alliance, gathers documents from workers that detail cuts in the various business units. But this information pipeline may be disappearing.

Conrad said Wednesday that IBM has changed how it releases information, something he called a "distributing development."

IBM employees received documents listing the age, title and number of employees selected for a job cut. These resource action documents, as they are called, no longer include this information, said Conrad.

This data "is how we validated and counted the numbers that we gave you in past job cuts," said Conrad. "IBM clearly does not want us, you or other employees to know the depth and scope of today's cuts."

The Alliance website site, by mid-afternoon, did show 150 jobs cuts in Essex Junction, Vt., and 10 to 15 in Endicott. The Alliance also posted anonymous reports on its Website that show much larger layoff figures.

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The erosion of IT's middle class

Evolve your career with the changing face of IT, or risk getting left behind

As new technologies continue to emerge in the network, the need for highly skilled IT administration resources will grow just as well.

However, the advent of Software Defined Networking (SDN), cloud systems, and orchestration software means many mundane tasks will become automated. If your day is mainly made up of those mundane tasks, then you should be worried about the future of your career.

In the near future, IT teams will of course need high-level engineers, but there will still be a need for lower-skilled resources. This emerging IT environment, however, threatens those in the middle-tier IT ranks.

Increasing complexity in IT environments
In the recent past, enterprise networks have been fairly simple. A core data center contained the internet connectivity, and that data center contained all the servers running the corporate applications. There was a corporate network and WAN, and the IP routing topology was fairly stable (unless new sites were added or moved).

Now we have server virtualization, more functionality and configurability within the hypervisor (Network Functions Virtualization), and layer-2 data center interconnection protocols tunneling traffic between data centers. Now enterprises have a completely eroded internet perimeter, cloud-based data centers, remote virtual workers, and virtual machines that move from on-premise to cloud-data center.

How this affects the IT super star
This increased complexity requires IT staff to be multi-disciplined in order to be effective at their jobs. No longer can server administrators get away with being be familiar with the operating system alone. They need to have mastered server virtualization, understand how the services operate in a virtualized environment, how applications are secured with firewalls, and how network virtualization connects those applications. Network administrators not only need to know about IP routing protocols and spanning tree, but they must also know about network virtualization (VRFs, VDCs), layer-2 data center interconnect protocols (OTV, TRILL, VXLAN, NVGRE, STT, VPLS), Quality of Service (QoS), how firewalls operate, and how networking functions can now be placed within the hypervisor (VMware NSX, Cisco Nexus 1000V, virtual load balancing, virtual firewalls). While many IT organizations are still heavily siloed into separate teams, troubleshooting events often bring these groups together. Unfortunately, when these groups get together to resolve an issue, the proverbial “finger pointing” starts while everyone digs in to defend their turf. Organizations that are more effective have interdisciplinary groups that cross these boundaries to help break down barriers and foster cooperation. Mature organizations with cross-functional teams and better processes realize increased operational availability, lower downtime, and faster response to business needs.

To get to this level, the IT staff needs to have many years of experience and a desire to learn about a broad range of technologies. IT staff need to be aware of the end-to-end IT environment, follow ITIL practices, able to traverse the full OSI stack, and comfortable dealing with hardware and software. Those with a programming background and an understanding of applications, operating systems, databases and storage systems, as well as networking and security, will have the most job security.

The IT middle class
Many enterprise organizations do not see a need to have these IT super stars, and instead staff their teams with middle-tier administrators. Enterprise organizations have historically needed a middle-tier of skilled resources because these resources fit the continually reduced IT budget. These individuals have been the first line of support and help troubleshoot problems. They were the staff that operated the current infrastructure. They handle the configuration, maintenance, and troubleshooting of the IT infrastructure. This staff handled day-to-day moves/adds/changes.

Now, most IT organizations spend 75% of their time maintaining the IT systems that have been purchased and only 25% of the time working on new projects that help evolve the business. It’s no wonder companies want to divest themselves of the physical IT infrastructure that consumes so much CAPEX and move to cloud-based IT services that use only OPEX money.

Here are just some of the mundane day-to-day tasks that could potentially be automated:
Virtual machine/virtual server maintenance
Patching servers and systems
Firewall rule changes
Simple network changes like configuring Ethernet switch ports
Assigning server connections to specific VLANs
Cutting and pasting configuration commands from a template

Over time, organizations will have fewer reasons to keep middle-tier to mid-level administrators. These mid-tier staff helped maintain the on-premise infrastructure, apply patches, upgrade software, and other operation tasks that need to be completed during a change window. As more of these tasks are automated and outsourced, these staff member’s future is tenuous at best.

