You had to know Microsoft would respond to former VP $#@! Brass saying the company didn't have "a true system for innovation" in the New York Times this morning, and it looks like Redmond's VP of corporate communications Frank Shaw is on the move: he's just posted up a reply on The Official Microsoft Blog. Frank says that what matters is "innovation at scale, not just innovation at speed," and that "it is not sufficient to simply have a good idea, or a great idea, or even a cool idea. We measure our work by its broad impact." Frank also points to OneNote in response to $#@!'s claim that Tablet PC was doomed because the Office team refused to make a version of Office designed around stylus input, and then refers to the Xbox 360 as an example of Microsoft's leadership -- and says Project Natal is a "magical experience" that'll keep the trend alive. That's pretty much exactly how we would respond, although we'd also argue that $#@!'s individual criticisms are less important than his larger thesis about systematic innovation -- and we'd love to hear what Frank has to say about that.

P.S.- Can we all please stop calling everything "magical" for a minute, though? Thanks.

[Image from Robert Scoble]Microsoft responds to $#@! Brass: 'We measure our work by its broad impact' originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.


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