The IT lower class
There are also many IT professionals who have not been in the industry very long or are still just learning about how systems work. IT work is pretty good, as far as jobs go. It’s mostly indoor work, not that dirty, doesn’t require heavy lifting, doesn’t require employees to dress particularly fancy, and allows for flexible work hours. Sometimes you have to work weekends, but then there are other days when you can leave work early if things are running smoothly.

Lower-tier staff needs to perform the following IT tasks:
Racking and stacking of hardware
Helping end-users with desktop or mobile device issues
Installation of cables or wireless access point maintenance
Replacing hard drives in storage arrays
Physical-layer troubleshooting

These may not be the most glamorous tasks, but they are a way to get a foot in the door. I remember when I was young having to gather up all the extra power cords that weren’t being used and put them into boxes. I would crawl around in the ceiling tiles running Twinax cables. I would clean out dot-matrix printers and computer fans with a vacuum. We all have to start somewhere, and this is where many of us began our careers.

Erosion of the IT middle class
The IT industry is transforming. Organizations are looking to move their systems to the cloud and change the physical nature of their compute, storage, and networking resources. Corporations are moving rapidly to virtualize these components and try to speed up the provisioning of new IT systems. The focus is on rapidly deploying or changing the applications, operating systems, servers, storage, and security to make the IT systems more agile and keep up with the rapidly changing business world.

Soon, enterprises will have Software Defined Networking (SDN) systems and other controllers that define policies for how applications will operate. Companies will use software to define the policies with which applications will request resources from the network, and how resources are elastically scaled to meet demand at a moment’s notice.

To be able to deploy these orchestration and automation systems, organizations need top-tier IT resources. IT organizations will need to invest in data center architects and IT practitioners who know how to get the end-to-end network to facilitate the communication between mission-critical applications that may be located in a combination of on-premise and cloud resources. These top-tier resources are going to be the ones setting up these new technologies that others in the company will use to request IT services. These are some of the tasks that these high-end resources will be performing:

Creating the IT self-service provisioning portal
Writing the Cisco UCS Director provisioning workflow scripts
Configuring VMware vCenter Orchestrator or vCenter Operations Management Suite
Configuring the SDN controller (plus some Java or Python coding) for advanced application requirements
Deploying an OpenStack system for automation of public and/or private clouds
Configuring a Cisco ACI Application Policy Infrastructure Controller (APIC) for End-Point Groups (EPGs), Application Network Profiles and Contracts
Configuring the storage replication between on-premise and cloud-based storage systems

If you are a mid-level IT staff member, you will need to improve your skills to move into that top tier and preserve your place in an IT organization. If you fail to make that transition, then you are likely to suffer “brain drain” and you will move into that lower tier.

If you have spent a lot of time in the IT industry and you are just now reaching that middle-tier skill set, your career is at a crossroads. You can choose to stay where you are, but in doing so you risk being made obsolete by a robot or Java/Python script.

If this scares you, then you should invest in your professional development, learn to be cross-functional, and try to learn how to control the software components that will make you more efficient at your job.

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IE10 under attack as hackers exploit zero-day bug

FireEye uncovers attacks emanating from a U.S. website just two days after Microsoft issued huge IE patch collection

FireEye today said it had discovered that attackers are actively exploiting a new, unpatched vulnerability in Internet Explorer 10 (IE10).

Microsoft confirmed the Milpitas, Calif. security company's report.

"Microsoft is aware of targeted attacks against Internet Explorer, currently targeting customers using Internet Explorer 10," a Microsoft spokesperson said via email. "We are investigating and we will take appropriate actions to help protect customers."

FireEye's disclosure came just two days after Microsoft patched every edition of IE with a large update that fixed 24 flaws, 15 of which applied to IE10. The IE update, which was not originally on this week's Patch Tuesday slate, was added at the last minute by Microsoft, which said it had completed testing of the repairs in time to make the cut.

The attack code, said FireEye, was hosted on a compromised website based in the U.S. The company called the exploit a "classic drive-by download attack," a term reserved for the most dangerous kind of browser-based assaults, one that only need entice people to a malware-infected site.

According to FireEye, the exploit sidesteps ASLR (address space layout randomization) using Flash ActionScript, an Adobe-owned scripting language most often used on sites that rely on Flash Player to execute content. ASLR is one of Windows' most important anti-exploit technologies.

"Upon successful exploitation, this zero-day attack will download a XOR-encoded payload from a remote server, decode and execute it," FireEye added.

FireEye said that it is "currently collaborating" with Microsoft's security engineers on researching the IE10 vulnerability and the related exploit.

IE10 has been on the downturn for the last four months. Starting in October 2013, Microsoft has been replacing IE10 with the newer IE11 on Windows 8 devices, including PCs and the tablets -- such as Microsoft's own Surface Pro 2 -- that run the full-featured Windows 8 and 8.1 rather than the subset-of-an-OS Windows RT.

Microsoft released IE11 for Windows 7 in November, at which point it was automatically pushed to those machines as a substitute for IE10.

Web metrics firm Net Applications estimated IE10 user share, a rough calculation of the percentage of all Internet users running a specific browser, at 9.3% in January. Most people running IE remain tied to 2009's IE8.

IE10, targeted by attackers exploiting a "zero-day" vulnerability, is on its way out as Microsoft pushes the newer IE11 to Windows 7 and Windows 8 users. Last month, IE10 accounted for about 16% of all versions of Internet Explorer used to browse the Web. (Data: Net Applications.)

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Microsoft finally gets a clue: Boot to desktop as default in Windows 8.1 update

According to leaked screenshots and secret sources, Microsoft will scrap ‘Metro’ and roll boot-to-desktop as the default in the Windows 8.1 update coming in March.

If you hated the Live Tiles presented as the default on the Windows 8.x Start screen, then Microsoft allowed users to tweak the setting in Windows 8.1 to bypass the "Metro" interface at boot and instead boot to desktop. But boot-to-desktop will be the default, according to leaks from Microsoft insiders and screenshots of the upcoming Windows 8.1 update. Rumor has it that the update will roll out on Patch Tuesday in March.

The Russian site Wzor first posted leaked Windows 8.1 test build screenshots showing the change enabled by default.

Leaked Windows 8.1 test build, no more Metro Start screen, boot to desktop as default
Then Microsoft insiders, or "sources familiar with Microsoft's plans," told The Verge that Microsoft hopes to appease desktop users by bypassing the Start screen by default, meaning users will automatically boot straight to desktop. "Additional changes include shutdown and search buttons on the Start Screen, the ability to pin Windows 8-style ("Metro") apps on the desktop task bar, and a new bar at the top of Metro apps to allow users to minimize, close, and snap apps."

Of course, Microsoft continues to lose millions upon millions of customers to iOS and Android. That desperation is likely what drove Microsoft to force a touch-centric operating system on customers. If customers can't easily use a Windows OS on a traditional desktop, then Microsoft hoped its "make-them-eat-Metro" strategy would force people to buy its tablet to deal with the touch-based OS. For Microsoft, it was like killing two birds with one stone. But despite the company's "One Microsoft" vision, we're not birds and we don't like having stones thrown our way.

Microsoft claimed that telemetry data justified the removal of the Start button in Windows 8, and then its return in Windows 8.1. That same telemetry data shows "the majority of Windows 8 users still use a keyboard and mouse and desktop applications." The Verge added, "Microsoft may have wanted to push touch computing to the masses in Windows 8, but the reality is that users have voiced clear concerns over the interface on desktop PCs."

"Microsoft really dug a big hole for themselves," Gartner's David Smith told Gregg Keizer, referring to the Redmond giant's approach with Windows 8. "They have to dig themselves out of that hole, including making some fundamental changes to Windows 8. They need to accelerate that and come up with another path [for Windows]."

Back in December, NetMarketShare stats showed that more people were still using the hated Windows Vista than Windows 8.1. January 2014 stats showed Windows 8.1 on 3.95% of desktops with Vista on 3.3%. Despite Microsoft warning about the evils of clinging to XP, and the April death of XP support, Windows XP, however, was still on 29.23%. Many people still hate Windows 8, which may be why the company plans to jump to the next OS as soon as possible.

Microsoft plans to start building hype for "Windows 9" at the BUILD developers' conference in April. The new OS is supposedly set to come out in the second quarter of 2015. While it seems wise for the company to want to ditch the hated Windows 8.x as soon as possible, Microsoft had better to do something to encourage developers as the expected boot-to-desktop change will mean folks won't see the Metro apps on the Start screen.

Windows 8.1 update leaked screenshot of test build
According to the test build screenshot, Microsoft is urging people to "switch to a Microsoft account on this PC. Many apps and services (like the one shown for calendar) rely on a Microsoft account to sync content and settings across devices." Note that "sign into each app separately instead" is "not recommended" by Microsoft. Of course, setting up a Windows 8 computer without it being tied to a Microsoft email account was "not recommended" either...but it can be done with about any email address or set up as a local account tied to no email address. If you use SkyDrive, aka the newly dubbed "OneDrive," then why not just log in when you need it?

Trying to keep its developers "happy," may be part of the reason Microsoft does not recommend signing into your Microsoft account on an individual app basis. Sure there's still the Windows Phone Store, but some people complain that the Windows Phone Store is full of junk and fake apps. Of course, since Windows 8's dueling tablet-PC interface was a flop, perhaps Microsoft will follow Apple's lead and come up with a separate OS for tablets. That move might help out Microsoft and developers; without developers, there's no apps. Without good apps, even a new OS for tablets won't help Microsoft from continuing to decline and falling into the abyss of irrelevancy.

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How Microsoft had a hand in inventing Google's glucose-sensing smart contact lens

Google X may have announced its smart contact lens project, but Microsoft Research says it worked on it first.

Do you recall how Microsoft claimed it invented, or invisibly runs, practically everything? Along those lines, Microsoft Research is claiming partial credit for the smart contact lens project that Google unveiled last week.Microsoft's hand in inventing Google's glucose-sensing contact lens

Google announced that it was testing smart contact lens that has "chips and sensors so small they look like bits of glitter, and an antenna thinner than a human hair."

We're now testing a smart contact lens that's built to measure glucose levels in tears using a tiny wireless chip and miniaturized glucose sensor that are embedded between two layers of soft contact lens material. We're testing prototypes that can generate a reading once per second. We're also investigating the potential for this to serve as an early warning for the wearer, so we're exploring integrating tiny LED lights that could light up to indicate that glucose levels have crossed above or below certain thresholds. It's still early days for this technology, but we've completed multiple clinical research studies which are helping to refine our prototype. We hope this could someday lead to a new way for people with diabetes to manage their disease.

After Google's announcement, Desney Tan, a Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research, was bombarded with questions about his "long-time friends and colleagues Babak Parviz and Brian Otis who declared "their intent to develop a glucose-sensing contact lens." Tan's "inbox and voicemail are stuffed with calls for comments and queries about the relationship of this project to the one Microsoft Research worked on with Babak and Brian a few years ago."

So Tan wrote:
As background, my team and I here at Microsoft Research had the pleasure of supporting and working with Babak and Brian and a number of other collaborators very early in this project. Babak and Brian were still full-time faculty at the University of Washington. In our collaboration, we demonstrated the feasibility not only of embedding displays in the contact lenses, but more importantly, of glucose sensing as well. As one would imagine, we tackled numerous hard problems around miniaturization, wireless power, wireless communications and biocompatibility.

What's occurred here is a great example of why we and others must continue to invest in basic research, pushing the boundaries of science and technology in an effort to improve the lives of as many people as possible. Most of the time here at Microsoft, we do this in partnership with our business group colleagues, who can take direct advantage of our work and deliver it directly to our customers. But there are other instances where we do this through partners, and sometimes even through competitors. Our open research and deeply collaborative model allows us to work with the best academic and industrial researchers around the world, and we will continue to do so as we certainly believe in the philosophy that "we" is smarter than "me." This open approach to working with and through others has consistently delivered outsized rewards for Microsoft and for the world at large.

I'm not faulting Tan, more power to him, just pointing out that Microsoft apparently had a hand in Google's glucose-sensing contact lens. After all, Microsoft has taken credit for inventing, or its software invisibly running, almost everything. To be fair, Microsoft Research has over 1,100 researchers who work on everything from privacy and security to healthcare.

In fact, Microsoft Research recently adopted an Open Access policy for all research publications.

Microsoft Research is committed to disseminating the fruits of its research and scholarship as widely as possible because we recognize the benefits that accrue to scholarly enterprises from such wide dissemination, including more thorough review, consideration and critique, and general increase in scientific, scholarly and critical knowledge.

Like Microsoft, Google has a lot of power and money. However, unlike Microsoft Research, most of the "moonshot" research that goes on inside Google X, "Google's secret lab," is hush-hush . . . at least until the company decides to shock the world with its projects like Google Glass and the Google driverless car.

In the end, if you have diabetes and someone invents something to help you out, then you might not care whether it is Microsoft or Google in your eye.

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